This study mainly aimed to explore the effects of project-based learning (PBL) integrated into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) activities and to analyze the creativity displayed by junior high school students while performing these activities. With a quasi-experimental design, 60 ninth-grade students from a junior high school in southern Taiwan were selected as subjects to participate in the six-week teaching experiment. The teaching design was centered on STEM activities and integrated with the strategy of project-based learning. The teaching contents included teaching materials integrating CaC2 steamship-derived knowledge of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, physics and chemistry as well as related teaching activities. Three conclusions were drawn. First, the key teaching points of the five stages of STEM project-based learning-preparation, implementation, presentation, evaluation and correction-can improve students' creativity. The learning objectives of STEM project-based learning can strengthen students' ability in STEM learning and STEM-integrated application. STEM project-based learning can further develop the affective domain of creativity, including adventurousness, curiosity, imagination and challenge. Based on the conclusions, this paper proposes suggestions regarding the implementation of STEM PBL activities to enhance the creativity and STEMintegrated application ability of junior high school students.

The purpose of this study is to explore the ability indices of VR (virtual reality) technology when it is applied to assist the teaching of a welding practice course, develop a VR welding course as the basis of course planning and teaching design, and implement experimental teaching to verify its effectiveness. On the basis of a literature review and focus group interviews, initial ability indices of a VR welding course were proposed. Then, 15 experts from VR- and welding-related specialties were invited to form a consulting team to determine “the ability indices of the VR welding course” according to the results of a Fuzzy Delphi expert questionnaire. Moreover, the results of an ANP (Analytic Network Process) expert questionnaire were used to understand the relative importance of the ability indices of the VR welding course, as well as the relative feasibility of VR-assisted welding teaching, in order to develop a “VR welding course”, in which 34 first-grade students of the welding practice course were taken as the research objects during the implementation of experimental teaching. The qualitative research and analysis results are as follows: (1) the VR welding course includes 8 ability indices and 30 evaluation indices; (2) the item with the highest feasibility in VR-assisted welding teaching is “welding construction”, followed by “map reading and drawing”; (3) best feasibility of VR technology “Interaction” in assisting welding teaching; (4) the relative importance of the ability indices of the VR welding course is the greatest for “welding construction”, followed by “welding inspection”; (5) the VR welding course students express significant positive responses to the learning of ability indices and ability demonstration; (6) the majority of students express significant positive learning satisfaction with VR-assisted welding course teaching. This study puts forward a set of rigorous models for the construction of ability indices for a VR course and course development. It can provide a reference for introducing VR-assisted teaching to related welding courses that are run by universities of science and technology in Taiwan. Furthermore, such VR courses can offer students a safe, diversified, and efficient learning environment.

Abstract:The main purpose of this study is to investigate the development of the performance indicators of sustainable management in the Taiwanese bicycle industry and to perform an importance analysis.

The purposes of this study were to integrate imagination and STEAM education to construct a special topic course on wearable devices for pets for technology senior high school students studying electronic science; to explore the impacts of the learning process on students’ imagination, STEAM competences and satisfaction with learning effectiveness; and to investigate the integration of imagination into STEAM education. This study adopted the design research method and took 40 students in the third year of a special topic course in electronic science at a technology senior high school as the research subjects. The students were randomly divided into 8 groups, and teaching activities were carried out for 18 weeks. This study used questionnaire and documentary analysis methods to carry out peer evaluation, pretests, posttests and student self-report surveys to collect qualitative and quantitative data for statistical analysis and cross-validation. In this study, a new integration model of imagination and STEAM is proposed. The design research method was employed to plan the iSTEAM course and design special topic activities about real-life issues so that the degree of integration of imagination into the STEAM special topic course and the quality of the students’ work were moderately positively correlated and highly positively correlated, respectively, with students’ application of their learning from various aspects of iSTEAM, which can significantly enhance their imagination, STEAM competences, and satisfaction with their learning effectiveness. The iSTEAM teaching model can help engineering educators develop and evaluate iSTEAM courses and learning activities and provides new contributions to and research directions for STEAM education.

