In this paper we propose STEAM practices that would foster mathematics learning through modelling architecture while connecting to culture and history. The architectural modelling process is applied by the teachers as participants of these practices from different countries allowing a broad cultural and historical connection to mathematics education. The modelling is implemented in GeoGebra platform as it is an open-source platform to allow teachers to model on a mathematics basis. The architectural modelling process does not provide participants with steps to follow but rather allows them to explore the architectural models’ components and construct them with various approaches which may foster problem solving techniques. We aim to investigate how different phases of this approach (such as motivation, modeling, and printing process) reflect on opportunities of learning in STEAM education, with a particular lens in mathematical development from open tasks. This paper will show two use cases that took place in Upper Austria and the MENA region.

During COVID-19 confinement, we observed numerous challenges in using educational technology in early childhood Science–Technology–Engineering–Arts–Mathematics (STEAM) education in Luxembourg. Thus, we designed a conceptual framework on parent-assisted remote teaching with active uses of educational technology supported by cycles of design-based research. After a previous study utilizing computer-aided design (CAD) software and three-dimensional (3D) printing in primary education, we used our initial findings to work with 12 early childhood students (ages 4–6), together with their teachers and parents in the second remote teaching period in Luxembourg. We created a STEAM modeling task with CAD software on robots and collected data through chat responses, messageboards, and online communication channels during a 3-week period. Here, we observed new roles in the parent–child relationship while learning STEAM in remote teaching with technology, and new opportunities in using educational technology overall in early childhood education. In this article, we have described findings that are likely to influence students’ learning and parent-assisted teaching, in particular parents and students’ perceptions and motivations, together with the way in which parents provide technical knowledge and support in remote early childhood STEAM education.

In reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government of Luxembourg suspended in-school teaching and learning towards remote teaching. A survey conducted by the Ministry of Education after three weeks of confinement, showed that more than half of the parents faced difficulties when using remote teaching with their students. To tackle this new challenge, we adapted our research to the use of augmented reality, digital and physical mathematical modelling in remote mathematics education for elementary schools. The elementary school students (aged 5 to 12) created cultural artifacts (i.e., Easter egg cups) during the confinement. In this paper, we will describe mathematical modelling in remote teaching and further concentrate on parents’ perspectives, who played an essential role in assisting their children. Moreover, we will discuss different didactical principles that emerged from the task design during the study through parents’ eyes. Thus, understanding parents’ perspectives became highly important in enabling us to improve task designs and related pedagogical approaches in remote teaching. The data collected in this study included semi-structured interviews with students, parents, and teachers as well as questionnaires and field notes. We followed an exploratory stance with our data analyses, primarily utilizing grounded theory (Corbin & Strauss, 1990, 2014) approaches. Through the insights we gained from our findings, we aim to explain how the parents perceived teaching and learning mathematical modelling in our experiments, how they scaffolded the given tasks, and what support they required and would need in future remote teaching.