Development of Innovative Thinking for Prathom 6 students by using STEAM Education

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to : 1) design and develop a learning management process based on the STEAM Education to enhance innovative thinking skills among Grade 6 students, 2) analyze the quality of the learning management process based on the STEAM Education to enhance innovative thinking skills among Grade 6 students, and 3) compare the average scores of innovative thinking skills among Grade 6 students before and after using the learning management process based on the STEAM Education. The sample for this study consists of 212 Grade 6 students in the academic year 2023.

The results revealed that (1) 152 Grade 6 students at the Srinakharinwirot University : Prasarnmit Demonstration School (Elementary) expressed a high level of needs across all components of the STEAM instructional process. The highest need was identified in the content used in learning activities (PNI_modified = 0.788), followed by the learner’s role, emotional engagement, and attitudes (PNI_modified = 0.696, 0.606, and 0.405, respectively). These findings were used to develop six instructional units based on the STEAM approach. (2) Expert evaluations showed that the instructional process was rated at the highest level of appropriateness in all aspects. The highest rating was given to instructional media and learning resources (M = 4.73, SD = 0.31), followed by alignment of instructional elements (M = 4.73, SD = 0.31), learning process design (M = 4.63, SD = 0.32), and assessment and evaluation (M = 4.20, SD = 0.00). (3) A comparison of the pre- and post-instruction scores of 60 students revealed that their post-instruction scores were significantly higher than their pre-instruction scores at the .05 level of significance (t = 18.7; p < .001). This indicates that the STEAM-based instructional process effectively enhanced students' innovative thinking skills.