UCTS foundation students’ perception towards Arduino as a teaching and learning tool in stem education
List of Authors
  • Ong, Sing Ling , Pei Wah, Jill Ling

Keyword
  • Arduino, STEM education, STEM interest, 21st century skills, STEM programmes

Abstract
  • This paper presents the perception of University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS) students on the implementation of the Arduino lessons incorporated in Foundation in Science (FIS) and Foundation in Arts (FIA) programmes as part of STEM education. The low number of students studying or applying for STEM fields has been alarming in regards to the nation’s future workforce needs. Efforts have been made to attract more students to STEM programmes and careers. This study is intended to examine whether Arduino, as a teaching and learning tool, helps in generating students’ interests towards STEM programmes. Arduino is one of the physical computing tools which has open-source electronics platform based on user-friendly hardware and software for creating different projects and applications. Arduino is easy to be used by beginners, yet flexible enough for advanced users to learn physical computing and programming. Results revealed that participating students felt that they learnt programming the most during Arduino learning process and Arduino is proven to cultivate their STEM interests and 21st century skills. In this paper, the students' awareness and experiences on learning Arduino in STEM education were studied. This study can be used to determine whether educational institutions should implement Arduino lessons to promote STEM interests among the students which further lead them to opt for STEM-related degree programmes and careers.

Reference
  • 1. Arduino. (2018). What is Arduino? Retrieved from: https://www.arduino.cc/
    2. Basalo, I. (2014). Arduino as a Learning Tool for a Mechanical Engineering Measurements Lab.
    3. Curriculum Development Centre, Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) (2016) Implementation Guide for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in Teaching and Learning. Putrajaya: MOE.
    4. Eguchi, A. (2013). Educational Robotics for Promoting 21st Century Skills. Journal of Automation, Mobile Robotics & Intelligence Systems.
    5. Eguchi, A. (2015). RoboCupJunior for promoting STEM education, 21st century skills, and technological advancement through robotics competition. Robotics and Autonomous Systems. Elsevier Journal.
    6. Grasel, J., Vonnegut, W. & Dodds, Z. (2010). Bitwise Biology: Cross-disciplinary Physical Computing atop the Arduino. AAAI Spring Symposium Series.
    7. Halim, L., & Meerah, T. S. M. (2016). Science Education Research and Practice in Malaysia. In M.-H. Chiu (Eds.). Science Education Research and Practice in Asia (pp. 71-93).Singapore: Springer.
    8. Hoffer, B. M. (2012). Satisfying STEM Education Using the Arduino Microprocessor in C Programming. Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1472.
    9. Jang, Y., Lee, W. & Kim, J. (2015). Assessing the Usefulness of Object-based Programming Education using Arduino. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, Vol 8 (S1), 89-96.
    10. Junior, L. A., Neto, O. T., Hernandez, M. F., Martins, P. S., Roger, L.L., Guerra, F. A. (2013). A Low-Cost and Simple Arduino-Based Educational Robotics Kit. Cyber Journals: Multidisciplinary Journals in Science and Technology, Journal of Selected Areas in Robotics and Control (JSRC), December Edition, 2013 Volume 3, Issue 12
    11. Mellodge, P. & Russell, I. (2013). Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology on Computer Science Education. Page 338
    12. Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) (2013). Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025. Putrajaya: MOE.
    13. Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2008). 21st Century Skills, Education & Competitiveness Guide – A Resource and Policy Guide. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/21st_century_skills_education_and_competitiveness_guide.pdf
    14. Sanders, M. (2009). STEM, STEM Education, STEMmania. The Technology Teacher, December/January, 20-26.
    15. Vijaindren, A. (2018). We need more scientists, engineers. Retrieved from: https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2018/08/401095/we-need-more-scientists-engineer