The purpose of this study is to develop STEAM program based on biology and investigate the effects of STEAM program on science gifted students. For this study, research questions include the following: First, how does the STEAM program influence on gi...
The purpose of this study is to develop STEAM program based on biology and investigate the effects of STEAM program on science gifted students. For this study, research questions include the following: First, how does the STEAM program influence on gifted students’ concepts of microorganisms? Second, how does the program influence on their science inquiry skills? Third, how does the program influence on career awareness in the field of biology? Research methods employed in this study are: First, literature review focusing on STEAM program, microorganisms concepts, and science inquiry skills. Second, STEAM program based on biology was developed and applied to 18 science-gifted middle school students. Third, the effects of STEAM program investigated microorganisms concepts, science inquiry skills, and career awareness. The improvement of microorganisms concepts and career awareness were analyzed with mind map and questionnaires. The improvement of science inquiry skills was analyzed with the ability of hypothesis generating and finding variables. The results are as follows: First, this program improves the concepts of microorganisms using mind map. Gifted students have a higher level of cognition of concepts of microorganisms (p<.01). Second, this program improves problem finding ability, identifying variables (independent variables and control variables), and hypothesis generating ability (p<.05). Third, STEAM program proves effective in the career choice of the students. This program improves students' interest and perception of fields related to biology, technology, and engineering. These results show that the STEAM program using science inquiry skills is effective in finding science issues in life and raises interest and motivation in science. In conclusion, research results imply the necessity of development of STEAM program for gifted students using socio-science issues and this study can be a good model for the next research. The students will certainly make significant contributions in raising up excellent science inquiry talents to solve socio-scientific issues in the future and be expected to be a science literate person.