Early STEAM Education Practice: Application of Graph Theory through Teaching Assistants

Abstract

In the age of Society 5.0, which is the concept of a future society developed by the Japanese government, science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) human resources with the skills to grasp things from multiple perspectives and solve problems will be required. Furthermore, Society 5.0 indicates that the National Institute of Technology (KOSEN) will become the STEAM center for elementary and junior high school students, as part of the efforts to establish a system that supports STEAM education. Since 2019, we have practiced STEAM education as part of “Liberal Arts Special Lectures” for 4th-year students of the main course (1st year of the undergraduate course). In these lectures, the teachers of liberal arts subjects present themes using their specialties, such as mathematics, debate, and economics. Collaborative learning between students from various departments led them to deep learning, which was a fusion of knowledge and creation. However, there are few opportunities to give back to society, particularly a platform to disseminate the acquired mathematics ability. Therefore, we aim to realize early STEAM education and give back to society by creating STEAM teaching materials on graph theory in open courses for junior high school students between the ages of 13 and 15 with help from teaching assistants who studied graph theory in the liberal arts special lectures. Moreover, through a course on graph theory, the course will not only arouse students' interest in mathematics, but also provide them with clues to develop their multifaceted ideas. Keywords: society 5.0, graph theory, open course for junior high school students, teaching assistants, liberal arts special lecture