STEM Education in a Liberal Arts University: Hands-on Experiments to Improve Students’ Learning Motivation, Problem-Solving Competence and Learning Achievement

Lingnan University is a liberal arts university which hosts non-science majors only. To cultivate students’ whole-person development, the university implements a Common Core science course, which is a requisite to every undergraduate. However, many students are not confident in (even fear of) science courses. To enhance students’ learning motivation, based on extensive communications and discussions with students, this project employs hand-held air meters, via which students measure the air quality data by themselves (i.e., STEM education or hands-on experiment) and work on the topics they are interested in (e.g., Does incense burning affect the air quality of my home?). This project has been running for two semesters, with 51 students from various backgrounds (i.e., different year of study, major, etc.) joining the projects. Likert scale online questionnaire and focus group interview were conducted to collect students’ feedback. Our data reveals that (1) compared with male students, female students demonstrated higher achievement on STEM education, (2) low performing students were motivated to a greater extend as compared to high achievers, (3) technical support on the use of the air meter is an essential to maintain students’ quality learning. By exposing students to the “real-world” issues, the implementation of STEM education enhances students’ interest in science, improved their problem-solving competence and learning achievement.