Contextualising STEM Learning: The GLOCALISE Approach and Web Repository

• Published in: West African Journal of Open and Flexible Learning 2023-12, Vol.12 (1)
• Main Authors: Nafisat A. Adedokun-Shittu, Omenogo V. Mejabi, Felicia A. O. Olasheinde-Williams, Mudasiru O. Yusuf, Modinah A. O. Abdul Raheem, Mulkah A. Ahmed, Hammed A. Ajani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activity-based learning; Contextualisation; GLOCALISE; Inquiry-based learning; Problem- solving; STEM Education
• ISSN: 2276-6472; 2786-9717

The consequences of failing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects have led students and parents to seek for shortcuts to pass the subjects. These failures have effectually tolled Nigeria's human capital. In finding a solution to this quagmire, questions such as: can learning STEM ever evolve from fearful to fun-full? how can the fears be regenerated to fun? what are the expectations of learning fun-fully? Can digital platforms be made available to support learning fun-fully? These questions among others served as the foundational purpose of this study. A mixed method research design was employed to examine STEM students and teachers’ reaction towards using contextualised instructional approach “Glocalise”. The researcher generated and provided answers to two major research purposes. Multistage sampling technique was employed in selecting 11 secondary schools; 40 teachers; and 127 students. A validated researchers-designed questionnaire with a reliability value of 0.84 was used as the research instrument. The GLOCALISE web repository link https://sites.google.com/view/projectglocalise/home was created for students and teachers' open access. The outcome of this study indicated that unlike the conventional approach, the Glocalise instructional approach provided ease of content retention and empowers students’ cultural orientation in learning STEM by bridging the gap from abstraction to concretisation. Thus, recommending that with Glocalise, the fear and panic for STEM subjects among students could be doused, and the practice of contracting machinery for examination by parents could be easily halted. While also learning sciences in a fun and self-paced way with the GLOCALISE repository. Résumé : Les conséquences de l’échec dans les matières Scientifiques, Technologiques, Techniques et Mathématiques (STEM) ont conduit les élèves et les parents à chercher des raccourcis pour réussir ces matières. Ces échecs ont effectivement eu un impact sur le capital humain du Nigeria Pour trouver une solution à ce bourbier, il faut se poser des questions telles que : l'apprentissage des STEM peut-il passer de la peur à l'amusement? comment les peurs peuvent-elles être transformées en amusement? quelles sont les attentes en matière d'apprentissage ludique? Des plateformes numériques peuvent-elles être mises à disposition pour soutenir l'apprentissage ludique ?Ces questions, entre autres, ont servi de base à cette étude. Une conception de recherche mi