Abstract
While interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education has not translated into positive results in improving achievement, there is need to increase motivation among school children by exposing them to ways in which learning topics can apply to daily activities. To this end, we developed a personalized mobile cooking app for K-5 students and by incorporating collaborative learning and applied arts into STEM teaching, we aimed at improving students’ STEAM education and their global competence. From 11 schools in California, 259 students (treatment = 150; control = 109) participated in our 10-week study. Through statistical analysis (ANOVA), we observed significant improvement in STEAM scores of the treatment group. Moreover, analysis of parents’ survey showed children’s increased interest in math and science topics, and their willingness to eat more vegetables. Qualitative analysis of teachers’ surveys also revealed that our app has promoted students’ STEAM education and their global competence.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the National Science Foundation, through a Phase I SBIR grant (Award No: 1722436). We thank our advisors, Dr. Michael Brenner (Harvard University), Dr. Kip Tellez (UC Santa Cruz) and Dr. Claudia Mazziotti (Stanford Research Institute Center for Technology in Learning), and Dr. Richard Zare (Stanford University) who provided their in-kind services, insight and expertise that greatly assisted the shaping of our pedagogy. We thank Dr. Glen Larsen and Dr. Rajesh Mehta who guided us through the NSF application process, and for their insights and assistance with our research methodology and for comments that greatly shaped our research and outcomes. We would also like to show our gratitude to the school principals and teachers that participated in the pilot studies, and for sharing their pearls of wisdom with us during the course of this research.
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Khazaee, M., Sabourian, L. (2020). Improving Children’s STEAM Education and Their Global Competence Through Collaborative Cooking. In: Nazir, S., Ahram, T., Karwowski, W. (eds) Advances in Human Factors in Training, Education, and Learning Sciences. AHFE 2020. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1211. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50896-8_21
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