Linking Sustainability and STEAM Education in Argentine Patagonia

Abstract This article presents design-based research to explore the potential of integrating STEAM education and the Sustainable Development Goals into a project-based learning experience to address the lack of access to water in Argentine Patagonia. The study, which was conducted at a rural school in the region of Patagonia, with 13-year-old students, focused on designing, constructing, and installing a solar-powered irrigation system. The article discusses benefits of combining project-based learning, mathematical modelling, and outdoor STEAM education to provide students with an engaging and comprehensive learning experience in STEM subjects. The authors highlight the need to restructure the school organisation to integrate interdisciplinary approaches to address real-life problems. It also emphasises the importance of contextual restrictions and how they can be used as didactic variables to motivate the use of rationality in problem-solving. Experience reports provide insights into STEAM -based education’s potential to foster students’ critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills.