• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.113-123
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• 2017

This research is designed to review the systems thinking and STEAM theory while ascertaining the effects of the classroom application of the STEAM programs based on systems thinking appropriate for studying climate change. The systems thinking based STEAM program has been developed by researchers and experts, who had participated in expert meetings in a continued manner. The program was applied to science classes over the course of eight weeks. Therefore, the application effects of the systems thinking based STEAM program were analyzed in students' systems thinking, STEAM semantics survey, and students' academic achievement. The findings are as follows. First, the test group has shown a statistically meaningful difference in the systems thinking analysis compared to the control group in the four subcategories of 'Systems Analysis', 'Personal Mastery', 'Shared Vision' and 'Team Learning' except for 'Mental Model'. Second, in the pre- and post-knowledge tests, the independent sample t-test results in the areas of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics show statistically meaningful differences compared to the control group. Third, in the academic performance test regarding climate change, the test group displayed higher achievement than the control group. In conclusion, the system-based STEAM program is considered appropriate to enhance amalgamative thinking skills based on systems thinking. In addition, the program is expected to improve creative thinking and problem-solving abilities by offering new ideas based on climate change science.