DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT AND ABILITY TO SOLVING PROBLEMS OF GRADE 7 STUDENTS USING PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING WITH STEM EDUCATION

Abstract

          The purposes of this research were to compare: 1) the science learning achievement of grade 7 students before and after learning by using problem-based learning with STEM education, and after learning with the set criteria; and 2) the problem solving  ability of grade 7 students before and after learning by using problem-based learning with STEM education. The research sample, derive by cluster random sampling, was 43 grade 7 students who was studying in the second semester of the academic year 2019 at Banharnjamsaiwittaya 1 School, Don Chedi District, Suphan Buri Province. The research instruments consisted of: 1) 5 lesson plans, for  24 hours learning, based on problem-based learning with STEM education for grade 7 students with validity between 0.67-1.00; 2) a science achievement test with validity of 1.00, difficulty index between 0.25–0.80, power of discrimination between 0.29–0.41, and reliability of 0.86; and 3) a test on problem solving ability with validity of 1.00, difficulty index between 0.45–0.75, power of discrimination between 0.30–0.38, and reliability of 0.90. Data were analyzed with mean, standard deviation, and t-test.

          The findings of this research were as follows: 1) the students’ science learning achievement after learning by using problem-based learning with STEM education was higher than that of before; and higher than the set criteria of 80% with statistical significance at .05 level; and 2) the students’ problem solving ability after learning by using problem-based learning with STEM education was higher than that of before with statistical significance at .05 level.