Research Studies

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) have always been a part of the lives of families and communities. In addition to recognizing the expertise in STEM knowledge and practices that citizens develop through participation in everyday life activities, many countries across the world also consider STEM essential to economic development and societal advancement. As nations seek to develop a skilled and responsive workforce, STEM education is often a key policy priority.

Thailand was one of the world's poorest nations following World War II. Since then the country has grown rapidly, experiencing an average rate of growth of 6.3% between 1952 and 2005, and moving into the upper middle income group of nations in 2011. This turnaround was due in large part to the rapid expansion in export-orientated manufacturing. More recently growth has slowed to around 3.5% per annum. This has led some commentators to question whether Thailand has fallen into the middle-income trap. This is a situation in which developing economies stop growing before they become rich. Opportunities for growth in such countries are restricted because they are unable to compete with low-wage / low-skill competitors in their established markets and lack the skills, research and innovation base required to compete with the rich, innovative and technologically advanced countries that dominate higher-value industry sectors.

Chemistry is physical science that studies the composition, structure, properties and change of matter. Chemistry involves a diverse range of abstract concepts which require a certain level of student imagination especially an Atomic Structure learning. Team Learning is popular known as cooperative learning which implicate to High Impact Practices [HIP], it’s often used carelessly with too little regard to the composition of the groups , the appropriateness of the tasks they are assigned or the assessment of their work. Therefore, physical models have been developed to help students learn chemistry more easily. Taking this idea on board, a learning unit consisting of a vegetables-and-fruits model representing the atomic structure with the incorporation of the use of team learning has been developed in this study for 10th graders in introductory chemistry.

The content in science lesson of the 7th Grade on the atmosphere was found difficult to understand. This may be because the content was about the natural phenomenon whose learning model was imitated from the real phenomenon, such as, the simulation of wind, cloud, fog and steam, etc. Also, some students were unable to link the lesson content to the situations in daily life. Therefore, in order to provide profound understanding on the lesson of atmosphere, the teaching process should be based on “Constructivist Learning Theory.” In other words, it was the process of learning new things based on the knowledge background of the students or developing their knowledge through learning experiences. The teachers were then required to find out the student’s knowledge background and tried to link them with the new knowledge. To do so, the students were assigned to present their science concept to explain the natural phenomenon.

Science education is designed to enable students to learn through the processes of finding evidences, proving, and discovering based on scientific skills and processes. The lessons science teachers designed for students should be exciting, challenging and engaging. Most importantly, the lessons must be inspiring for the students to gain knowledge by themselves. The students will also need to be competent in the 21st century skills, according to the High-Impact Practices [HIP]: HIP guideline. The concept of HIP gained from relevant researches in knowledge design and management and then was concluded to be a practical guideline. It comprised of the lesson design, the cognitive demand of classroom tasks, the group and team learning, the formative assessment, the students’ discourse and discussion, the frequent writing inside and outside the class as well as the inquiry-based learning process. This HIP approach that highlighted the self-learning and self-discovery of knowledge by students advanced their skills important to the 21st century.

The content of fossil fuels was one of the contents in learning both basic and additional chemistry courses of the science lesson. According to the interview of the 12th Grade of Muncha Suksa School on 2017 academic year, the content of fossil fuel was basic knowledge that the students viewed too difficult. Therefore, the researcher implemented the 7E Learning Cycle and Highly Effective Learning Approach initiated by Eisenkraft together with Highly Effective Learning Approach in order to develop the teaching and to study the performance in learning the Fossil Fuels of the 12th Grade students of Muncha Suksa School, Khon Kaen Province.

According to the observation on problems in teaching mathematics of the 7th Grade students, it was found that the problem was the lack of instructional media. The significant factors in developing the students’ skills and proficiency, in growing their self-learning ability and in applying the knowledge in the real life were to provide more knowledge source and learning activities as well as to select the efficient instructional media and the appropriate teaching technique. Referring to the survey of teaching activity provided to the 7th Graders of Ban Don Han Community School on the 2016 academic year, it could be seen that the performance of students did not meet satisfactory level. In order to develop education to be efficient and effective, the activities should be various, students-centered and develop the skills in working as a team, in solving problems and in inquiring knowledge by themselves. This aimed to encourage and develop the higher performance of the students.

STEM Education is an interdisciplinary approach to learning that removes the traditional barriers separating the four disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and integrates them into real-world and relevant learning experiences for students (Vasquez, Comer, & Sneider, 2013).

