A STEM Model to Engage Students in Sustainable Science Education through Sports: A Case Study in Qatar

Ruba Ali, Jolly Bhadra, Nitha Siby, Zubair Ahmad and Noora Jabor Al-Thani
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Ruba Ali: Young Scientists Center (YSC), Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar
Jolly Bhadra: Young Scientists Center (YSC), Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar
Nitha Siby: Young Scientists Center (YSC), Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar
Zubair Ahmad: Young Scientists Center (YSC), Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar
Noora Jabor Al-Thani: Young Scientists Center (YSC), Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-26

Abstract: Sports has the potential to integrate with different scientific subjects, including materials science and engineering, making it an ideal approach to enhance the students’ affinity toward sustainable education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Amid gradual educational reformations in the state of Qatar, a distinctive STEM program titled, “Science in Sports” (SIS) was launched to investigate STEM integrated learning in secondary school students. The participant students, 248 students (112 females and 136 males) from 15 different government-operated (public) secondary schools, from rural and urban areas, were given STEM workshops on one of the sports materials, during this pilot study, resultantly challenging them to engineer a sports product. The study employed a mixed-method study in which quantitative approaches were applied to analyze the program effectiveness, with a t -test statistical analysis performed over data collected from a period of five continuous years from 2012 to 2017 in five different cycles. A more dominant data collection included pre and post surveys, substantiating observations of the program facilitator and their schoolteachers were included in this research and development (R&D) study to review the student learning behavior for a qualitative approach. Moreover, the results of the strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis provided an overview of the program’s effectiveness in implicating the engagement of the students in exhibiting their prototypical skills in engineering sports products along with STEM literacy. Apart from understanding the scientific concepts/principles applied in simple sports applications, student attitudes toward STEM fields augmented, as witnessed by the student productivity.

Keywords: sustainable science education; science implementation; youth empowerment; high school students; STEM; sports science (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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