The University of Auckland

Project #121: STEAM for the Young: Engineering Education for Young Minds

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Description:

STEAM toys are fast gaining popularity among young children, where children get an early exposure to technology, in the hope that it will kindle an interest towards science, technology, engineering, Art and mathematics in future. However, many of these toys are designed in a more commercial sense and tend to have less educational quality and value. This project the aims to create a series of activities which will allow young children explore the wonders of electronics and other hardware, giving them guided and well-informed exposure into engineering.

In this project you will investigate some of the existing programs and toys to identify where novel activities can be created. You will investigate the type of activities that attract children from different age groups, gender and socio-economic backgrounds. Based on your findings you will then create 5 to 6 different activities and test them with voluntary participants who can give some form of feedback on the activities. This will help develop a solid foundation for the university to reach out to younger children to expose and inspire them into engineering and related career path at an early stage. 

Type:

Undergraduate

Outcome:

Research Component

·       Investigate current STEAM toys, trends in the market and opportunities for innovation

·       Investigate the current educational programs available to children and identify the opportunities for innovation that lie within them

·       Develop a series of activities to attract young children and run them with a group of voluntary participants

Help develop a series of activities which will help reach out to young children to expose and inspire them to follow STEAM fields in future

Prerequisites

None

Specialisations

Categories

Supervisor

Co-supervisor

Team

Lab

Lab allocations have not been finalised