THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE STUDENT TEACHERS’ STEM LITERACY THROUGH THE COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION COMBINED WITH LOCAL RESOURCE STEM EDUCATION CAMP IN SURAT THANI
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Abstract
Science student teachers’ STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) literacy must be improved for their professional development and to enable them to apply this basic knowledge in instructional STEM education. This study investigates ways to promote science student teachers’ STEM literacy and identifies the effect of STEM literacy development through community participation combined with a STEM camp in a locality in Surat Thani. The study participants were 64 fourth-year science student teachers who were selected purposively from the first semester of academic year 2017–2018 at a teacher training institute in Southern Thailand. This study is aimed at research and development (R & D) in this area. Multiple data sources including STEM classroom observations, interviews, and document analyses were used. Data were analyzed and categorized using content analysis through an inductive process. The study findings indicated that focusing on real-life contextual situations, engineering design process practices, hands-on activities, team work, use of technology to solve problems, reflection, STEM lesson plan design, and STEM teaching practice can improve science student teachers' STEM literacy. Furthermore, their holistic STEM literacy can be increased from a medium level to a high level. Most science student teachers could well apply self-knowledge in the fields of science, mathematics, and technology to engineering design processes to solve problems and innovate. They could also apply their STEM disciplinary knowledge to instructional STEM education.
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