Creativity in Criticality: tools for Generation Z students in STEM

Endorsed by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and pushed abruptly by the irruption of the Corona crisis, a large number of technological resources, digital platforms, and virtual and augmented reality applications were massively incorporated in all educational areas, including the field of higher education. This phenomenon has been not only ideal but essential in STEM programs (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), with the aim of developing the aspect of digital transformation, although technological enablers have ended up being used also as Teaching Tools. But what about the Learning Tools? The present work shows that it is possible that, without the adequate design of a framework for the Teaching and Learning Process, these innovative technological resources are not capable of guaranteeing per se the effective intellectual engagement of students in their own learning. The cognitive and metacognitive tools used in this work were designed for the development of four skills declared as fundamental in the Education 4.0 Framework: Innovation and creativity, global citizenship, digital transformation and interpersonal skills. This paper offers findings, results and discussions of a study conducted over 3 years, with more than 200 engineering students, by implementing an approach designed especially for Generation Z students.