Light Emitting Diode (LED) as an essential prop component for STEM education in the 21st century: A focus for secondary school level

Indonesian secondary science curriculum is often late to keep up with the rapid development of technology. For instance, the widely-used LED (Light Emitting Diode) technology is not familiar as props in secondary science instructions in Indonesia. This study aims to: (1) provide professional development for teachers in developing experiments using LEDs for learning physics concepts, and (2) increase teachers' beliefs on their knowledge on using LEDs for physics experiments. The professional development only used a single group pre- and post-test research design in the form of a two-day workshop attended by 20 science teachers from secondary level schools in the city of Banda Aceh. The workshop used Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE)-STEM approach, an inquiry-based physics learning that incorporate STEM education approach in active learning and collaboration. The workshop used LEDs as experimental props. From the qualitative analysis of the pre- and postquestionnaires' responses, we found that there are positive improvements on participants' understanding of ISLE-based STEM approach and of the use of LEDs as props. From the questionnaire administered after the workshop, we found that most of the teachers were excited about the training using LED as props and 89.4% of them feel that their knowledge increased.