Fostering STEAM Self-Efficacy, Empathy, and Civic Responsibility Through a Service-Learning STEAM Project in Lower Secondary Education

This exploratory study examines the integration of service-learning and STEAM education (SL-STEAM) to foster Grade 8 students' STEAM self-efficacy, empathy, and civic responsibility. The ten-week SL-STEAM project engaged students in designing and constructing mosquito trap lamps to support the well-being of boarding students at a local secondary school. Using a mixed-methods, quasi-experimental design, the study compared an experimental group (n=24) and a control group (n=28) through pre-post surveys and student reflections. Quantitative results showed substantial improvements in empathy and marginally significant gains in STEAM selfefficacy for the experimental group. Civic responsibility improved within both groups but showed no significant between-group difference. Qualitative findings reinforced these patterns, indicating positive development across all three domains. These results offer initial insights into the potential of SL-STEAM to support both academic and socio-emotional outcomes in lower secondary education, while also indicating that civic outcomes may require ongoing engagement to develop measurably. The study's limitations, including the small sample size, single-institution context, and short intervention duration, underscore the need for further research to examine the scalability and long-term impact of SL-STEAM approaches.