Development of Evaluation Methods and Examination by Factor Analysis in STEAM-type Research Programs for High-School Students

Abstract

STEAM education is being emphasized to foster students’ creativity in solving social issues and designing the future of society. “Period for Inquiry-Based Cross-Disciplinary Study” and other cross-curricular learning programs and STEAM education have been newly established in Japan. Despite the development of various evaluation methods, the lack of a universally applicable standard metric remains a pressing challenge in STEAM education. This study focused on developing a self-evaluation method for the STEAM-type inquiry-based learning program ‘UTokyoGSC-Next’ for high-school students, with the aim of establishing an effective evaluation method for inquiry-based learning. To evaluate the five competencies this program aimed for, we conducted a self-evaluation questionnaire for the students who participated. As a result, the self-assessment average scores after participating were higher than before. On the other hand, the self-assessment average score of passers of second selections tended to be lower than that of non-passers. It is possible that the passers evaluated themselves more harshly. Moreover, exploratory factor analysis was conducted to verify the evaluation indicators. The factor analysis confirmed that each of the five factors was strongly related to specific question items. These findings are expected to impact the design and evaluation of STEAM education programs.