Technology is the driving force of innovative development in STEAM education, which focuses on cultivating children’s cognition of technology, application of technical tools and innovative thinking of combining technology with creation. Building blocks, especially intelligent building blocks combined with modern technology, are an important carrier for STEAM technology education—they connect traditional brick building with modern technologies such as electronics, sensors and programming, making technical learning more intuitive and hands-on. In the integration of building blocks and STEAM technology education, children recognize technical principles, apply technical tools and carry out technological innovation in the process of building and debugging intelligent brick works, which perfectly fits the core of technology education: cultivating technological cognition, technical application ability and technological innovation thinking. Building blocks break the separation between traditional technology education and practical creation, making technological learning more interesting, interactive and practical, and letting children experience the charm of technology and the fun of innovative application in hands-on practice.
Building blocks help children establish basic technological cognition and understand the basic principles and application scenarios of modern technology. With the combination of intelligent building block sets and electronic components such as motors, sensors, lights and buzzers, children can easily build intelligent works with specific functions—they can build a light-controlled street lamp that automatically turns on when it is dark, a touch-controlled music box that plays music when touched, and a obstacle-avoiding car that can automatically bypass obstacles. In the process of building and debugging these works, children will initially understand the working principles of electronic components such as photosensitive sensors, touch sensors and infrared sensors, and know how these components realize information collection and signal transmission. They will also understand the basic logic of circuit connection, knowing that the correct connection of power supply, switch and load is the premise of the normal operation of electronic works. These hands-on practices make abstract technological knowledge tangible, allowing children to establish a preliminary understanding of modern technology and lay a solid foundation for their in-depth technological learning.
What’s more, building blocks cultivate children’s technical application ability and let them learn to use technical tools to realize their creative ideas. Many intelligent building block sets are matched with simple programming software, which allows children to realize the intelligent control of building block works through graphical programming without mastering complex programming languages. For example, children can set the movement path of the obstacle-avoiding car through programming, let the car move forward, turn left and right according to the preset program, and automatically stop and turn when encountering obstacles; they can also set the lighting mode of the building block Christmas tree through programming, let the lights flash in different colors and frequencies. In this process, children learn to use programming tools to translate their creative ideas into executable programs, and master the basic method of applying technology to realize creation. They will constantly adjust the program and debug the works according to the actual operation effect, improving their ability to apply technical tools to solve practical problems. Building blocks make technical application no longer distant, letting children experience the joy of using technology to realize their ideas.
Building blocks also stimulate children’s technological innovation thinking and encourage them to carry out innovative combination of technology and creation. In the process of building intelligent building block works, children are not limited by fixed building schemes and functional settings—they can carry out innovative combination of building blocks, electronic components and programming according to their own imagination and needs. For example, on the basis of the obstacle-avoiding car, some children will add a spray device to make the car spray water when encountering obstacles; on the basis of the light-controlled street lamp, some children will add a sound sensor to make the street lamp not only turn on automatically in the dark, but also flash when there is a loud noise. This innovative combination process fully stimulates children’s technological innovation thinking. They will think about how to combine different technical components and programming logic to realize more novel and practical functions, and cultivate the ability to combine technology with creation. Building blocks become a platform for children’s technological innovation, letting their innovative ideas be reflected in tangible intelligent works.
In the context of interdisciplinary integration of STEAM, the combination of building blocks and technology education realizes the in-depth integration of technological knowledge with science, engineering, math and art. When children build a smart greenhouse with building blocks, sensors and programming, they need to apply the technical knowledge of sensor data collection and programming control, the scientific knowledge of plant growth environment, the engineering knowledge of greenhouse structure design, the mathematical knowledge of environmental data analysis, and the artistic knowledge of greenhouse appearance design, integrating multi-disciplinary knowledge into the whole process of technological creation; when they build a musical fountain with building blocks, water pumps and programming, they combine the technical knowledge of pump control and programming timing with the scientific knowledge of water flow movement, the engineering knowledge of fountain structure design and the artistic knowledge of water flow and music matching. This interdisciplinary technological practice makes children understand that technology is a comprehensive tool that is closely connected with other disciplines, and its value lies in the comprehensive application with other disciplines to solve practical problems and carry out innovative creation. It further stimulates their comprehensive thinking ability and the ability to apply interdisciplinary knowledge to carry out technological innovation.