Work in Progress: Promoting People Skills and STEM in Students via Interactive Activities and AI

The increasing emphasis on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education globally and the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) have highlighted the importance of equipping students with technical skills, people skills, and computational thinking. These competencies are critical for addressing the challenges of modern work environments and fostering innovative solutions. This paper presents an educational initiative that combines interactive activities, including the “Marshmallow Challenge” and Tinkercad-based coding, with the “SS Chatbot UAN,” an AI-powered tool designed to enhance learning outcomes. Conducted with secondary school students aged 14–16, this project aimed to strengthen teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills while promoting confidence in sequential coding tasks. The findings demonstrate significant improvements in students’ collaboration and computational thinking, supported by high engagement and satisfaction levels. This study underscores the transformative potential of integrating AI technologies and experiential learning methodologies into pre-university STEM education.