Cultivating ecological awareness among middle school students on Lae Lae Island through Ethno-STEM project based learning

Abstract This study explores the role of Ethno-STEM Project Based Learning (Ethno-STEM PjBL) in building ecological awareness of students on Lae-Lae Island, one of the small islands in South Sulawesi. A quasi-experimental design was applied to 63 junior high school students. The intervention included four contextual projects, namely, the carbon footprint of local food, mini solar power plant assembly, bioconversion-based waste bank, and traditional water filter. The results showed that Ethno-STEM PjBL had a significant effect in building ecological awareness of students with an effect size of 0.85 ( p < 0.001). Scores increased in four observed ecological awareness domains. The largest impact appeared on awareness in waste management and solar energy literacy. Meanwhile, water conservation awareness increased by a small amount due to the high baseline from the beginning. The findings confirm that the role of Ethno-STEM PjBL is effective and relevant for the island context, strengthening the link between science and local community wisdom.