A Study on the Impact of STEAM Education for Sustainable Development Courses and Its Effects on Student Motivation and Learning

Abstract

In 2019, the United Nations released its 10-year policy of “ESD for 2030”. Many schools around the world have actively participated in the transformation and have included the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Many developed countries hope to combine the concept of STEAM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) with interdisciplinary learning, and apply it to ESD. This study intended to integrate the sustainability concept into Virtual Reality (VR) system-aided STEAM education, in order to provide school children with integrated interdisciplinary STEAM education. A literature review was conducted and the research hypotheses were proposed. The empirical method and questionnaires were used as research methods to investigate the influence of the proposed system on the students’ satisfaction, self-efficacy, and learning outcomes after cognition learning. The results of this study showed that the combination of STEAM education, with VR-aided experience courses, could help to improve the learning satisfaction and outcomes of students and to arouse their learning motivation. However, the proposed system needs an ESD that is based on students’ traditional culture (such as designing a role-playing game), so that they can improve their self-efficacy through playing a VR game. Although VR games are interesting, they are difficult for some students to play. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the teaching materials, methods, and strategies appropriately by using information technology, so that ESD can be achieved by inspiring students to explore continuously. The findings can serve as a reference for further relevant studies.

Thai undergraduate science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) creative thinking and innovation skill development: a conceptual model using a digital virtual classroom learning environment

“…According to English ( 2017 ), STEAM education is a teaching method that focuses on heightening each student’s interest in each discipline by increasing their expression, innovation, and aesthetic perception capabilities (Taylor, 2016 ), of which innovation is the most important (Hsiao & Su, 2021 ). In the United States, STEM became a national priority imitated by the National Science Foundation for all levels of secondary education (Sanders, 2009 ), whose goal was to provide students with critical thinking skills that had the potential to make students creative thinking problem solvers who would eventually be marketable in the workforce (White, 2014 ).…”

English as a foreign language instruction in Ecuador: Implementation of the Content and Language Integrated-Learning during 2019-2021

“…ICT use can enhance students' motivation as well. Hsiao and Su (2021) suggested that as learning motivation, referring to a kind of attitude in which students naturally and willingly participate in learning towards the teaching goal and the internal psychological process set by the teachers, plays a significant role in a learning process, consequently, teachers can use diverse technological devices to increase students' learning motivation, which is a critical condition in every educational context. Instead of the tremendous benefits it gives, the use of ICT in an educational setting has some drawbacks.…”

Habilidades del siglo XXI y entornos de aprendizaje STEAM: una revisión

“…(2015), but there is some controversy on the meaning or representation that the "A" stands for. Primarily it stands for Arts as the creative bit but it does not mean the other subjects lack creative thinking or creative problem-solving (Perignat & Katz-Buonincontro, 2019;Grecca et al 2021;Leroy & Romero, 2021;Hsiao & Su, 2021).…”