Teaching Challenges and Perceptions on STEM Implementation for Schools in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

STEM education has become one of the most rapidly growing sectors in educational reform all over the world. Whilst the program has been successfully implemented in most countries, unfortunately it has not been introduced as successfully in Saudi Arabia on account of lack of clarity of the general description of the meaning of STEM and its purpose and framework of application. In 2009, the Ministry of Education (MOE) introduced a new mathematics and science curriculum, in collaboration with Obeikan Research Development Company, as an adapted series of science and mathematics textbooks produced by an American publishing company McGraw Hill. The adapted curricula attempt to make meaningful connection between student's lives and their educational experiences through the implementation of new teaching practices which include student-centred investigation strategies and problem-based learning. The study was limited to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and used the interviews of high school mathematics and science teachers and class observational methods as a means of qualitative research in order to address the following research questions: • What are the major aspects of the new mathematics and science curricula that serve as a means of the implementation of STEM education in Saudi Arabia? • What are the perceptions of teachers on the implementation of the newly adapted science and mathematics curricula? • How are the newly adapted mathematics and science curricula delivered in the classrooms as form of STEM education? Results revealed that even though there is haziness in mathematics and science teachers on the actual meaning of the concept of STEM education and its practice, the new teaching strategies that are required by the MOE for the successful implementation of the adjusted curricula, were found to be equivalent to teaching practices that have been proven effective in the implementation of STEM education.

A systematic review of STEM education research in the GCC countries: trends, gaps and barriers

“…Looking at the factors that hinder STEM education (see Table 3), most of the studies included school-level factors (n = 10, 55.6%), such as teachers' perceptions of integrated STEM education (Aldahmash et al, 2019;Elayyan & Al-Shizawi, 2019;El-Deghaidy et al, 2017;Madani & Forawi, 2019), STEM curriculum and pedagogy (Awwad & Ayesh, 2013;Madani, 2020;Murphy et al, 2018), and STEM assessment (Alhashem & Agha, 2020). Second in line of the research focus are studies on environmental factors (n = 7, 38.92%), mostly related to the impact of stereotypes (Aswad et al, 2011;Forgasz et al, 2014;Pasha-Zaidi & Afari, 2016), the role of family members (Aswad et al, 2011) and family income (Khan & Rodrigues, 2017).…”

“…There seems to be a need to rethink the process of student teaching and assessment using science concepts rather than limiting instruction to the transmission of information from textbooks (Alhashem & Agha, 2020). In addition, enhancing dialogue between teachers of different STEM subjects is key to establishing a STEM culture, as Madani (2020) notes.…”

Self-Efficacy, Affective Well-Being, and Intent-to-Leave by Science and Mathematics Teachers: A Structural Equation Model

“…The results of this study provide some insights to educational leaders and communities on how to increase teacher retention in Science and Mathematics education because attracting and retaining STEM teachers is a greater problem than in any other discipline (Cowan et al, 2016). Therefore, it is an urgent issue for Turkey and other countries to attract and retain qualified Science and Mathematics teachers (Bozkurt Altan & Ercan, 2016;Horvath et al, 2018;Tickle et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2018;LaForce et al, 2019Wright et al, 2019Gunawan, & Shieh, 2020;Madani, 2020). One solution would be to establish ways to reduce such teachers' intention-to-leave (Wang et al, 2018;Wright et al, 2019).…”

Teachers' Views of the Implementation of STEM Approach in Secondary Schools and The Effects on Students

“…In contemporary times, the importance of ensuring students with a strong education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has been emphasized (Thibaut et al, 2018). Teaching approaches related to STEM are now considered as one of the most emerging areas in the context of education in both developed and developing countries (Madani, 2020). Economically developed countries such as the USA, England, and Japan felt the need to invest in STEM education-related fields for the future.…”

“…They need to have adequate prior training and understanding in order to teach STEM activities to their students. However, teachers' perceptions and beliefs that form their approaches and methodologies for the implementation of new educational reform are usually disregarded (Madani, 2020).…”