Representing Sound With Personal Objects and Electronic Construction Kits for STEM Education

• In Event: Learning Sciences SIG Virtual Roundtable: Problem-Solving, Engineering Design, and Educational Dignity

Abstract

Western nations are facing decreasing STEM enrollment and report high dropout rates. Understanding better ways for STEM education could lead the way to mend this issue. This qualitative study researched how using personally meaningful approaches toward engineering through sound creation can support youth in performing engineering design practices. Based on constructionist approaches to learning, we analyzed video data of a workshop with two sound-making kits, Squishy Circuits and Playtronica Playtron, for creating sound that were inspired by personally meaningful objects. We analyzed engineering design practices youth performed to better understand affordances and constraints of the electronic kits for construction kits for sound making as a context for engineering.

Authors

• Santiago Hurtado, Technical University of Munich
  Presenting Author

• Anna Keune, Technical University of Munich
  Presenting Author