This study mainly aimed to explore the effects of project-based learning (PBL) integrated into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) activities and to analyze the creativity displayed by junior high school students while performing these activities. With a quasi-experimental design, 60 ninth-grade students from a junior high school in southern Taiwan were selected as subjects to participate in the six-week teaching experiment. The teaching design was centered on STEM activities and integrated with the strategy of project-based learning. The teaching contents included teaching materials integrating CaC2 steamship-derived knowledge of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, physics and chemistry as well as related teaching activities. Three conclusions were drawn. First, the key teaching points of the five stages of STEM project-based learning-preparation, implementation, presentation, evaluation and correction-can improve students' creativity. The learning objectives of STEM project-based learning can strengthen students' ability in STEM learning and STEM-integrated application. STEM project-based learning can further develop the affective domain of creativity, including adventurousness, curiosity, imagination and challenge. Based on the conclusions, this paper proposes suggestions regarding the implementation of STEM PBL activities to enhance the creativity and STEMintegrated application ability of junior high school students.

The purpose of this study is to explore the ability indices of VR (virtual reality) technology when it is applied to assist the teaching of a welding practice course, develop a VR welding course as the basis of course planning and teaching design, and implement experimental teaching to verify its effectiveness. On the basis of a literature review and focus group interviews, initial ability indices of a VR welding course were proposed. Then, 15 experts from VR- and welding-related specialties were invited to form a consulting team to determine “the ability indices of the VR welding course” according to the results of a Fuzzy Delphi expert questionnaire. Moreover, the results of an ANP (Analytic Network Process) expert questionnaire were used to understand the relative importance of the ability indices of the VR welding course, as well as the relative feasibility of VR-assisted welding teaching, in order to develop a “VR welding course”, in which 34 first-grade students of the welding practice course were taken as the research objects during the implementation of experimental teaching. The qualitative research and analysis results are as follows: (1) the VR welding course includes 8 ability indices and 30 evaluation indices; (2) the item with the highest feasibility in VR-assisted welding teaching is “welding construction”, followed by “map reading and drawing”; (3) best feasibility of VR technology “Interaction” in assisting welding teaching; (4) the relative importance of the ability indices of the VR welding course is the greatest for “welding construction”, followed by “welding inspection”; (5) the VR welding course students express significant positive responses to the learning of ability indices and ability demonstration; (6) the majority of students express significant positive learning satisfaction with VR-assisted welding course teaching. This study puts forward a set of rigorous models for the construction of ability indices for a VR course and course development. It can provide a reference for introducing VR-assisted teaching to related welding courses that are run by universities of science and technology in Taiwan. Furthermore, such VR courses can offer students a safe, diversified, and efficient learning environment.

Abstract:The main purpose of this study is to investigate the development of the performance indicators of sustainable management in the Taiwanese bicycle industry and to perform an importance analysis.

The purposes of this study were to integrate imagination and STEAM education to construct a special topic course on wearable devices for pets for technology senior high school students studying electronic science; to explore the impacts of the learning process on students’ imagination, STEAM competences and satisfaction with learning effectiveness; and to investigate the integration of imagination into STEAM education. This study adopted the design research method and took 40 students in the third year of a special topic course in electronic science at a technology senior high school as the research subjects. The students were randomly divided into 8 groups, and teaching activities were carried out for 18 weeks. This study used questionnaire and documentary analysis methods to carry out peer evaluation, pretests, posttests and student self-report surveys to collect qualitative and quantitative data for statistical analysis and cross-validation. In this study, a new integration model of imagination and STEAM is proposed. The design research method was employed to plan the iSTEAM course and design special topic activities about real-life issues so that the degree of integration of imagination into the STEAM special topic course and the quality of the students’ work were moderately positively correlated and highly positively correlated, respectively, with students’ application of their learning from various aspects of iSTEAM, which can significantly enhance their imagination, STEAM competences, and satisfaction with their learning effectiveness. The iSTEAM teaching model can help engineering educators develop and evaluate iSTEAM courses and learning activities and provides new contributions to and research directions for STEAM education.

This study developed a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math)-6E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend, Enrich, Evaluate; 6E Learning by Design) special course based on the theme of creative design of IoT (Internet of Things) assistant devices for the elderly and investigated the impact of this course on students’ learning effectiveness. It invited eight experts and scholars for focus interviews, jointly developed the STEAM-6E special course, designed teaching activities around the theme of creative design of IoT assistant devices for the elderly, and created a learning effectiveness scale. Furthermore, it selected 46 students majoring in nursing in a vocational and technological college as its subjects and distributed copies of a questionnaire among them to explore learning effectiveness. This study reached the following conclusions. The STEAM-6E special course on the creative design of IoT assistant devices for the elderly included three dimensions, that is, the STEAM course, 6E teaching, and the acquisition of professional knowledge, as well as 17 competence indicators. The nursing students affirmed the learning outcome in the STEAM-6E course, the 6E teaching model, and thematic knowledge after attending the STEAM-6E course. The hands-on activities of the STEAM-6E special course could guide students to learn key points step by step. The STEAM-6E special course can strengthen students’ abilities to integrate STEAM knowledge and improve their learning effectiveness in each discipline. The STEAM-6E special course for the elderly improved the cooperative learning, professional knowledge, and confidence of the students. In light of these conclusions, this study developed a teaching model for the STEAM-6E special course on the creative design of IoT assistant devices for the elderly and proposed several suggestions for curriculum planning and the implementation of a STEAM-6E special course.