Technological Thinking and Learning in STEAM
Hanno van Keulen · 2025
Technological thinking and learning in STEAM are based on many perspectives. First, it means to be able to use technology and imagination to visualize what is not visible at all ( Ware, 2013 ; Wolfe, 2009 ). Second, it refers to the ability to take these theoretical constructions as realistic representations and ignore incipient philosophical questions on the nature of science ( Latour, 1986 ). And finally, it means to be able to trust blindly that the deductions and decisions based on these imaginative images will be correct and will improve the quality of life for all those who engage in it ( Davies, 2010 ). Technological thinking and learning have progressed almost exponentially. More than 2 million years ago, it is believed that a human ancestor, possibly serendipitously, struck two stones together and produced an artifact with a sharp edge ( Malafouris, 2013 ). Neither did anyone instruct her or him, nor did anyone predict that a useful thing could be created in this way since language and conscious thought had yet to develop ( Bickerton, 2014 ; Feinberg, 2016 ; Hurford, 2007 ). Perhaps this ancestor was not the first to do this, and maybe not the first to recognize and appreciate the affordances of the artifact. But this individual disseminated the skill, since the art of making stone tools became part of our ancestors’ and our repertoire and of human culture ( Burch, 2004 ; Boivin, 2008 ). The rest is history.