The purpose of this study is to develop an invention education program using Bio-inspired technology and verify the effectiveness of the program for elementary school 3rd graders. To this end, we extracted the content elements related to Bio-inspired technology and invention education through an analysis of the 2009 revision curriculum (elementary school 3rd graders) and developed 8 pairs of lessons.
In this study, STEAM Literacy questionnaire was used in a pre- and a post-test to analyze the effects of the invention education program using Bio-inspired technology on learner's STEAM Literacy. The items on the questionnaire examined four areas of STEAM Literacy: care, communication, creativity, and convergence.
In terms of change in the total score of STEAM Literacy, the invention education program using Bio-inspired technology was found to have positive effects on improving elementary school students' STEAM Literacy. There was a statistically significant increase in all areas of care, communication, convergence, and creativity. These results may confirm, that the invention education using Bio-inspired technology exerts positive effects on the promotion of STEAM Literacy on 3rd grade elementary school students.
The program could be used as a reference to the further development of teaching materials dealing with interesting Bio-inspired technology based on the knowledge of convergence.