The Development of Executive Function Skills by Using Learning Experience on STEAM Education for Young Children

Abstract

The purpose of this research were 1) To develop process of learning experience on STEAM education that promotes executive function skills and 2) To compare executive function skills of young children before and after using learning experience on STEAM education. Target groups in this research consisted of 15 kindergarten 3, room 2 at Watdonsai School (Suwanrutrat-Upatham). Through the purposive sampling. The research were divided into 2 phases: phases 1, developing a process of learning experience on STEAM education for young children, and phases 2, conducting the experiment. The  findings were as follows: 1) The developed process of learning experience on STEAM education that promotes executive function skills consisted of five steps: Step 1 Generate interest and identify problems, Step 2 Collect data, Step 3 Plan and design activity, Step 4 Implementation of the activity, and  Step 5 Presentation and conclusion. The results revealed the developed process of learning experience on STEAM education for young children were proper at the highest degree. And 2) After taking learning experience on STEAM education, young children’s score on executive function skills was higher than that of the prior one. In that, of prior the mean score was 1.23 and the standard deviation was 0.17 at a low degree. After taking the learning experience on STEAM education, the mean score was 2.77, the standard deviation was 0.21 at a high degree and the relative change score was 87.27