Effects of the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Activities Related to Mitosis Topic on Academic Achievement and Engineering Design Ability

Abstract

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education can help students having knowledge and understanding for using in their daily life.  Organization of STEM activities based on inquiry-based learning are teaching methods which can help students understand scientific concepts and engineering design ability. This study was aimed to compare academic achievement and engineering design ability of grade 10 students who learned by using STEM activities based on inquiry-based learning. The sample use in this study consisted of 29 grade 10 students in science-mathematics major of Benchamarachuthit Chanthaburi School, Thailand. The research instrument used in this study were (i) STEM activities based on inquiry-based learning lesson plan in the topic mitosis, (ii) an academic achievement in the topic mitosis test with difficulties (P) ranging 0.32 – 0.65, discriminating power ranging 0.35 – 0.76 and a reliability of 0.87, and (iii) an engineering design ability test with difficulties (P) ranging from 0.46 – 0.67 with discriminating power of 0.39 – 0.72 and reliability of 0.81. Results showed that the STEM activities based on inquiry-based learning lesson plan had effective criterion 81.55/90.66. Effectiveness index of STEM activities based on inquiry-based learning was 0.85. The posttest scores of academic achievement and engineering design ability test were significantly higher than those pretest scores (p < .05). Therefore, the instructor could implement this teaching method for learners to achieve their learning outcomes in the future.