The education in the 21st century aims at developing the learners to have important skills in order to be efficiently adapting to the changing world. Thus, in order to enhance students’ skills in learning in the 21st century, the design of learning process in science should be taken into account. The researcher decided to study the result of students’ achievement and working process hoping to scale up the learning skills necessary for the 21st century task force; particularly through implementing a set of activities based on Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) procedures. These activities were anticipated to perfectly enhance the seven students’ learning skills in the 21st century; namely: a.) Critical Thinking, b.) Creative Thinking Skills, c.) Team Work Capability, d.) Communication Skill, e.) Computer and Technological Skills, f.) Professional and Life Skills and g.) Learning Skills

Applying multimedia teaching, teachers need to have the strategies in using it to promote students’ learning capabilities, stimulate their enthusiasm and enhance instructional materials and means. This study made use of HiTeach Software, the interactive teaching software from HANDBOOK Information Technology Group. To perform the interactive class effectively, | implemented the lesson plan with HiTeach to facilitate the classroom engagement for the topic polynomial factorization for 8th-9th grade students.

According to the researcher’s experience in teaching Chemistry, it was found that the students had ambiguous conceptual understanding on the content of Atom and the table of Elements. Thus, they were unable to link to the significant content in terms of the properties of elements and their compound that would lead to the knowledge of elements and compound under the group of IA, IIA, VIIA, metalloids, transition metal, radioactive element as well as the properties and the change of status of substance.

The cluster random sampling technique was applied. The sampling target was 35 students in the 11th Grade of Suratpittaya 2 School under the Office of the Secondary Education Service Area 11. The test duration was made on the first semester of 2016 academic year. The research tools include the learning package, a 30-items conceptual test and a questionnaire to evaluate satisfaction. The statistical analysis in terms of percentage, mean, standard deviation and one-sample test were taken into account and used to evaluate data statistically.

In the 21st century education, educators should equip students with skills and abilities to think critically, examine problems, and gather information, collaboration communication, creativity and innovation required for success in their future. Therefore, educational systems must transform learning objectives, academic curriculum, pedagogies, and assessment methods to help all students achieve the ultimate outcomes required for a prosperous, attractive lifestyle based on effective contributions in work and citizenship (NCREL and Metiri, 2003).

The study was to apply the process of Lesson Study and Professional Learning Community (PLC) Approach of mathematics teachers in order to discuss the efficient teaching techniques in terms of the multiplication of the same integer: two positive integers, two negative integers or the multiplication of different integer: a positive and a negative integer or vice versa. The study was targeted to eleven students in the 7th Grade of eleven schools in three districts: Fang, Mae Ai and Chaiprakan in Chiang Mai Province.

The researcher generally used the teaching technique of problem-based approach by encouraging the students to solve the mathematics problems and then provided the explanation and conclusion on that lesson. According to this kind of teaching led by the teacher, it was found that only the group of students with high performance paid attention in joining the activities whereas other groups with lower performance were somehow less attentive in class.

Regarding the education in class, the evidences to prove the students’ profound understanding could be seen from how they react in class through discussion or written opinions. Unfortunately, we could nowadays see only teachers conduct the lecture in front of the classroom hoping to complete their lessons as specified in the course indicators.

The issues of the wind, wind energy and the transformation of the wind energy into electricity were included in the science course no.5 under the Basic Education Core Curriculum B.E. 2551 (2008). Also, the objective of developing the students’ performance was determined in the section of human development of the 12th Plan of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) whose focus was on the development of skills important in the 21st century.

Exit Ticket is an effective technique to assess students’ understanding and existing knowledge. In math class, exit tickets are frequently used as solutions to problems that exemplify the day's learning objectives. With the aid of technology, Kahoot! is the game-based platform allowing teachers to create quizzes and surveys with data organization to ease performance tracking, level of understanding and time spent for each question. This resulting dataset is useful for teachers to adjust their own teaching or to pinpoint areas of misconception. This study has focused on how to use the application to create quizzes as exit ticket questions and the analysis of the dataset provided by Kahoot! system. It shows results of student comprehension that benefits lesson planning.

Learning mathematics was challenging since it was related to the calculation, the concept conclusion and the reasonable structure with particular mathematics rules and symbols. As such, learning mathematics was challenging to understand. This may be the reason why the study on mathematics was not too successful in the past.