Development of Assessment Tools for Learning Management in STEM Education

Abstract

The research objectives were 1) to create and develop assessment tools for learning management in STEM Education, and 2) to find the relationships between each of the assessment tools for learning management in STEM Education. The research methodology was divided into two phases. The first phase dealt with creation of the assessment tools for learning management, using literature review and focus group discussion. The sample consisted of teachers, educational supervisors, experts in evaluation and educators, totaling 30, obtained through purposive sampling. The second phase dealt with trying out and implementing the assessment tools. The sample of the tryout stage consisted of 406 science and mathematics teachers in lower secondary schools and 9,697 students from 215 schools nationwide. The sample of the implementation stage comprised 272 teachers from the tryout stage and 6,238 students who were not in the tryout stage, from 144 schools nationwide. Both of the samples were obtained through cluster sampling. The statistics used to check the quality of the research tools were discrimination and Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was used to find the relationships between them. The research results revealed that the assessment tools for learning management in STEM Education comprised 3 quantitative tools as follows: 1) the self-assessment form for learning management in STEM Education, 2) the students' perception assessment form for learning management in STEM Education, 3) UTOP class observation, and 4) 1 qualitative tool, which was the interview form for the teacher’s process of learning management. Regarding the quality of the research tools, the discrimination ranged from 0.28 to 0.66, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient ranged from 0.58 to 0.94. The relationships of UTOP and the self-assessment had the Pearson’s correlation coefficient ranging from .08 to .69, a low to moderate level of correlation. Also, the UTOP and the students' perception assessment had the Pearson’s correlation coefficient ranging from .11 to .89, a low to high correlation level, with statistical significance at the .05 level. Therefore, it can be concluded that the assessment tools which consisted of the self-assessment form, the students' perception assessment form, the interview form and the classroom observation could reflect authentic learning management in STEM Education and can be effectively applied to teacher and student development.