TY - GEN
T1 - Promoting STEM Interest through Empathy and Creative Thinking in a STEM-based Community Service Program
AU - Nalipay, Jenina Ma N.
AU - Huang, Biyun
AU - Jong, Morris Siu Yung
AU - Chai, Ching Sing
AU - Luk, Eric Tsun Hin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - Students’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) tends to decline as they reach high school. Among the factors to which this decline is attributed are the perceptions about the lack of communality and creativity in STEM. To address this problem, we implemented an 8-week STEM-based community service program where high school students learned about STEM and community service. The students were asked to design possible solutions to problems faced by people from disadvantaged groups (e.g., visually impaired people). Using the post-test data from 275 high school students who participated in the program, we examined a model of empathy predicting STEM interest via creative thinking. Results of mediation analysis showed that empathy predicted STEM interest through creative thinking. The findings provided support for the important roles of empathy and creative thinking in the promotion of STEM interest. This information can be used as a basis for designing STEM-based community service programs for the enhancement of students’ interest in learning STEM.
AB - Students’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) tends to decline as they reach high school. Among the factors to which this decline is attributed are the perceptions about the lack of communality and creativity in STEM. To address this problem, we implemented an 8-week STEM-based community service program where high school students learned about STEM and community service. The students were asked to design possible solutions to problems faced by people from disadvantaged groups (e.g., visually impaired people). Using the post-test data from 275 high school students who participated in the program, we examined a model of empathy predicting STEM interest via creative thinking. Results of mediation analysis showed that empathy predicted STEM interest through creative thinking. The findings provided support for the important roles of empathy and creative thinking in the promotion of STEM interest. This information can be used as a basis for designing STEM-based community service programs for the enhancement of students’ interest in learning STEM.
KW - creative thinking
KW - empathy
KW - STEM interest
KW - STEM-based community service program
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85181770558
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85181770558
T3 - 31st International Conference on Computers in Education, ICCE 2023 - Proceedings
SP - 469
EP - 474
BT - 31st International Conference on Computers in Education, ICCE 2023 - Proceedings
A2 - Shih, Ju-Ling
A2 - Kashihara, Akihiro
A2 - Chen, Weiqin
A2 - Chen, Weiqin
A2 - Ogata, Hiroaki
A2 - Baker, Ryan
A2 - Chang, Ben
A2 - Dianati, Seb
A2 - Madathil, Jayakrishnan
A2 - Yousef, Ahmed Mohamed Fahmy
A2 - Yang, Yuqin
A2 - Zarzour, Hafed
T2 - 31st International Conference on Computers in Education, ICCE 2023
Y2 - 4 December 2023 through 8 December 2023
ER -