Current State, Problem, Need and Readiness for STEM education in Islamic Private Schools

Abstract

The objective of this research was to explore the current state, problem, need and readiness for STEM education of Islamic private school science teachers. Data collection tool was questionnaire which comprised of 5 parts including: 1) background, 2) current state of science teaching, 3) problem of teaching science, 4) need of science teachers in STEM education and 5) readiness for STEM education. Data were analyzed via frequency, percentage, and content analysis.  Findings show that most teachers had heard about or used to teach science through a variety of teaching methods, including STEM education. However, the majority of teachers preferred to use lecture (55%) since the major goals of learning science, according to their viewpoint, were content knowledge (92.5%) and higher education (65%). Top three problems that most science teachers encountered were related to (a) school context (85%), student competency (67.5%) and teacher teaching skill (62.5%), respectively. For the need of science teachers, it was found that most teachers need to develop their teaching capability in STEM education (82.5%). Around half of the respondents believed they can do STEM education in schools, though they had been facing with many obstacles.