The Prospect of Establishing a

STEM Education Community

in Malaysia: Recent
Developments in STEM and
the Way Forward
M. A. Hadi Bunyamin

University of Minnesota & Universiti Teknologi

Malaysia

Corriennna Abd Talib, Johari Surif, Nor

Hasniza Ibrahim, Nor Farahwahidah Abdul
Rahman
Defining STEM

 An integrated approach that put together science,

technology, engineering, and mathematics

 Six elements of STEM: (1) engaging learning contexts

(2) use of engineering design activities (3) learn from
failure when designing a product (4) adopting student-
centered pedagogies (5) integrating math and science
and other subjects (6) emphasizing communication
and teamwork (Bryan et al., 2016).
 Current Updates

 The Ministry of Education of Malaysia has already

mentioned its intention to adopt STEM ideas in the
current education blueprint released in 2013.

 STEM will be implemented in 2017 onwards through

new science and mathematics curricula.
 Issues of STEM Integration –
Implementation
 Implementing integrated STEM in real classroom contexts is
challenging because science teachers have long been
trained using the traditional instructional approach during
their teacher education programs which consist of
fragmented knowledge and practices that separate science
and engineering practices (Stohlmann, Moore, & Roehrig,
2012)

 This approach is also typical among Malaysian science

teachers (Mohd Shahali, Halim, Rasul, Osman, Ikhsan, &
Rahim, 2015; Osman & Saat, 2014).
 Issues of STEM Integration –
Implementation

 The status quo suggests that poor facilities and apparatus

for learning science can impede the intention of teachers to use
student-centered pedagogies (Phang, Abu, Ali, & Salleh, 2014).

 Using student-centered pedagogies could take a significant

amount of time for teachers to deliver instruction (Siew, Amir,
& Chong, 2015).

 Class size in Malaysian classrooms is relatively big, which has

numbers of students more than twenty-five in a classroom.
 The Objective of Study

To investigate the current instructional practices of

physics teachers that may have been shaped by
contextual factors like class size, materials and
facilities, and teachers’ workload
Significance and Future Benefit

This study could suggest sustainable solutions to the

problem of current instructional practices linking to
materials and supplies, human resource supports, class
size, and professional development programs for in-
service teachers in order to implement integrated STEM
approaches in 2017 onwards.
 Methodology

 Conducted in Johor, Malaysia.

 Three participants – Ali, Aminah, and Aishah.

 Criterion-based Sampling: (1) Currently teaching physics

for more than three years (2) Not a new teacher (3)
Teaching in a same state but at different schools (4) Public
school teachers.

 Multiple case study methodology (Merriam, 1998).

 Fully qualitative study – to get in-depth data and holistic

explanations
Methodology

 Data collection date: June 24, 2015 to September 2,

2015.

 Methods: Semi-structured interviews, observation

notes, voice record transcriptions, and documents.

 Unit observed: Force and Pressure (Form Four

Physics/Grade 11)
Methodology

 Data analysis: Within case and cross-case analysis

(Saldana, 2013)

 Validity: Member checking and data triangulation

Main Findings

 (1) All teachers tended to mix teacher-centered and

student-centered pedagogies

 (2) All teachers indicated several challenges in

implementing student-centered pedagogies

 (3) All participants demonstrated some basic

knowledge about STEM integration though STEM
integration is relatively new in Malaysia.
Theme #1: Mixed Pedagogies

 Each teacher tended to adopt a mixture of teacher-

centered and student-centered pedagogies.

 For the teacher-centered, they usually used lectures to

deliver their teaching.

 At the other time, they used student-centered

approaches like student presentation, group
discussion, and experiments.
Theme #2: Student-centered Pedagogy
and its Challenges

 Aminah - her school did not have complete equipment

for the laboratory. Most of the laboratory apparatus
were outdated.

 Ali and Aishah mentioned that they had many students

to teach in a physics laboratory: about 30 students in
each case. Aishah mentioned that the ideal number of
students in a class should be a maximum of 25
students.

 The significant challenge to fully use student-centered

pedagogies was time constraints.
Theme #3: STEM Knowledge

 The participants showed awareness of some basic

ideas about STEM though the idea of STEM is still very
new for Malaysian school education system.

 Interestingly, their current conceptions of STEM are

consistent with the definition of integrated STEM – the
connection of science with other STEM disciplines, use
of technology, and use of student-centered learning
approaches.
 Discussion

 Historically, instructional approaches in science in the

Malaysian context were predominantly didactic approaches
where teachers mainly control the process of knowledge
delivery and students tended to learn passively (Thomas
and Watters, 2015).

 Our study suggested that there was a mixture of

instructional approaches between teacher-centered and
student-centered.

 This study was important to provide evidence that science

teachers in Malaysia are now moving toward student-
centered pedagogies, but with some challenges.
 Solving the Problems – Future Prospects

 This study would like to suggest colleges and universities to

create a group of STEM volunteers to assist teachers at
schools implementing student-centered approaches.

 A teacher’s time for preparing a STEM lesson could be

lessened, and volunteers could help teachers to facilitate
students’ learning especially when using student-centered
pedagogies that require a good facilitation of learning.

 These measures may solve two issues – class size and time
constraints - to adopt student-centered pedagogies.
 Solving the Problems – Future Prospects

 Unfurnished facilities for teaching is one of the long-standing

issues in science education (Phang et al., 2014).

 The federal government is the main funding provider for

public schools in Malaysia (Sumintono, 2015).

 To give schools access to better learning resources,

individuals or groups that possessed a big amount of money
like philanthropies and companies or business may help
schools.

 The real root of the problem must be taken into account,

which is the redistribution of money and resources for
learning.
Solving the Problems – Future Prospects

 Schools can collaborate with professional development

providers, especially professors of STEM education to
train teachers to use STEM integration approaches.

 Teachers may also need to be exposed to ways to

address common challenges in implementing STEM in
real classrooms like student cooperation, students’
diverse abilities, availability of materials, and time
management.
 Enhancing Resource Sharing: The STEM
Education Community

 Creating a common platform for STEM stakeholders to

work together in implementing STEM in 2017 onwards.

 Entities: Schools, business sectors and industries,

ministries, college and universities, parents, and
professional bodies.

 Communities at different levels: Local, District, State,

and National level.

 Not a one-off support, but sustained.

Conclusion

 Cooperation and volunteerism.

 Helping schools and teachers.

 Enhancing engagement and making coordination

between stakeholders in STEM education.
Acknowledgement

Thanks to the Department of Curriculum and

Instruction, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities for
funding this presentation at the EASE Conference 2016 in
Tokyo.