Iva Grigorova
“Vasil Levski” Secondary School – Elin Pelin
https://doi.org/10.53656/voc22-452stem
Absract. STEM is an education acronym that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, but STEM education extends beyond these technical fields and is an integral part of our daily lives.
In recent years, the importance of STEM learning in the classroom to prepare today's students for their future realization is of great significance, but it will grow more and more and it is important to introduce it at an early school age. The purpose of this article is to show how technology and gamification can be successfully integrated into the learning process of students from the primary stage
of education to develop skills they will need in the future and in their lives outside
the classroom.
As a result of technological progress and expanding the boundaries of artificial intelligence, technological resources such as programmable toys are becoming smarter and more accessible to users, making them a powerful tool in the hands of the modern teacher. With their help, in combination with the game approach in teaching topics from the field of STEM sciences, children of this age very quickly, subconsciously and without significant effort develop their creativity, logical and algorithmic thinking. The possibilities that this combination gives us are limitless and allow students, in a fun and understandable way, to reach new depths of the world that surrounds them, stimulate their curiosity and interest in the field of STEM sciences and make them more prepared about the unknowns of the future. This is an effective way to inspire children to innovate into adulthood.
Keywords: creative thinking; algorithmic thinking; coding robots; childhood education; robotics; computational thinking; educational innovations; skills development; active learning