Learning critical thinking through dialogic STEAM educational activities

This talk explores the relationships between dialogue, science and technology education, art, and critical thinking. In order to illustrate these relationships, a study will be presented, analysing how STEAM educational activities helped Mexican high school students develop critical thinking during the COVID-19 lockdown and their return to school. The study used a mixed research approach combining both quantitative and qualitative methods to understand the impact of the intervention. Overall, there was no statistically significant improvement in students' critical thinking, but there were important differences between schools and teachers. In particular, one school and two teachers showed significant improvements. Qualitative analysis showed that these teachers’ relationship styles played a key role in promoting critical thinking through science, technology, and art. These teachers understood students’ needs and encouraged collaboration with university students. The main finding was that critical thinking is strongly linked to having meaningful dialogue during STEAM activities.