Library of Science as a social innovation for STEM education in Malaysia

Abstract

This dissertation reports on a research work entitled: Library of Science as a Social Innovation for STEM education in Malaysia. The research idea explored a strategy to facilitate the implementation of STEM education among students, teachers and society. Malaysia faced a drop in the number of students’ enrolment in STEM subjects. Malaysia has also been facing difficulties in implementing STEM education such as inadequate facilities, poorly equipped laboratory, and insufficient time allocated for STEM teaching and learning. The research objectives were to explore the concept of Library of Science as a social innovation for STEM education, to identify the needs for Library of Science as a social innovation for STEM education, and to identify the challenges of a library for STEM education. The research questions were how a Library of Science can be designed for STEM education, what are the requirements for a Library of Science as a social innovation for STEM education, and what are the challenges of a library in practising social innovation within STEM education. The methods applied in this research were survey questionnaires (purposive sampling), interview (stratified random sampling), and triangulation. Survey questionnaires were distributed to 23 libraries selected based on the criteria for the concept of Library of Science, of which two responded. A total 12 STEM institutions were invited to participate in the interview, of which 5 agreed to be interviewed. Triangulation was done to integrate the findings from the two different sources on the concept of Library of Science as a social innovation for STEM education. The pilot study carried out for the interview showed that the company has contents that can be considered as one of the Library of Science’s resources. The findings included the concept of Library of Science as a library that serves resources related to Science and STEM subjects, a collaboration of library management, activity of experimentation, involvement of stakeholders, and availability of spaces. The challenges of a library in practising STEM were funding constraints, supply and demand for STEM professionals, lack of technical infrastructures, demands for new services, language proficiency, and lack of a public exposure of an approachable STEM education. This research yielded findings that supported recommendations for STEM education as reported in existing works, highlighted the potentials of Library of Science as a social innovation to improve the existing STEM educational programs, and suggested possible contributions that Library of Science could support STEM education.