Publication

Abstract : This paper presents an exploratory case study of a Makeathon program called STEAM for Social Good, designed to empower middle school students in India. The program design was based on a set of three design principles developed by the IEEE Pre-University STEM Education team. Students were taught creative problem-solving techniques for addressing societal problems. They learned to design IoT-based prototypes and Android apps. Thirty-four students attended the ten-day training program and participated in the two-day Makeathon in ten teams. Our results show that the program helped develop children's competence in physical computing and app development and enabled them to apply their knowledge to create innovative working prototypes for sustainable development goal challenges. They learned to work with material and time constraints and create working prototypes from concept to completion during the Makeathon. Overall, the children were more confident as students after the program and saw how technology could make a difference.