This study developed a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math)-6E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend, Enrich, Evaluate; 6E Learning by Design) special course based on the theme of creative design of IoT (Internet of Things) assistant devices for the elderly and investigated the impact of this course on students’ learning effectiveness. It invited eight experts and scholars for focus interviews, jointly developed the STEAM-6E special course, designed teaching activities around the theme of creative design of IoT assistant devices for the elderly, and created a learning effectiveness scale. Furthermore, it selected 46 students majoring in nursing in a vocational and technological college as its subjects and distributed copies of a questionnaire among them to explore learning effectiveness. This study reached the following conclusions. The STEAM-6E special course on the creative design of IoT assistant devices for the elderly included three dimensions, that is, the STEAM course, 6E teaching, and the acquisition of professional knowledge, as well as 17 competence indicators. The nursing students affirmed the learning outcome in the STEAM-6E course, the 6E teaching model, and thematic knowledge after attending the STEAM-6E course. The hands-on activities of the STEAM-6E special course could guide students to learn key points step by step. The STEAM-6E special course can strengthen students’ abilities to integrate STEAM knowledge and improve their learning effectiveness in each discipline. The STEAM-6E special course for the elderly improved the cooperative learning, professional knowledge, and confidence of the students. In light of these conclusions, this study developed a teaching model for the STEAM-6E special course on the creative design of IoT assistant devices for the elderly and proposed several suggestions for curriculum planning and the implementation of a STEAM-6E special course.

The purpose of this study was to construct a blended, project-based learning creative instructional design model for university students that responds to the demands of the digital age, enhances student learning achievements in creativity, and cultivates student creative ability in independent thinking and innovation. This study organizes and analyzes blended learning, project-based learning, and the literature on creativity to summarize creative instructional design indicators for blended project-based learning, and it uses the fuzzy Delphi method for expert questionnaire analysis to filter the indicators most suited to university students. This study proposes that the four dimensions of creative instructional design are the following: 1) creative character traits; 2) ability in the creative process; 3) innovative product design, and 4) an instructional environment for creativity, with a total of 23 design indicators. Based on the results of the expert questionnaire analysis and evaluation mechanisms, the levels of importance and primary consideration indicators of the design indicators are established. The results show that incorporation of creative instructional design in blended, project-based learning can sufficiently cover the content of the four dimensions of creativity and that this approach gains the approval of most experts. This instructional design model can be used as an indicator for creativity learning effect assessment of university students, as a basis for creative instructional design by teachers, and as a reference for creativity curricular planning in university engineering colleges. This model can effectively enhance student creativity learning effects and, in turn, achieve the objective of an overall elevation of national competitiveness.

The purpose of this study is to explore the application of VR (virtual reality) technology to assist the development of VR welding courses in welding practice teaching, and to implement experimental teaching to verify its effectiveness. The preliminary VR welding curriculum structure was developed by this study according to the results of literature review and focus group interviews, the student-based “VR welding course” was developed, and 34 first-year students of the electric welding practice course were taken as the research subjects to implement experimental teaching and case study. The qualitative and quantitative research and analysis results are as follows. (1) The results of the final test of the welding practice of most students are significantly higher than the results of the mid-term test. (2) Most students expressed significant positive affirmation of the learning effect of the VR-assisted welding course. (3) Most students were very significantly positive regarding their learning satisfaction with the VR-assisted welding teaching course. (4) The four major implementation priorities of VR welding courses were planned. This study develops a “teaching mode of a welding implementation course assisted by virtual reality technology”, which can provide students with a safe, low-cost, repeatable, and sustainable welding skills learning environment, and has been positively affirmed by most students. In the future, the results of this study can provide reference for the introduction of virtual-reality-assisted teaching of welding related courses in various universities of science and technology, in order to strengthen teachers’ teaching ability in VR assisted implementation courses and provide students with more diversified learning stimuli.

Abstract:This study aims to establish a green supplier selection and guidance mechanism by integrating the features of an ANP (Analytic Network Process) and an IPA (Importance-Performance Analysis) to achieve sustainable management for green supply chains. Using an expert survey, this study developed green supplier selection criteria. It adopted an ANP, which allows for interdependencies and feedback between the various criteria, to select competitive green suppliers. Then, it used an IPA, which can analyze the criteria's significance and performance levels, to provide green suppliers with direction for guidance and improvements. The green supplier selection and guidance mechanism featuring an ANP and IPA is thus established and validated through case studies. The research results showed the following: (1) the green supplier selection criteria comprise a total of 11 performance evaluation criteria from the three dimensions of operation, competence, and environmental consciousness; (2) as shown by the APN evaluation results, environmental benefits, environmental regulations, finance, technological competence, and delivery time are the top five among the overall green criteria of the company; the performance of the various suppliers is thus arranged in order, and the most competitive supplier is selected; (3) an IPA is used to analyze the criteria's significance and supplier performance levels and to provide the suppliers with suggestions on priority improvements, including implementing the requirements in the environmental regulations, establishing comprehensive financial management procedures, improving corporate technological competence, and consolidating customer service; (4) it is suggested that an ANP and IPA should be integrated in the applications, which could simplify the green supplier selection and guidance mechanisms and increase the efficiency of supplier management, thus creating a three-win situation for the clients, the company, and the suppliers.