mathematics Article EXPLORIA, a New Way to Teach Maths at University Level as Part of Everything Pantaleón D. Romero 1, * ,† , Nicolas Montes 1,† , Sara Barquero 2,† , Paula Aloy 2,† , Teresa Ferrer 2,† , Marusela Granell 2,† and Manuel Millán 3,†   Citation: Romero, P.D.; Montes, N.; Barquero, S.; Aloy, P.; Ferrer, T.; Granell, M.; Millán, M. EXPLORIA, a New Way to Teach Maths at University Level as Part of Everything. Mathematics 2021, 9, 1082. https://doi.org/10.3390/ math9101082 Academic Editors: Francisco D. Fernández-Martín, José-María Romero-Rodríguez, Gerardo Gómez-García and Magdalena Ramos Navas-Parejo Received: 30 March 2021 Accepted: 7 May 2021 Published: 11 May 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Department of Mathematics, Physics and Technological Sciences, University CEU Cardenal Herrera, C/San Bartolome 55, CP 46115 Alfara del Patriarca (Valencia), Spain; nicolas.montes@uchceu.es 2 Department of Design and Architecture, University CEU Cardenal Herrera, C/San Bartolome 55, CP 46115 Alfara del Patriarca (Valencia), Spain; sara@uchceu.es (S.B.); paula.aloy@uchceu.es (P.A.); teresa.ferrer@uchceu.es (T.F.); marusela@uchceu.es (M.G.) 3 Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising, University CEU Cardenal Herrera, C/Luis Vives 1, CP 46115 Alfara del Patriarca (Valencia), Spain; manuel.millan@uchceu.es * Correspondence: pantaleon.romero@uchceu.es † These authors contributed equally to this work. Abstract: The main objective of this article has been to evaluate the effect that the implementation of the EXPLORIA project has had on the Engineering Degree in Industrial Design and Product Development. The EXPLORIA project aims to develop an integrated competence map of the learning process, where the subjects are no longer considered as isolated contents, by elaborating an integrated learning process where the competences and learning outcomes of the subjects are considered as a whole, global and comprehensive learning. The EXPLORIA project connects the competencies of the different STEAM subjects that make up the degree, designing a learning process as a logical, sequential and incremental itinerary. Through concepts on which the foundations of design are based—shape, volume, colour, space and structure—the competencies of the different subjects are defined in incremental learning levels: understanding, applying, experimenting and developing, all taken from Bloom’s taxonomy. Mathematics is linked to the rest of learning through active learning methodologies that make learning useful. This new methodology changes the student’s affective domain towards mathematics in which positive emotions are transformed into positive attitudes that will improve the learning result and therefore, the students’ academic results. To validate it, at the end of the paper, the academic results compared with previous years are shown, as well as an ad hoc survey of the students’ assessment of the new teaching methodology. Keywords: EXPLORIA; STEAM; active methodologies; university level; afective domain 1. Introduction Mathematics is described by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) as “Maths for Life” ([1], p. 4). This means that mathematics is essential for life as it helps in decision-making, planning, mathematical thinking and problem solving, which are necessary in different professional areas and daily life [2,3]. In [4] they add that mathematics is related to other sciences, not only numerical such as engineering or statistics, but also to arts, drawing, commerce, medicine, and so forth. 1.1. Affective Domain The affective domain is defined as a set of feelings, moods and states of mind, under- stood as something other than pure cognition, and among which three specific elements stand out: attitudes, beliefs and emotions [5,6]. In [5,6] it is explained that these factors interact in a cyclical way, in the way we perceive mathematics, as we can see in Figure 1. Mathematics 2021, 9, 1082. https://doi.org/10.3390/math9101082 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/mathematics