Under the “Pioneering Fukushima STEAM Education” project, Fukushima University has been working to build a basic STEAM education at Fukushima University, establish the Fukushima University STEAM Lab as a base for STEAM activities, and make sustainable contributions to local schools and businesses. As a part of these activities, the “Math Art Project” conducted in 2021 implemented cross-disciplinary learning that straddles computers, mathematics, and art through the creation of mathematical art using Processing.

Many of the participating students started with little or no programming experience. 3 teams were divided to create artworks, “tinkering” to gradually modify programs, design thinking workshops and lectures on STEAM education, knowledge acquisition using videos, and communication using Slack. The students created various works in teams or individually, while trying to communicate with each other using Slack. The students’ works are available on YouTube “#Fukushima University Math Art Project” and Instagram “#FukushimaUniversitymap2021”, so please take a look.

In the 2022 academic year, the students are further expanding the scope of their activities, with the next step being to create a program using sound and “akabeko,” a local specialty of Fukushima. Some of the participating students also acted as youth mentors for the “Future Earth School” project, providing mentoring activities to participating organizations. It was stimulating to talk with the students and think together about what ideas to pursue and how to realize them. Many of the members are aspiring to become teachers, and we hope to make use of this experience in actual educational settings.