2.4. Educational recommendations to teach STEAM
When designing activities to implement the plastinated organs, it is advisable to take into account the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) perspective in this design.
This perspective can be quite beneficial for high school students in fostering critical thinking, problem solving and creativity. For this reason, you should take into account:
- Maths Encourage collaboration between teachers from different areas to ensure interdisciplinarity in a way that helps students to see the connections between knowledge. We talked about interdisciplinarity in the previous section, but in the STEAM perspective it is even more important.
- Make sure that the project contributes to the learner’s personal development understanding STEAM as a general idea (it is not simply the sum of many components or specialized knowledge, but holistic for its various interrelations): STEAM as holistic approach
A key strength of the OrganKits material lies in its interdisciplinary potential, as it enables teachers and students to go beyond the limits of a single subject. The kits are not only valuable for anatomy or biology classes, but can also be integrated into broader STEAM contexts, connecting science with technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. For example, a plastinated heart can be studied in biology to understand its structure, in physics to analyze blood flow dynamics, in mathematics to calculate proportions and volumes, or even in art to inspire anatomical drawing and design projects.
Equally important is the possibility of combining different OrganKits in classroom practice. By working with several plastinated organs at the same time—such as pairing the lungs with the heart, or the stomach with the intestines—students gain a systemic view of how organs interact within the human body. This integrative approach allows them to connect knowledge across disciplines, develop critical and creative thinking, and better understand the complexity of biological systems.
In this way, OrganKits foster not only scientific learning, but also a holistic educational experience where diverse subjects intersect, helping students build meaningful connections between disciplines and preparing them to approach real-world challenges from multiple perspectives.
The interdisciplinary potential of OrganKits is clearly illustrated in the diagram above, which resembles a metro map where different subjects converge at common learning “stations.” Each colored line represents a discipline—Biology, Mathematics, Engineering, Technology, and Arts—while the plastinated heart serves as the central hub connecting them all.
For example, in Biology, the heart is explored through anatomy and blood circulation. This connects directly to Engineering, where the study of valves links to designing pumps and sampling devices. Mathematics intersects by analyzing probabilities of heart disease and prevention strategies, while Technology explores applications such as blood pressure machines, endoscopy, and monitoring devices. Finally, Arts contributes by examining the representation of emotions through the heart, linking with mental health perspectives.
The diagram also highlights how different OrganKits can interact with each other—for instance, the heart connects with the Neumohealth Kit (lungs), the Sportshealth Kit, or the Mentalhealth Kit, reinforcing a systemic understanding of the human body.
This visual metaphor demonstrates how OrganKits encourage teachers to design interdisciplinary pathways that combine multiple fields, promoting a holistic approach where students experience science, technology, mathematics, engineering, and arts as interconnected domains rather than isolated subjects.
