STEM IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS OF INDONESIA: TRENDS, MODELS, AND IMPACTS
Keywords:
STEM education, Primary education, Elementary Education, Systematic Literature Review (SLR)Abstract
STEM education, which integrates science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, is increasingly recognized as an important approach to developing scientific literacy and 21st-century skills in elementary education. Although the implementation of STEM education is growing rapidly in various countries, studies specifically addressing its application in elementary schools in Indonesia are still relatively limited. In Indonesia, elementary schools play a strategic role in the national education system, but research trends, learning models, and the impact of STEM implementation in this context have not been systematically mapped. This study aims to analyze research trends, identify dominant learning models, and assess the impact of STEM education implementation in elementary schools in Indonesia. This study uses a systematic literature review approach to publications indexed in the Scopus database for the period 2015–2026. The results of the study indicate that studies on STEM education in Islamic elementary schools in Indonesia have increased significantly in the last two decades, with articles dominating in the Q2 and Q3 quartiles for journals and the Journal of Physics: Conference Series for proceedings. The dominant research topic is learning strategies. The most frequently appearing keywords are STEM, elementary schools, and students. The dominant research method is experimental research. The STEM approach is generally the most frequently used approach, with the most frequently integrated learning model being Project-Based Learning. The impact of STEM implementation in elementary schools is most dominant on 21st-century skills, especially critical thinking, followed by literacy.
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