BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Educ.
Sec. STEM Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1628482
This article is part of the Research TopicSTEM: Innovation on Teaching and Learning Vol. IIView all articles
Effect of STEM-PBL Advanced Mathematics Course on Engineering Students' Problem-solving Ability in Higher Vocational College
Provisionally accepted
- 1Fuyang Institute of Technology, Fuyang, China
- 2Segi university, Selangor, Malaysia
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This study explores the effect of STEM-problem based learning (STEM-PBL) advanced Mathematics on engineering students’ problem-solving ability (PSA) in higher vocational colleges. Grounded in STEM-PBL and student’s PSA framework, the study integrates mobile and digital technologies, including GeoGebra and MATLAB, into a context-rich instructional design. A quasi-experimental design was employed involving 83 students, with 42 assigned to the experimental group (EG) and 41 to the control group (CG). Quantitative data were collected through pre-test, post-test, and analyzed using SPSS. The results showed that STEM-PBL instruction significantly improved students’ PSA. These findings suggest that incorporating STEM-PBL content and digital tools into mathematics education is essential for developing basic PSA among engineering students. This study provides practical guidance for designing effective, equitable, and skill-oriented STEM courses in vocational education.
Keywords: STEM-PBL-based advanced mathematics, Engineering students, problem-solving ability, Quasi-experimental design, spss
Received: 14 May 2025; Accepted: 28 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang and Somasundram. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jing Wang, Fuyang Institute of Technology, Fuyang, China
Piriya Somasundram, Segi university, Selangor, Malaysia
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