Development of a STEM Teaching Strategy to Foster 21st-Century Skills in High School Students Through Gamification and Low-Cost Biomedical Technologies

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) is essential for the development of 21st-century skills, particularly in a world driven by technological innovation. However, in vulnerable school contexts, access to meaningful STEM experiences remains limited. This study addresses this issue through the design and implementation of a didactic strategy in a public high school in Bogotá, Colombia, based on two educational resources: the BioSen electronic board, which is compatible with Arduino technology and designed to acquire physiological signals such as electrocardiography (ECG), electromyography (EMG), electrooculography (EOG), and body temperature; and the Space Exploration instructional guide, which is organized around contextualized learning missions. This study employed a quasi-experimental mixed-methods design that combined pre–post perception questionnaires, unstructured classroom observations, and a contextualized knowledge test administered to three student groups. Findings demonstrate that after eight weeks of implementation with upper secondary students, the strategy had a positive impact on the development of 21st-century skills, such as creativity, computational thinking, and critical thinking. These skills were assessed through a mixed quasi-experimental design combining perception questionnaires, qualitative observations, and knowledge evaluations. Unlike the control groups, students who participated in the intervention adjusted their self-perceptions when facing real-world challenges and showed progress in the application of key competencies. Overall, the results support the effectiveness of integrating low-cost biomedical tools with gamified STEM instruction to enhance higher-order thinking skills and student engagement in vulnerable educational contexts.