Abstract:
To cultivate STEM interest amongst high school students, a STEM carnival organized by PPST, UMS was conducted through Junior Innovator Competition (JIC) and Young Scientist Sci-Show Competition (YSSC). The competitions were participated by high school students from Sabah, Sarawak, and F.T Labuan. JIC requires poster presentation for prototype innovation while YSSC requires short video presentation about science knowledge learned in school syllabus. The objective was to gauge JIC and YSSC effectiveness in students’ interest on STEM. A three-stars rating Malaysia Research Assessment Instrument (MyRA) questionnaire resulted 80% total feedback (Q1-Q6), as a principal in MyRA we used. The result indicated knowledge, attitude, skills, and aspiration (KASA) transformation amongst the students. Three main aspects were summarized from Q1-Q6 from the questionnaire: learning (Q1 & Q2), interpersonal skill (Q3 & Q4), and STEM interest (Q5 & Q6). 82% students agreed that JIC and YSSC was able to increase their knowledge, interpersonal skills as much as ~81%, as well as 84 - 88% in critical thinking. 83.7% - 85.3% students satisfactorily increased their STEM interest and 85% were willing to participate in future competitions. Interestingly, some ex-participants of JIC and YSSC entered the PPST for further study in Foundation in Science Programme after high school. Indeed, competitions such as JIC and YSSC have demonstrated inclining STEM interest effect toward high school students.
