Applying Relatedness to Explain Learning Outcomes of STEM Maker Activities

Abstract

A growing interest has been observed among K-12 school educators to incorporate maker pedagogy into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education to engage students in the design and making process. Both cognitive engagement and emotional engagement of students can be promoted through satisfying the psychological need of relatedness that concerns a sense of connection and belonging. How to support relatedness would influence the effective development of students’ cognitive competencies, namely creativity and critical thinking, and non-cognitive characteristics, namely interest and identity. Therefore, the present study investigated how two relatedness support strategies—real-world problems (RWP) and mentoring influence the development of student’s STEM-related cognitive competencies and non-cognitive characteristics in STEM marker activities. We implemented a 7-week intervention study with three classes of Grade 9 students (aged 13–15 years) in Hong Kong (n = 95). Three intervention conditions were designed in the experiment, comprising textbook problem (TBP), RWP, and RWP with mentoring (RWPM). Our analysis showed that (i) the differences in creativity among the three groups were non-significant, (ii) the RWP and RWPM groups showed stronger critical thinking than the TBP group, and (iii) the RWPM group exhibited stronger STEM interest and identity than the other two groups. This study revealed the effectiveness of adopting RWP strategy in developing secondary students’ perceived cognitive competencies (e.g., creativity and critical thinking) and the feasibility of employing a mentoring mechanism for cultivating learners’ perceived non-cognitive characteristics (e.g., STEM identity and interest). Hence, we also offered practical suggestions for teachers.

Fostering Student STEM Interest and Identity Using Self-determination Theory

“…Teachers can foster student development of STEM interest and identity by supporting student three needs through integrated STEM learning problems. These results are aligned with studies related to SDTbased teacher motivational behaviors (De Meyer et al, 2014;Moore et al, 2020;Weng et al, 2022).…”

“…Relatedness is often discussed in terms of group experiences and teacher involvement (Niemiec & Ryan, 2009). Relatedness-supportive STEM learning environments should nurture student psychological need for emotional connections by fostering interpersonal relationships (Chiu et al, 2020;Weng et al, 2022). Teachers can encourage their students to build personal relationships in attempts to solve social problems relevant to them, such as neighborhood issues (e.g., designing masks in a pandemic) or hot global issues (e.g., climate change).…”

“…Therefore, scholars have examined various issues related to integrated STEM education in schools. The development of student STEM interest and identity considerably in uences their choice to enroll in STEM programs and their career aspirations, which are extremely important in promoting integrated STEM education (Honey et al, 2014;Robnett & Leaper, 2012;Weng et al, 2022). Although scholars have clearly de ned STEM interest in the literature, the formation of STEM identity is less clearly de ned (Martin-Hansen, 2018;Vincent-Ruz & Schunn, 2018).…”

“…Although scholars have clearly de ned STEM interest in the literature, the formation of STEM identity is less clearly de ned (Martin-Hansen, 2018;Vincent-Ruz & Schunn, 2018). Studies exploring the development of STEM interest and identity have (i) ignored the integrated nature of STEM education and focused on multiple disciplines, namely, science, technology, mathematics, or engineering (e.g., Carlone & Johnson, 2007;Godwin et al, 2016;Kim, 2018;Kim et al, 2018;Robinson et al, 2019;Vincent-Ruz & Schunn, 2018); (ii) focused on student equality in the context of underrepresentation of genders, ethnicities, and languages (Carlone & Johnson, 2007;Cohen et al, 2021;Godwin et al, 2016;Kim et al, 2018); (iii) examined the effect of role models and mentors on the development of STEM interest and identity (Weng et al, 2022); and (iv) highlighted the importance of the early development of STEM interest and identity (Cohen et al, 2021). These ndings are echoed by a comprehensive report on the research agenda of STEM integration in K-12 education (Honey et al, 2014).…”

Promoting Secondary Students' Twenty-First Century Skills and STEM Career Interests Through a Crossover Program of STEM and Community Service Education

“…Meanwhile, constructivist learning paradigms have been largely promoted in school education since the past two decades (Luk et al, 2006 ; Jong et al, 2010 ; Song et al, 2017 ; Bower and Jong, 2020 ). Instead of using conventional didactic teaching approaches, successful STEM education programs usually adopt constructivist student-centered approaches with a strong emphasis on learners' active participation (Ulger, 2018 ; Wan et al, 2021 ; Weng et al, 2022 ). Integrating community service learning (Yorio and Ye, 2012 ; Chiva-Bartoll et al, 2020 ) with STEM education, where learners apply what they learn to provide solutions to the problems in their communities, is considered an innovative and constructivist approach (Collins et al, 2020 ; Marcus et al, 2021 ).…”