Effects of small-scale chemistry STEM integrated with local contexts for enhancing grade 11 students’ learning achievement and learning and innovation skills

Abstract

This study aimed to; a) create the context-based small-scale chemistry STEM (CSSC-STEM) Model; and b) examine the effects of the CSSC-STEM model on students’ learning achievements and learning and innovation skills. The research methodology was Research and Development (R&D). In R1D1, 60 chemistry teachers and 136 students responded to reflect problems and needs about teaching and learning chemistry. In R2D2, 43 and 41 Grade 11 students were in an experiment and control groups, respectively. In R3D3, 40 and 36 students were in the experiment and control groups, respectively. The results showed that the experiment group had higher learning achievement in Rate of Chemical Reactions (t = 7.599, p < 0.05) than the control group. In addition, the experimental group had higher critical problem-solving skills (t = 20.968, p < 0.05) and creative thinking skills (t = 23.168, p < 0.05) than control group. The experiment group also gradually improved communication and teamwork skills throughout the model. The R3D3 results aligned with R2D2 showing the reliability of the CSSC-STEM model.