Design, Implementation and Functional Verification of an Educational Prototype with a Visual Programming Interface for Contextualized STEM Activities

The integration of open-source hardware and visual programming technologies provides an effective approach for developing contextualized STEM activities in higher education. This study presents the design, implementation, and functional verification of an educational prototype that combines customized electronic boards, sensors, and a visual programming interface developed in mBlock. The proposed platform integrates three educational boards—the Agriculture Board, Environment Board, and Aquaculture Board—for monitoring soil moisture, air-quality conditions, and water turbidity, respectively. The hardware implementation included the design and fabrication of customized printed circuit boards, followed by electrical continuity testing, power supply verification, and firmware execution. Customized programming blocks and communication extensions were then developed to enable interaction between the educational boards and the mBlock environment. Finally, the complete prototype was functionally verified during classroom implementation through contextualized STEM activities based on problem understanding, activity development, activity execution, and solution review. The results confirmed the correct operation of the hardware platform, successful communication between the educational boards and the visual programming environment, and real-time acquisition and visualization of sensor measurements. The integrated functional verification demonstrated correct interaction among the hardware platform, software extensions, connected sensors, and customized programming blocks under authentic classroom conditions. The proposed prototype provides a functional technological platform for implementing contextualized sensor-based STEM activities and demonstrates the feasibility of integrating open-source hardware and visual programming into higher education.