A shift from teaching to learn to learning to think is necessary to promote critical thinkers. Since teachers tend to replicate the educational models they have experienced as students, new references are needed. In order to address these concerns, we present an interdisciplinary intervention in initial teacher education and analyse its impact on teachers’ critical thinking and awareness of the importance to promote it. The intervention is based on the potential of socio-scientific issues to support argumentation and provide meaningful contexts for graph interpretation. The content analysis of participants’ responses before and after inquiring about climate change shows an increase in the level of argumentation and the capacity to read beyond data, providing evidence of the development of critical thinking. In addition, pre-service teachers explicitly refer to their future responsibility in preparing students to face current challenges, demonstrating awareness of the need to promote critical thinking.

This article presents a STEAM education model based on the use of meaningful contexts for the integrated acquisition of key learning outcomes related to different subjects. The model combines inquiry and the use of socio-scientific issues to promote mathematics and science learning along with the development of critical thinking and the integration of cultural and fundamental values. The evaluation of an international teacher professional development programme using a pre/post-test research design shows the programme’s impact on secondary school teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, and teaching practices related to the implemented pedagogical model. The qualitative analysis of the teachers’ reflections shows that the most appreciated aspects of the programme are transferability to practice, the pedagogical resources offered, the benefits of the model on students’ learning, the methodological transformation involved, as well as the opportunity to exchange ideas and practices with colleagues in a professional learning community. These results are of great interest since they reveal a powerful way to promote transformational teacher professional development in the STEAM environment.

Este trabajo pretende fomentar la reflexión sobre el potencial de la tecnología educativa para promover el aprendizaje significativo de las ciencias. Con este propósito se recurre a la literatura especializada, para mostrar algunos resultados de investigación sobre la aplicación de las TIC a la enseñanza de las ciencias (herramientas de adquisición de datos, programas de modelización, simulaciones, laboratorios virtuales…). El valor formativo de dichas aplicaciones se discute desde los actuales conocimientos acerca de cómo los individuos aprenden, mostrando el potencial de estos recursos para superar los obstáculos específicos asociados al aprendizaje efectivo de las ciencias (ideas previas, falta de contextos significativos, grado de abstracción de modelos y teorías…). No obstante, también se ofrece una visión crítica señalando riesgos y limitaciones.