Creativity in Designing Virtual STEAM Tasks with Artificial Intelligence Mathematical Dance

Evidence suggests that integrating art into creative teaching improves students’ perceptions of STEM disciplines. Students’ educational experiences are inherently made more comprehensive through art, as it allows them to connect many facets of human experience and practice. Synergy between mathematics and technology can create opportunities to promote creativity among learners. This study aimed to investigate how creating mathematical dance with Artificial Intelligence-based Motion Capture (AI-MoCap) can foster creativity in designing Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) tasks for virtual learning environments. An exploratory study with 25 pre-service teachers was conducted at a Teacher Education Institute. The teachers collaborated to design STEAM educational tasks based on mathematical dance choreography. They then recorded short motions with AI-MoCap to generate dances using avatars, allowing the designed tasks to be delivered in the VLEs. The tasks produced were then analysed using a creativity in task design measurement. The findings indicate that pre-service teachers successfully created unique, interesting, clear, comprehensive, and aesthetically appealing tasks. The tasks work by translating mathematical concepts into dancing moves or vice versa and existing traditional dances into mathematical ideas. The program also positively impacted the perception of pre-service teachers in designing creative virtual learning environments.