Development of a STE[Arts]M Education Framework for Senior High School STEM Strand

Novel and sophisticated educational approaches continually emerge to promote scientific literacy related to 21st century skills and future skills to achieve quality science education. In the Philippines, the need for a new educational approach has become more pronounced as the country's ranking in the PISA is getting way behind, and competent STEM professionals are relatively few. Across the globe, other countries are implementing the so-called STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) Education to boost their STEAM pipeline. In the Philippines, however, the implementation of STEAM education appears to be challenging. On top of the perceived challenges and barriers is the need for contextualization. Addressing this gap, this study developed a STEAM Education framework for senior high school (SHS) STEM strand. Sequentially, the study produced a model training design, and indicators and standards as validation products of the framework. The study employed Strauss and Corbin (1990) grounded theory approach in three phases: analysis phase, framework development and validation (experts' content validation) phase, and development and validation of training design and indicators and standards phase. The participants were senior high school (SHS) science teachers in the STEM strand and their corresponding administrator or principal. To have representative participants for each type of senior high school offering STEM strand in Nueva Ecija, stratified purposive sampling along with theoretical sampling was used. The semi- structured interview was utilized as one measure and data source. Interview transcripts were coded using open, axial, and selective coding and the generated themes were used to develop the STEAM Education framework. The developed framework was validated by a panel of experts using the Delphi technique. The training design, indicators, and standards were sourced out from the developed framework as second-tier validation of the developed STEAM Education framework. These products were validated by the same panel of experts using the Delphi technique. Data validation was conducted through member checking, triangulation, intercoding, and checking of researcher's bias. Protocols were observed properly to conform to the ethical standards. Results revealed that the needs and constructs of SHS STEM strand from different types of high school in Nueva Ecija on the lens of teachers and administrators in pedagogical character and traits of the teachers, curriculum, instruction and delivery, feedback system, learning environment, institutional support, among others for the implementation of STEAM Education are centralized on eleven themes. They are teachers' qualifications, competencies, pedagogical characters, STEM curriculum refinement, discipline integration, administrator' leadership and management, student' skills, assessment practices, safe learning space, policy reorientation and harmonization, and partnership and support. A framework from these themes was developed and validated. The validated framework highlighted the importance of the roles of different stakeholders such as teachers, administrators, curriculum experts, policy makers, learners, parents, and the community in producing a holistic STEAM curriculum. A set of standards and indicators and training design were derived from the framework and validated. Using the validated training design, a six-day training program for STEM teachers and a five-day training program for administrators were proposed. The training matrix for teachers comprises nine modules while for administrators, it comprises ten modules. A maximum of six hours of participation per day is expected if the training program is implemented. Anchoring from the validation results of the framework and the training design and set of indicators and standards, a national scale validation, obtaining consent and approval from DepEd, implementation of the said outputs, crafting policies and guidelines for operationalization, conducting capacity building, and developing pre-service STEAM Teacher Education Curriculum are the future endeavors for the developed STEAM Education Framework for Senior High School STEM Strand.