Effectiveness of STEM based workshop for deaf education: Exploratory study

Abstract

STEM education for deaf students aims to engage and include intellectual and experiential learning other than normal classrooms. These programs improve students' critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and complex decision-making, which are essential for academic and life success. This study aims to explore several aspects of a STEM based workshop including problem solving skills, STEM skills, subject knowledge, and effectiveness of the workshop for a group of 27 deaf students. The workshop spanned five consecutive days and focused on problem-solving principles within the context of global warming. Moreover, in this study, the Creative Problem-solving approach developed by Osborn and Parnes was implemented to measure improvement of the constructs above, through a post questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's Omega coefficient exceeded .7 for each construct. The data obtained from the questionnaire demonstrated a random distribution of data according to the Shapiro-Wilk test performed (p < 0.05), leading to the use of non-parametric analysis tools. The results based on the non-parametric test analysis (Kruskal Wallis test) show that high school students' problem-solving abilities improved despite the data's randomness (Mean rank = 16.72). The workshop was enhanced for the Preparatory students, who tended to gain more STEM skills and problem-solving abilities from it (Mean rank = 14.75). It also improved the knowledge and STEM skills of Primary-stage students (Mean rank = 18.13 and 18.06, respectively). This study contributes to the existing body of literature by examining how addressing challenges of global warming can enhance various abilities among deaf students.

Keywords

• STEM workshop
• Deaf education
• Creative problem solving
• Effectiveness
• STEM skills