An investigation of the effectiveness of exploring STEM through literature in Hong Kong local secondary setting /

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Student Projects

2022

Loak, Oi Ming

Hong Kong : Education University of Hong Kong

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The 15-year-old Hong Kong students' reading, mathematics and sciences performances in PISA dropped in 2018. Also, the Hong Kong students' interest in Mathematics and Science is lower than that in the other areas nearby, like Marco and Shanghai. It is believed that there is a positive relationship between reading and academic performance. Thus, it is vital to increase students' interest in reading STEM literature.This research aims to investigate the factors that affect junior form students in reading STEM literature, the performance of integration and interpretation skills in reading STEM literature, how reading STEM literature contributes to junior form students' learning in STEM and the changes in attitude towards STEM after reading STEM literature. The purpose of this research is that provide some insights to schools and teachers in discovering the ways to improve students' effectiveness in exploring STEM through literature.PISA focuses on investigating students' proficiency in applying knowledge to authentic situations while Hong Kong education focuses on training examination and memorization skills. So, in this investigation, it is tried to apply an authentic and problem-solving task in a reading activity.In this research, it is found that the two most significant factors that make junior form students read STEM literature are the fulfilment of homework requirements, teachers' recommendation and personal interests. The last two shares the same position as the second. Second, the overall performance of reading literacy in STEM literature, focusing on integration and interpretation skills, is satisfactory but diverse. Third, reading STEM literature does not contribute to academic performance explicitly in junior form students' opinions. However, in this investigation, students showed a positive change in attitude towards STEM literature. It is believed that applying authentic and problem-based solving tasks can enable students to link their knowledge to the real world. It is suggested to apply more authentic and problem-based solving tasks in the future. Once students get used to them, they can develop a positive attitude towards STEM literature. The reason is that they find reading worthful and can be applied to day-to-day life. They gain a sense of achievement in the activities. In turn, their academic performance in STEM-related subjects will be improved. Fourth, despite the students' interest in STEM literature increases, they will not spend more time reading STEM literature in the future. The reasons and suggestions are discussed in this research

LG51.H43 hp BEd(Sci) 2022eb Loakom

https://educoll.lib.eduhk.hk/records/T84rM1Bp