**3. STEM methodologies in management disciplines**

Educational processes involve technology as mechanisms for teaching-learning for the development of skills that facilitate university students to perform in the workplace [1]. It is evident that it is immersed in young people and digital natives, because they find in their tools ways to solve any kind of problem in the educational field, which implies addiction to these devices [9]. The methodologies for teaching STEM, allow the student to analyze the different facts and use them according to cognitive processes that favor the practical application of theories [8], with which university students can train by competencies to perform in their managerial disciplinary field [14].

These methods are oriented toward courses related to basic sciences and can be used in any area of knowledge; for example, in socioeconomic contexts, university students can acquire skills and competencies necessary for their performance in the managerial field in terms of information analysis and problem solving [8]. Strohmaier, Ehmke, Härtig and Leiss [26] show that for the efficient use of these methodologies, STEM-based courses should be oriented with a syntax for student understanding without the pre-knowledge being an inconvenience for student participation, and in this way, the university student manages the technological tools in the teaching-learning process.

These technologies require adjustments for their optimal application in the classroom in HEIs, as indicated by different authors and as shown in **Figure 1**. In organizational processes, it is necessary to urge teachers to demand more in STEM methodologies activities and the use of technology, avoiding paternalism and being flexible in qualifications [27]; to adapt it in education so that teachers use it flexibly with students [26]; to provide spaces that allow the development of digital competencies of teachers for an efficient use of technology in the classroom [9]; and to promote the participation and interaction of teachers and students to take advantage of these technologies [1]. And, in the educational processes, teachers must improve the understanding of the methodology so that they are used naturally in their courses and so that students are satisfied [8]; adapt the documents used within the classroom to STEM methodologies according to the educational level and the inclusion of technologies to form the competencies required by students [26]; establish parameters for universal understanding that includes any student, without taking into account the pre-knowledge of the use of the methodology but considering their knowledge about the topics [14]; encourage motivation, interest, and the increase of previous knowledge for an efficient use in teaching-learning; and promote the participation of students in an active and voluntary way to have more satisfactory results, where they are reflected in their personal results [25].

The above scenario identifies those challenges that are required from HEIs to strengthen the application of STEM methodologies and the commitment of teachers *Educational Innovation in Higher Education with the Use of Management Simulators… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.112771*

#### **Figure 1.**

*STEM challenges in higher education.*

to use them in a natural way to include students in the teaching-learning process in a flexible manner. It should be considered that most of the university students who use technology in the classroom are from generation Z, which implies the need to offer new methodologies that guarantee them autonomous learning, outside the classroom and according to their expectations so that they participate voluntarily and obtain their own satisfactions with the learning of their knowledge [9]. In fact, the negative influence of technology addiction in the development of young people's competencies and in their academic performance implies that HEI educational models are required to use methodologies that integrate technological devices, as is the case of STEM to satisfy them and keep them attentive in teaching-learning [9]. An experiment by Flegr et al. [25] used video as a tool in distance learning, in times of COVID, when it was necessary to devise alternatives to make practical experiments for the understanding of a subject. On the other hand, Minichiello et al. [27] evidenced the use of digital tools to make courses more flexible in times of pandemic, where participation and practical learning of different topics were encouraged. In this way and following the use of these technological tools to improve educational processes, the use of simulators allows to students of any discipline to apply knowledge and use simulated face-to-face and virtual environments that favor training by competencies [1] and the appropriation of methodologies such as STEM in the field of learning.
