Abstract
STEM education emphasizes improving student learning by linking abstract knowledge with real-world problems and engaging students in authentic projects to solve real-world problems. Accordingly, project-based learning has been widely promoted in STEM programs and has shown a promising impact on student learning. However, solving real-world problems in STEM projects involves complex processes. It remains unclear how students engage in complex problem-solving processes in STEM projects and how their processes may differ among students. This study was conducted with secondary school students who engaged in a design-based STEM project in small groups. The findings show that questioning and responding appeared most frequently and connected with other elements in group discourse, while argumentation and justification appeared least frequently. The findings reveal distinctive discourse patterns that differ among high-, medium- and low-performance groups, based on which the implications of the findings were discussed.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 506-522 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Knowledge Management and E-Learning |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2023 |
Bibliographical note
The authors would thank the students and teacher who participated in this study. The authors would also thank Professor Haijing Jiang for his valuable guidance and support for this study.Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Hong Kong Bao Long Accounting And Secretarial Limited. All rights reserved.
Funding
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 61977023).
Keywords
- Epistemic network analysis
- Group discourse
- Problem-solving process
- Project-based learning
- STEM education
