Transferable skills for pre-service chemistry teachers in Indonesia: Applying a design thinking-STEAM-PjBL model

Alin Mardiah, Yuli Rahmawati
Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia
Fauzan Khairi Che Harun
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia
Deni Hadiana
Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional, Indonesia

The aim of this study is to investigate the potential implementation of the design thinking-STEAM-PjBL model to influence pre-service chemistry teachers' transferable skills. The design thinking process is integrated into an interdisciplinary curriculum STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) designed to engage pre-service chemistry teacher in creative and innovative contextual problem-solving through project-based learning (PjBL). Thirty-nine first-year students in the chemistry education study program, at Universitas Negeri Jakarta engaged in the study. Researchers used qualitative methods to understand the pre-service chemistry teachers' experiences and the implications for their skills development. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, researcher's notes, and classroom observation. Through five stages of design thinking: empathise, define, ideate, prototype, and test, pre-service chemistry teacher engaged in reflecting on their content knowledge to understand the rising temperature in Jakarta as an issue to be resolved. The results show that collaborative problem-solving activities develop informed and integrative thinking that leads participants to communicate clearly and effectively, and to creative unique solutions. In addition, the participants' degree of empathy encouraged them to build a sense of responsibility to contribute to the context of their environment. Thus, the practice of the design thinking-STEAM-PjBL model leads participants to become independent learners.
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Authors: Alin Mardiah is a postgraduate student in the Chemistry Education Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia. Her research interests are science and STEAM education, transformative education, and values education. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4668-6186 Email: AlinMardiah_1311820004@mhs.unj.ac.id Yuli Rahmawati MSc PhD (corresponding author) is a chemistry education lecturer at Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia. Her research interests are transformative education, culturally responsive teaching, social emotional learning, STEAM, green chemistry, misconception, learning environment. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1603-3320 Email: yrahmawati@unj.ac.id Fauzan Khairi Che Harun MSc PhD is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia. His research interests are mainly biomedical electronics, biological inspired micro-system, and electronic nose system. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0343-5205 Email: fauzan@utm.my Deni Hadiana MSi EdD is a researcher and program coordinator at the Research Center for Education, National Research and Innovation Agency, Indonesia. His research interest is education, mainly in evaluation, assessment, measurement, and research methods. His previous publications includes STEAM, learning achievement, adaptive learning and assessments, and students' behaviour. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6690-1587 Email: deni.hadiana@brin.go.id Please cite as: Mardiah, A., Rahmawati, Y., Harun, F. K. C. & Hadiana, D. (2022). Transferable skills for pre-service chemistry teachers in Indonesia: Applying a design thinking-STEAM-PjBL model. Issues in Educational Research, 32(4), 1509-1529. http://www.iier.org.au/iier32/mardiah.pdf