The Diorama Project : development of a tangible medium to foster STEAM education using storytelling and electronics

Children of the 21st century grow up in a world full of information and technology. Education should equip them with useful skills and competencies, allowing them to actively and effectively take part in a globalised society. Teachers feel the need for educational tools that support innovative teaching. To this end, this paper describes the development of The Diorama Project. This series of trans-disciplinary workshops combines familiar subjects, like language and art, with new topics such as programming and electronics, to foster valuable skills and knowledge in a more fun and tangible way. Pupils team up to write, record and tinker a story. Programmable electronics let their theatre plays come alive. An open source platform provides all the information for teachers to organise the workshops by themselves. Theycan use it to share their experience and knowledge with colleagues worldwide.Children of the 21st century grow up in a world full of information and technology. Education should equip them with useful skills and competencies, allowing them to actively and effectively take part in a globalised society. Teachers feel the need for educational tools that support innovative teaching. To this end, this paper describes the development of The Diorama Project. This series of trans-disciplinary workshops combines familiar subjects, like language and art, with new topics such as programming and electronics, to foster valuable skills and knowledge in a more fun and tangible way. Pupils team up to write, record and tinker a story. Programmable electronics let their theatre plays come alive. An open source platform provides all the information for teachers to organise the workshops by themselves. Theycan use it to share their experience and knowledge with colleagues worldwide.P