Investigating the effectiveness of composite making instructions on secondary school integrated STEM education

Abstract

Researchers are exploring efficient approaches to promote integrated STEM education. Though some studies have adopted making as an instructional design to develop K- 12 students, few of them have purposely explored the effectiveness of different composite making instructions in cultivating learners’ multiples capabilities. To fill the gap, this empirical study proposes to evaluate the effectiveness of using making only, with mentoring, and with authentic problem instructional strategies on secondary school integrated STEM education. It aims to exam the changes of students’ creativity, critical thinking, STEM identity, and STEM interest development after participating in the pre-designed STEM making interventions. In this proposal, we will illustrate our research motivations, research questions, methodology, and the expected implications of the study, hoping to gain some constructive suggestions to improve this dissertation work-in-progress.