Erni Yulianti, Nor Farahwahidah Abdul Rahman, Hadi Suwono, Fatin Aliah Phang
Background: Students’ difficulty in understanding heat and temperature concepts hinders their ability to solve real-world problems. The positive impact of STEAM education on students’ creativity and problem-solving skills has been reported. However, limited research exists on its influence on students’ conceptual understanding in physics. Purpose: This study examines the role of transdisciplinary STEAM learning in enhancing students’ conceptual understanding of heat and temperature, emphasizing its potential to improve the quality of physics education and prepare students for the 21st century. Sample: The participants of the study were 76 senior high school students in Indonesia. Design and methods: We implemented a mixed-methods sequential explanatory research design to evaluate the impact of transdisciplinary STEAM learning intervention. In this study, pre- and post-tests measured changes in conceptual understanding, and one-to-one interviews further explored students’ learning experiences. From the statistical analysis of the quantitative data, the results suggest that the transdisciplinary STEAM learning enhances students’ conceptual understanding, with a significant improvement observed after completing the lessons. Based on the qualitative thematic analysis, students experience that integrated learning in transdisciplinary STEAM does not only help them to better understand the concepts of heat and temperature, but it also improves their ability to address real-world issues related to these concepts. Conclusion: Through the steps of design thinking, this study demonstrated how a real-world problem-solving scenario in transdisciplinary STEAM learning improved students’ conceptual understanding of heat and temperature. © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Faculty of Educational Sciences and Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia; Department of Science Education, Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia; Centre for Engineering Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia; Department of Biology, Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia
