Enhancing Students’ Learning Attitude with a STEM PBL-based Caterpillar Remote Control Car Curriculum

• Main Authors: Yuan-kai Chen, 陳元愷
• Other Authors: Po-Ying Chu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/aep562

碩士 === 大同大學 === 工業設計學系(所) === 106 === The 21st century has brought about rapid development in science and technology. Concepts such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of things, big data, etc. have rapidly emerged. In this new era, we need to improve our country’s scientific and technological level to help us catch up with global trends. To this end, promotion of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education is currently the most important development. How to strengthen and integrate students’ knowledge of STEM fields has become a topic that must be explored. This study examines education courses that integrate Project-Based Learning and STEM concepts. The research subjects are industrial design students at a university in the northern part of the country. The students created products by manually operating Arduino platforms, laser-cutters, 3D printers, etc. They also performed functional testing and group matching. These courses allowed students to intimately interact with each other. This research used the Science and Technology Learning Attitudes Scale to compare students’ attitudes toward science and technology before and after they took these STEM courses, to see if their attitudes improved. The study divides science and technology learning attitude into four dimensions: confidence, motivation, study behavior, and personal behavior. The research shows that students’ scores markedly improved after taking the STEM courses and progress occurred in all of the four dimensions. The STEM courses have thus been proven to greatly improve students’ interest in learning, and they allow students to develop self-confidence and an awareness of teamwork. This, in turn, allows students to explore and research knowledge more independently.