EXPLORING CHANGES IN PRIMARY STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) ACROSS GENDERS AND GRADE LEVELS

TitleEXPLORING CHANGES IN PRIMARY STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) ACROSS GENDERS AND GRADE LEVELS
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2019
AuthorsZhou, S-N, Zeng, H, Xu, S-R, Chen, L-C, Xiao, H
JournalJournal of Baltic Science Education
Volume18
Issue3
Start Page466-480
PaginationContinuous
Date PublishedJune/2019
Type of ArticleOriginal article
ISSN1648-3898
Other NumbersE-ISSN 2538-7138
Keywordsgender differences, grade levels, project-based integrated STEM program, school students, STEM education
Abstract

Primary education is an essential stage and has an important impact on students’ learning attitudes throughout the coming school years. The research explored the attitudes towards science, technology, engineering and mathematics among students through all grade levels in primary school. The Project-based Integrated STEM Program was proposed to study the changes of primary students’ attitudes towards STEM. An assessment of S-STEM which consists of the STEM subscale and the 21st century skills subscale was utilized for both pre-test and post-test. The results showed that primary students exhibited little different attitudes on the S-STEM in the pre-test, regardless of gender and grade level. As evident from the comparison between the pre-test and post-test, the Project-based Integrated STEM Program had a positive effect on student attitudes towards STEM. It is encouraging if there are more STEM-related programs implemented at all educational stages covering the primary level.

URLhttp://oaji.net/articles/2019/987-1559372673.pdf
DOI10.33225/jbse/19.18.466
Refereed DesignationRefereed
Full Text