From the Steam Engine to STEAM Education: An Experience with Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers

Angel C. Herrero, Tomás Recio (), Piedad Tolmos and M. Pilar Vélez
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Angel C. Herrero: Departamento de Lenguas y Educación, Facultad de Lenguas y Educación, Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, C/ Santa Cruz de Marcenado 27, 28015 Madrid, Spain
Tomás Recio: Departamento de Ingeniería Industrial, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, C/ Santa Cruz de Marcenado 27, 28015 Madrid, Spain
Piedad Tolmos: Departamento de Economía Financiera y Contabilidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Economía y de la Empresa, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Paseo de los Artilleros, s/n. Edificio de Gestión, 28032 Madrid, Spain
M. Pilar Vélez: Departamento de Ingeniería Industrial, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, C/ Santa Cruz de Marcenado 27, 28015 Madrid, Spain

Mathematics, 2023, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: In this paper, we describe an educational experience in the context of the Master’s degree that is compulsory in Spain to become a secondary education mathematics teacher. Master’s students from two universities in Madrid (Spain) attended lectures that addressed—emphasizing the concourse of a dynamic geometry software package—some historical, didactic and mathematical issues related to linkage mechanisms, such as those arising in the 18th and 19th centuries during the development of the steam engine. Afterwards, participants were asked to provide three different kinds of feedback: (i) working on an assigned group task, (ii) individually answering a questionnaire, and (iii) proposing some classroom activity, imagining it would be addressed to their prospective pupils. All three issues focused on the specific topic of the attended lectures. In the framework of Mason’s reflective discourse analysis, the information supplied by the participants has been analyzed. The objective was to explore what they have learned from the experience and what their perception is of the potential interest in linkages as a methodological instrument for their future professional activity as teachers. This analysis is then the basis upon which to reflect on the opportunities (and problems) that this particular bar-joint linkages methodological approach could bring towards providing future mathematics teachers with attractive tools that would contribute to enhancing a STEAM-oriented education. Finally, the students’ answers allow us to conclude that the experience was beneficial for these pre-service teachers, both in improving their knowledge on linkages history, mathematics, industrial, technological and artistic applications, and in enhancing the use in the classroom of this very suitable STEAM context.

Keywords: STEAM education; bar-joint mechanisms; linkages; geometry; dynamic geometry; computer algebra; algebra; pre-service teacher training; secondary education; mathematics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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