The Johor Department of Education through the Pasir Gudang Education Office organized a Johor STEM Carnival hosted by Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Taman Scientex Pasir Gudang. The carnival, which was held for three days, was packed with exciting activities for students, teachers and the public from April 25 – April 27, 2019. Among the activities carried out were STEM Education Workshop for teachers, STEM Innovation Competition, youth development workshop, interactive booths, together with the icons of the younger generation and more. All of these activities were created not only to encourage students’ interest and inclination towards STEM, but also to bring teachers and community members the power of STEM needed to help the country achieve its vision of becoming a developed nation.
STEM Education Workshop was one of the main activities held on April 25, 2019 especially for Science teachers in Johor to disseminate knowledge on the implementation of STEM Education in the teaching and learning process. For this purpose, three lecturers from the School of Education, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities (FSSH), Dr. Nor Hasniza Ibrahim, Dr. Noor Dayana Abd Halim and Dr. Nurbiha A. Shukor were invited to share their expertise on STEM Education. All three lecturers are active in conducting research activities related to STEM education and have produced many innovative STEM teaching and learning modules.
The STEM education workshop sharing session was divided into three phases. In the first phase, teachers were exposed to ‘what is STEM education?’ and ‘why is STEM important?’. The second phase focused on explaining the teaching model used for the implementation of STEM teaching where the teachers were introduced to the 5E Inquiry Model consisting of Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluation. In this phase, the teachers were also assigned tasks to produce Hot Water Balloons by applying the 5E model that has been described. While in the third phase, teachers were exposed to Open STEM teaching materials available online such as the use of Phet, GoLab, BLOSSOM and more.
Through the sharing session, it was expected to encourage teachers to carry out the teaching and learning that apply STEM approach in their respective schools. The STEM teaching and learning process has the potential to arm students with the ability to solve problems, be creative and have critical thinking, and be able to communicate effectively and thus help the country lead the era of industrial revolution 4.0.
By Nor Hasniza Ibrahim and Norulhuda Ismail