In recent years, partly driven by the latest global pandemic crisis, technologies have been extending their use both generally and in the educational field. Although new technologies can provide different ways to interact, communicate, provide materials, or assess students, this should not be seen as synonymous with better or innovative teaching, as often happens.

At the university, students are required to use digital media such as computers or phones for multiple tasks such as attendance control or activity completion, among many others. However, these obligations and new trends can collide with the real interests and preferences of the students.

Based on a survey conducted among university students, it is found that although they have a good relationship with the constant use of technologies, and that 44% prefer the use of digital activities over tangible ones, 31% have no clear preference between tangible or digital, and 25% prefer tangible activities over digital ones. Additionally, it is seen that there is a clear preference among students to study on paper, and it is found that more than a third of the students suffer distractions caused by the use of technological devices during the process of recording their attendance in class.

This article presents the foundations of the birth of a new teaching innovation group at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, which it is being created with the idea of developing complementary activities to the already usual online ones, in the field of STEM subjects, based on the development of activities with tangible materials, using different resources such as 3D printing, tangible immediate feedback techniques, and collaborative work, among others, with the aim of complementing the activities carried out in the different subjects, to meet the different needs of the students, who, as has been seen, and in a not insignificant number, seem to appreciate more everyday, tangible, and less abstract activities.

These types of resources are very useful in STEM subjects and especially in mathematics, as they can help eliminate a certain degree of abstraction from different concepts, as well as foster a positive working environment in the classroom, and contribute to greater proactivity and active involvement of the student in their learning process.

Keywords: Innovation, tangible, 3D printing, STEM, mathematics.