Chen, Jie

Chiang, Kuang Feng

Jiang, Jun Zhu

Shang, Jing Xiao

English

The University of Sydney: Sydney eScholarship Journals online

2022. J. Bobis & C. Preston (Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International STEM in Education Conference (STEM 2022), University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, November 23-26. University of Sydney. ANALYZING INFLUENCE OF INFORMAL STEM EDUCATION ON RURAL CHILDREN’S SELF-EFFICACY AND COMPUTATION THINKING  Xiaojing Shang a, Zhujun Jianga, Jie Chen b, Feng-Kuang Chiang ac Contact Author: Feng-Kuang Chiang (fkchiang@sjtu. edu.cn) a Department of Educational Technology, School of Education, Shanghai Normal University, 200234, China  b School of Languages and Communication Studies, Beijing Jiaotong University, 100044, China c School of Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, China THEME:  STEM education in diverse contexts BACKGROUND AND AIMS STEM Camp, as a short-term informal STEM learning project, has been demonstrated that positively impacts students' academic achievement and knowledge skills. However, few studies concerning whether informal STEM learning is appropriate for rural youth. This research aimed to investigate the impacts of STEM education on rural students with different levels (high, medium and low) of self-efficacy and computational thinking skills. METHODOLOGY A total of 133 3rd or 4th-grade students participated in the STEM camp from three rural elementary schools in Shanghai (Table 1).  The research adopts one-group pretest-posttest quasi experimental design (as figure 1) and the questionnaire adapted from the measure developed by Luo et al. (2021) and Korkmaz et al. (2017).  Table 1  Number of students in research participants Analytic sample SchoolA School B School C Boys 85(63.9%) 34 27 24 Girls 48(36.1%) 13 18 17 Total students 133 47 45 41  2022. J. Bobis & C. Preston (Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International STEM in Education Conference (STEM 2022), University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, November 23-26. University of Sydney.  Fig. 1 Research Procedure RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS The paired-t test show that students’ self-efficacy and computational thinking skills significantly increase after the camp (as table 2).  To further investigate the effect on students of different levels, we use K-means clustering (K = 3) in SPSS to divide students into three levels: high, medium and low, based on their self-efficacy and computational thinking skills results before and after the camp. With respect to self-efficacy, most of the students switch from low (95.8%) and medium (77.8%) to higher level after the camp (as	figure	2). Table 2  Pre- and post- impact of STEM camps on students  (n=133)   Pre-test   Post-test    Comparison    Mean SD   Mean  SD    t p STEM Self-efficient 21.70 3.08  22.33 3.47   -2.110 0.037* Computational thinking skills 48.46 5.80   49.71 6.97    -2.403 0.018*   *Significant at the p < 0.05 level.  2022. J. Bobis & C. Preston (Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International STEM in Education Conference (STEM 2022), University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, November 23-26. University of Sydney.  Fig. 2 Pre- and post- Self-efficacy As to the computational skills, students switch from low (88.1%) and medium (64%) to higher level (as figure 3).  Fig. 3 Pre- and post- Computational thinking skills  According to one-way ANOVA results, there is no significant difference in the satisfaction dimension of students from three rural schools (as figure 4). 2022. J. Bobis & C. Preston (Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International STEM in Education Conference (STEM 2022), University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, November 23-26. University of Sydney.  Fig. 4 Satisfaction with STEM Camp We conclude that informal STEM education has a significant impact on rural children's self-efficacy and computational thinking skills, especially for low and medium level students. Furthermore, it also effectively arouses students' interest in STEM education. REFERENCES Korkmaz, Ö., Çakir, R., & Özden, M. Y. (2017). A validity and reliability study of the computational thinking scales (CTS). Computers in Human Behavior, 72, 558–569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.01.005 Luo, T., So, W. W. M., Li, W. C., & Yao, J. (2021). The Development and Validation of a Survey for Evaluating Primary Students' Self-efficacy in STEM Activities. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 30(3), 408–419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-020-09882-0  Xiaojing Shang a, Zhujun Jiang a, Jie Chen b, Feng-Kuang Chiang aca Department of Educational Technology, School of Education,    Shanghai Normal University, 200234, China b School of Languages and Communication Studies, Beijing Jiaotong    University, 100044, Chinac  School of Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, ChinaMain Reference1. Korkmaz, Ö., Çakir, R., & Özden, M. Y. (2017). A validity and reliability study of the computational thinking scales (CTS). Computers in Human Behavior, 72,     558–569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.01.0052. Luo, T., So, W. W. M., Li, W. C., & Yao, J. (2021). The Development and Validation of a Survey for Evaluating Primary Students' Self-efficacy in STEM     Activities. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 30(3), 408–419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-020-09882-0STEM Camp, as a short-term informal STEM learning project, has been demonstrated that positively impacts students' academic achievement and knowledge skills. However, few studies concerning whether informal STEM learning is appropriate for rural youth. This research aimed to investigate the impacts of STEM education on rural students with different levels (high, medium and low) of self-efficacy and computational thinking skills. A total of 133 3rd or 4th-grade students participated in the STEM camp from three rural elementary schools in Shanghai. (as table 1).The research adopts one-group pretest-posttest quasi experimental design (as figure 1) and the questionnaire adapted from the measure developed by Luo et al. (2021) and Korkmaz et al .(2017). Fig. 1 Research Procedure The paired-t test show that students’ self-efficacy and computational thinking skills significantly increase after the camp (as table 2).      To further investigate the effect on students of different levels, we use K-means clustering (K = 3) in SPSS to divide students into three levels: high, medium and low, based on their self-efficacy and computational thinking skills results before and after the camp.      With respect to self-efficacy, most of the students switch from low (95.8%) and medium (77.8%) to higher level after the camp (as figure 2). Fig. 2 Pre- and post- Self-efficacyAs to the computational skills, students switch from low (88.1%) and medium (64%) to higher level (as figure 3).Fig. 3 Pre- and post- Computational thinking skillsAccording to one-way ANOVA results, there is no significant difference in the satisfaction dimension of students from three rural schools (as figure 4).Fig. 4 Satisfaction with STEM CampWe conclude that informal STEM educat ion  has  a significant impact on rural children's self-efficacy and computational thinking skills, especially for low and medium level students. F u r t h e r m o r e ,  i t  a l s o e f f e c t i v e l y  a r o u s e s students' interest in STEM education.

ANALYZING INFLUENCE OF INFORMAL STEM EDUCATION ON RURAL CHILDREN’S SELF-EFFICACY AND COMPUTATION THINKING

https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/STEMEC2022/article/download/15994/14575

ANALYZING INFLUENCE OF INFORMAL STEM EDUCATION ON RURAL CHILDREN’S SELF-EFFICACY AND COMPUTATION THINKING

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