Students’ Awareness Of Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics (Stem) In Pahang

Overview of STEM Education in Malaysia

The objective of the STEM initiative is to produce students who are not only have the knowledge, but also the skills to increase the number of experts in industry in the future. As reported by the (MOE, 2016), the number of scientists/researchers is one of the indicators of a developed country. Developing countries have more than 78 scientists/researchers per 10,000 workers; however, Malaysia had only 57 scientists/researchers per 10,000 workers in 2012. This number is considerably fewer than other developed countries and is a problem for Malaysia, which aspires to become a developed and high-income country by 2020. Therefore, to achieve the goal of economic development in the future, the Ministry of Education Malaysia is trying to strengthen STEM education so that the number of skilled workers and experts in research and industry will be increased (Ministry of Education [MOE], 2016).

According to Azman et al. (2018) “STEM education” can be defined as a comprehensive education that includes “STEM-based informal curriculum learning process through co-academic and co-curriculum practises and indirect learning for all levels and age ranges, starting in early childhood and progressing through primary education, lower secondary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and industrial level” (p. 3117).

STEM education, emphasizes the concepts inspired by the 4C components namely communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking, as embodied in 21st century learning (PAK-21) and high-level thinking skills (EAT) (Lah, 2018).

In STEM education, students learn to collaborate and participate in problem based learning or problem solving activities. They learn through a problem solving process (see Figure 01 ). These learning experiences are vital in preparing students to face future challenges and become part of a competitive labour force (Ng, 2016).

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STEM Policies in Malaysia

Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013 – 2025 sees STEM education as an important agenda in transforming students in readiness for the 21st century. In this Blueprint, STEM education implemented in three phases (MOE, 2013) (see Figure 02 ):

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Since 1967, the Malaysian government has been introducing the 60:40, Science: Art policy. The objective of the policy is to growth the percentage of students undertaking STEM education compared to those who focus on the Arts. The policy implemented for both schools and higher education (MOE, 2013).

In line with the times, Malaysia’s policies regarding STEM changed and improved to suit current needs. The policies may change, but the spirit and desire is still the same - growth the number of students undertaking STEM education in Malaysia to produce more experts in industry. See Figure 03 for policies related to STEM in Malaysia (Hamdan, 2017).

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Population and sampling

The research design employed in this study is mainly descriptive and investigative, with the perceptions of students described in terms such as fascinating, appealing, exciting, means a lot, and interesting. This research used a cross-sectional survey where data was gathered from a population at a specific time (Hall, 2008).

The population of this study is students who participated in the Carnival STREAM Challenge 2019 which involved 400 students from secondary schools who registered during the registration session. All of the students were from schools that teach the same Malaysian curriculum known as the Standard Based Curriculum for Secondary Schools (KSSM). The table for determining sample size for a given population, according to past researcher is 196 (Krejcie & Morgan, 1970).

Instrument Development

A back to back translation of the native language was used and adopted from the STEM Semantics Survey from (Knezek & Christensen, 1998) to ensure that respondents understood the objects being surveyed clearly. As descriptors for target sentences reflecting meanings of STEM subjects, the five most consistent adjective pairs of the ten used on the TAT have been integrated.

Each of the five scales composed of a goal assertion such as "Technology is ...... to me," accompanied by five polar pairs of adjectives covering a seven-choice spectrum. For starters, "Science is for me: exciting unexciting." The internal reliability of high school students' understanding of science, mathematics, architecture, electronics, and STEM as a profession usually differed from alpha = .84 to alpha = .93 (Tyler-Wood et al., 2010).

Questionnaire Distribution and Data Collection

Researchers undertook Systematic Random Sampling based on 1 in every 3 students attending the event. Questionnaires were distributed according to the lists drawn up during the registration session and the respondents were asked to submit the completed questionnaire at the registration desk at the end of the event. 63 questionnaires were completed which is equal to a response rate of 32%.

Demographics

The respondents were 54% male and 46% female, with half of them Malay. There were equal numbers of students from both secondary school levels. This Carnival was held in Pekan, Pahang and was open to all schools in Pahang. The total number of schools, by district, that participated in this carnival is as shown in Table 1 below. The highest number of schools was from Rompin, followed by Pekan and Kuantan, Temerloh and Bentong.

Descriptive statistics

Mean scores of secondary school respondents attending the Carnival STREAM Challenge 2019 are shown in Table 2 . Notice that all 7-point Semantic Differential Scales are classified positive to negative scales ((Positive) 1, 2, 3, 4 (Neutral) 5, 6, 7 (Negative)). The smaller the point, the more positive the perception, while the larger the point, the more negative the perception.

As shown in Table 2 , within the semantic differential measures, the most positive arrangements towards science were (mean = 3.02/ 7.0) while dispositions towards Technology were the least positive (mean = 3.26/7.0). This study also looked into the semantic perception of respondents by referring to the mean scores of each semantic perception of STEM. As illustrated in Table 3 and Figure 4 , Science has been perceived as a fascinating subject, Mathematics as an exciting subject, Engineering and Technology as appealing subjects. Looking at Figure 4 , the radar graph for mean scores of each semantic element for STEM, the plots show the comparisons of all mapping; the nearer the plot to the centre of the radar graph, the more positive the student perceptions of STEM content.

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