1. Investigación

Históricamente, entre los estudiantes que llegan a la educación superior existe un alto grado de percepción negativa sobre la incidencia en la creatividad que tienen las asignaturas propedéuticas como matemáticas o física. Esta afirmación se hace más evidente entre aquellos alumnos que deciden cursar estudios donde convide la adquisición de competencias para desarrollar procesos creativos y la integración de las asignaturas de carácter técnico, lo que se traduce en la dificultad de asimilar la interrelación de ambas partes. Esta situación tiene gran incidencia en estudios superiores como Arquitectura o Ingeniería en Diseño Industrial, donde los alumnos se mueven en equilibrio entre áreas creativas como dibujo o proyectos, y otras más científicas o técnicas, como física o estructuras. Con la intención de romper este habito y promover que el alumno entienda que las asignaturas propedéuticas pueden llegar a formar parte del propio proceso creativo de un proyecto, se ha iniciado una actividad en el Grado de Fundamentos de Arquitectura en la Universidad CEU-Cardenal Herrera, que pretenden fomentar un cambio en la percepción negativa de estas áreas. Mediante esta comunicación, se pretende mostrar una de estas actividades que ha consistido en la participación de los alumnos del primer curso de Arquitectura en un concurso internacional de diseño como actividad motivadora y que, como premisa de partida, la idea generadora del proyecto debe de basarse en un concepto matemático o físico. En definitiva, cambiar la percepción histórica y negativa de que los conceptos adquiridos en asignaturas básicas, no pueden formar parte del proceso creativo del proyecto.

El proyecto de innovación docente Crossworks se entiende como un crisol de trabajo donde se reunen todas las asignaturas del primer curso de Grado en Architecture, en un intento de provocar relaciones transversales entre ellas que mejore el rendimiento del alumno en las ciencias básicas y le otorgue una visión integradora y global de la arquitectura. El proyecto se ha estructurado en varias fases, una en aula, después la visita “in situ” al edificio objeto de análisis, y posteriormente la realización de talleres con una temática común pero trabajados desde asignaturas aparentemente distantes como Matemáticas e Historia del Arte, o Física y Dibujo Arquitectónico. Los resultados han sido altamente esperanzadores, no solo en el rendimiento académico de los alumnos, sino en la cohesión del grupo y la integración de las distintas culturas participantes.

Vocation is one of the determining factors taken into account by students when choosing their university studies. However, when the students start their studies, in their first year, they will find a series of basic subjects that barely motivate or stimulate them. In the specific case of mathematics, the problem is aggravated when many of the students already begin the first year showing rejection towards this subject. The lack of motivation for mathematics also affects the subject of physics because “the role of mathematics is to be the language of physics”. The EXPLORIA project proposed by the CEU Cardenal Herrera University is a potential solution to this problem. The objective of this project is the implementation of STEAM learning (Science Technology Engineering Art Mathematics) in the Degree in Fundamentals of Architecture at CEU Cardenal Herrera University through the EXPLORIA project. This article focuses on the activities carried out in the subject of physics in the Degree in Fundamentals of Architecture, corresponding to the part of mechanical engineering in order to show that through the realization of different challenges, we can develop creative products, new buildings with their logos and storytelling, as well as connect with the rest of subjects. For its development, students must use everyday objects within their reach, such as forks, spoons, knives, shoes, etc., to build an object or structure that must remain in a “creative balance” and this will serve as an inspiration for new buildings. These new creations are evaluated by an architecture team who fills in a rubric to evaluate the creativity and originality of the products. The number of students included in this project was 24 and the participants’ age ranged between 18 and 20 (similarly distributed). At the end of the work, an anonymous ad hoc questionnaire was carried out to show the students’ assessment of the new teaching methodology and the challenges developed in the subject of physics.

The objective of our research is the implementation of STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Mathematics) learning in the bachelor of Engineering in industrial design and product development at CEU Cardenal Herrera University through the EXPLORIA project. This article implements and develops the proposal for the first year of this bachelor, which includes 24 students aged 18–20. This article focuses on how to integrate STEAM learning within the EXPLORIA project for the improvement in the learning of the physics subject, and in particular, regarding the part of the syllabus related to mechanical engineering through different projects, challenges and milestones that allow the student to see the use in the design and development of products. The EXPLORIA project connects the competencies of the different STEAM subjects included in the bachelor, designing a learning process as a logical, sequential and incremental itinerary. Through concepts on which the fundamentals of design are based: shape, volume, color, space and structure. In particular, this article shows the adaptation made in the physical part to be able to teach the integrated mechanics part in this learning process. The complete learning was carried out through several challenges and two milestones the students had to overcome through the application of the physical knowledge learned in class. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, at the end of the paper, an ad hoc questionnaire is carried out showing the students’ assessment regarding the new teaching methodology.

The main objective of this article has been to evaluate the effect that the implementation of the EXPLORIA project has had on the Engineering Degree in Industrial Design and Product Development. The EXPLORIA project aims to develop an integrated competence map of the learning process, where the subjects are no longer considered as isolated contents, by elaborating an integrated learning process where the competences and learning outcomes of the subjects are considered as a whole, global and comprehensive learning. The EXPLORIA project connects the competencies of the different STEAM subjects that make up the degree, designing a learning process as a logical, sequential and incremental itinerary. Through concepts on which the foundations of design are based—shape, volume, colour, space and structure—the competencies of the different subjects are defined in incremental learning levels: understanding, applying, experimenting and developing, all taken from Bloom’s taxonomy. Mathematics is linked to the rest of learning through active learning methodologies that make learning useful. This new methodology changes the student’s affective domain towards mathematics in which positive emotions are transformed into positive attitudes that will improve the learning result and therefore, the students’ academic results. To validate it, at the end of the paper, the academic results compared with previous years are shown, as well as an ad hoc survey of the students’ assessment of the new teaching methodology.