Performance of Undergraduate Students to Deal with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Based Problems

Abstract

The type of research carried out in this article is descriptive which aims to provide an overview of students' high-level thinking skills in solving STEM-based problems, especially Medan State University. The subjects in this study were 45 students in the first semester of the mathematics education study program. Data collection in this study was carried out by giving a pretest to students with 15 minutes and interviews. Interviews were conducted with the aim of obtaining information about how students solve the problems presented. The results of the pretest and interviews were used as material to answer the main problem in this study. In this case, the research findings suggest that the initial abilities of students generally have not been able to help them solve the STEM problems presented to them. In solving the problems given, some students tend to use trial and error methods, while others use descriptions in words or pictures.