Views From Parents of At-Risk Students in Singapore Towards the Use of Fun Design-and-Make STEM Projects to Foster Creativity and Joy of Learning

Abstract

This chapter reports the views from parents of 38 students, averaging 13 years of age, in a secondary school in Singapore towards the use of appealing design-and-make toy projects to foster joy of learning and creativity in science amongst their children who are in an academically low achieving group. An instrument to capture the parents' views was developed and administered in a parent-teacher conference (PTC) at the end of the school term. In the PTC, parents and siblings of these students had a chance to look through their design journals and fiddled with their toy inventions. Information gathered from the parents highlight that they value the teacher's approach in motivating and engaging their children to learn science and were impressed with the creativity showcased by their children through the toy projects. Such positive views from the parents affirm the use of appealing design-and-make toy projects to promote interest and understanding in science, as well as foster their creativity and inventiveness in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) areas.