Interdisciplinary Tangible Learning Media

Novel STEAM learning media enable an opportunity for teaching across modalities and disciplinary boundaries. In this presentation, I will discuss the role of tangible learning media (TLM) in supporting STEAM interdisciplinarity and present a case study in which the PaperMech team worked with K-12 teachers to adapt materials for use in the classroom. Based on interviews and observations with teachers involved in a weeklong professional development workshop, we learned how teachers perceive the affordance, constraints, and potential uses of PaperMech, a suite of TLM resources which blends computationally-controlled mechanisms with expressive paper objects. Two key themes emerged from the study: (1) the importance of flexibility in themes and tools and (2) TLM connecting across communities.