DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ PROBLEM-SOLVING CAPACITY WITH STEM EDUCATION: AN INVESTIGATION IN NORTHERN - LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REBUBLIC

Abstract

STEM education is not only a trend in education, but has also become a mandatory element in General Education programs in Lao PDR in recent years. One of the important objective of education is to develop students’ capacity. The question here is whether Laos students problem-solving capacity is possible to develop with the implementation of STEM education or not. This study presents some solutions to implement STEM education in curriculum of general education programs of Lao PDR following problem-solving approach. The researchers have proposed studying the students’ manifestations of problem-solving capacity, then conducting experiments with the topics "Wind Turbines" and "Periscope" over 52 students to identify their problem-solving capacity. Initially, the research shows that with STEM-based lessons on two topics mentioned above, students' problem-solving capacity has been developed deliberately and effectively, which allows the researchers to expand the scope of their further study (in the number of the students, STEM topics, and experimental subject) to get more persuasive results.