Assessment of mathematical skills from the STEAM approach in primary school students in Colombia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate mathematical skills with a STEAM approach by validating an instrument for third-grade students at a public educational institution in Colombia. The design was based on a quasi-experimental design with two groups, control and experimental, using a pretest-posttest strategy. The sample consisted of 57 students from two rural public educational institutions in the city of Medellín, distributed equally between the groups. The instrument designed was submitted to expert judgement to determine its content validity, and reliability tests (Cronbach's alpha) were applied. The experimental group received a pedagogical intervention based on a STEAM-focused model for twelve weeks, while the control group continued with traditional classes. The results revealed adequate content validity and high reliability (α = 0.73). In addition, a significant difference was observed in the improvement of scores between the experimental and control groups in the post-test (p < 0.01), which demonstrates both the effectiveness of the instrument and the pedagogical strategy implemented. It is concluded that the instrument is valid, reliable, and relevant to the changes incorporated by the methodology used from a STEAM approach.