Application of LED-Attached Experimental Tools for STEM Education in High School: A Case Study of the Biology Subject

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) has gained significant attraction among educators worldwide, including Cambodia. The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport of Cambodia has shown great effort to inspire and motivate the advancement of STEM education in Cambodia. This research delves into the development of experimental equipment for STEM education and aims to introduce STEM teaching methodology in biology teaching at the high school level, evaluate learners’ capacity, and survey their impressions of STEM education using the LED-attached experimental tools. The research was conducted with Bachelor+2 student teachers specializing in biology at the National Institute of Education and 10th-grade students at three high schools in Kampong Thom province. STEM teaching at Level 3 was introduced and achieved in this study. The study indicated that learners' understanding of STEM was limited, particularly in terms of physics concepts to independently design electrical circuits for constructing experimental tools. On the other hand, with the experimental results on the core subject (biology), the learners could understand well the effect of the light wavelengths on the growth of the seedlings, with the seedlings' growth in the dark conditions being less healthy and elongated longer; the seedlings under blue light conditions did not elongate long but were healthy with big leaves; the seedlings under red light conditions did not grow well and had small leaves; and the seedlings under direct sunlight grew well. In conclusion, the study introduced a comprehensive STEM teaching model applicable to the high school level in Cambodia. This model can be effectively implemented in various science subjects beyond biology.