STEAM en Educación Infantil: Una visión desde las matemáticas

This article reviews different STEAM proposals for Early Childhood Education, with the aim of analysing the role of mathematics. The proposals are organized into three groups of activi-ties: those focusing on computational thinking, those focusing on construction and experimentation, and finally the group of proposals with “do it yourself” focus. The analysis of these STEAM activities shows that mathematics can play an instrumental or central role in them, similar to the role that mathematics plays in everyday life. In all STEAM activities examined, mathematics has an essential importance. Mathematics are key in these activities as mathematical abilities in Early Childhood Education: identifying, comparing, classifying, ordering, among others; but also, as mathematical processes: problem solving, representation, communication, connections, and reasoning. However, the presence of mathematics in the STEAM proposals does not ensure that mathematical learning occurs effectively. The mathematical learning will depend on the adult performance while the activity is carried out. Thus, we conclude that, if we want STEAM activities to produce the expected mathematical learning, we must train teachers to ensure that they know how to appropriately accompany their students in this mathematical learning process.