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th
The 4 Educational Science International Conference
Towards a Sustainable Future of Education: Preparing Teachers and Prospective Teachers for the Digital Age

SCIED-03

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) based learning in
Higher Plant Botany Courses in Tropical Rain Forests during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Herliani, masitah, zenia lutfi kurniawati, dora dayu rahma turista, ,
Mulawarman university, indonesia
ellieherliani@gmail.com

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has had such a huge impact on society, not only from the economic
and social sectors, but also the education sector. On this basis, the government implements a
policy in the education sector, namely face-to-face learning activities are replaced with
distance learning. Higher Plant Botany is one of the compulsory cours in the Biology
Education Departement, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Mulawarman University
which during the COVID-19 pandemic also implemented this policy through online learning.
STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) is a learning approach
that gives students the opportunity to expand their knowledge in science and humanities.
STEAM-based online learning is expected to be able to accommodate the needs and be a
solution to the challenges of online Higher Plant Botany learning. This study uses qualitative
interview analysis with data collection techniques with questionnaires and semi-structured
interviews. The interview focused on the issue of students' perceptions of the benefits and
challenges of STEAM-based learning in the Higher Plant Botany course in tropical rain
forests during the COVID-19 pandemic. The benefits of STEAM learning are provide new
experiences for students, effective, flexible, more master of technology and communication,
can still interact between lecturers and students, learning can run optimally, learning can be
carried out anytime and anywhere, time efficiency, while the challenges faced by students are
internet signal interference which causes video transmission to be hampered and requires a
large internet quota.

Keywords: STEAM, higher plant botany, interview, COVID-19 pandemic

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