Muhamad Arif Mahdiannur, Martini, Dyah Astriani, Beni Setiawan, Ahmad Qosyim
Awareness of the importance of STEM education has led to many student activities and projects being embedded or integrated into primary and secondary education curricula. The awareness of STEM education is based on the need for knowledge workers in STEM industries. Teachers themselves play a very vital role in establishing STEM-based curricula in schools. The Merdeka Curriculum is accompanied by policy changes to further support STEM education at schools by introducing Understanding by Design (UbD) strategies. This study used a survey approach. This study measures the extent of secondary school science teachers' understanding of the UbD strategy and STEM education using a small-scale survey. This research involved 47 science teachers who were members of the secondary science teacher union in one regency of East Java Province, Indonesia. In general, there was an average of 77.53% of misunderstanding among science teachers about UbD strategies and STEM education. The majority of teachers' understanding of the context of UbD, the purpose of UbD, the basic principles of UbD, the technical components in UbD, the stages in UbD, and STEM education in schools is still low and not comprehensive. Structured education and training are needed for science teachers on UbD strategies and STEM education, as well as the transformation of prospective teacher education to integrate STEM so that they are more literate in STEM and can carry out their role as curriculum developers. © 2025 Author(s).
Department of Science Education, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Surabaya, Surabaya, 60231, Indonesia
