European Journal of STEM Education
Research Article
2025, 10(1), Article No: 16

A Comparative Study of Inquiry, STEAM, and STEAM-Based Guided Inquiry (GI-STEAM)

Ela Suryani 1 2 * , Zuhdan Kun Prasetyo 3, Hermanto Hermanto 3, Kartika Yuni Purwanti 2 3
1 Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, INDONESIA 2 Universitas Ngudi Waluyo, INDONESIA3 Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, INDONESIA
* Corresponding Author
https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/17191
Published in Volume 10 Issue 1: 02 Oct 2025
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Abstract

This quasi-experimental study investigates the comparative effectiveness of inquiry-based learning, STEAM, and Guided Inquiry-STEAM (GI-STEAM) in fostering elementary students’ creative thinking skills and scientific attitudes. A total of 115 students from public elementary schools in Semarang Regency, Central Java, Indonesia, were given a creative thinking test with five open-ended items and a questionnaire about their scientific attitudes, which comprises 15 statements. Data were analyzed using the Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) to determine the impact of each instructional approach. The results revealed statistically significant differences across the three groups (p < 0.05), with students exposed to GI-STEAM demonstrating superior creative thinking and stronger scientific attitudes compared to those in the inquiry-only and STEAM groups. These findings suggest that integrating guided inquiry into the STEAM framework provides structured opportunities for exploration, problem-solving, and reflection that are not equally emphasized in conventional inquiry or STEAM models. Thus, GI-STEAM adoption in elementary classrooms has great potential to encourage creativity, foster scientific attitudes, and equip students with evidence-based reasoning and innovative thinking skills needed to tackle complex problems.
Figure 1 Figure 1. Graph of Creative Thinking and Scientific Attitudes of Students Experiencing Inquiry, STEAM, and GI-STEAM Learning
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AMA 10th edition
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Suryani E, Prasetyo ZK, Hermanto H, Purwanti KY. A Comparative Study of Inquiry, STEAM, and STEAM-Based Guided Inquiry (GI-STEAM). European Journal of STEM Education. 2025;10(1), 16. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/17191
APA 6th edition
In-text citation: (Suryani et al., 2025)
Reference: Suryani, E., Prasetyo, Z. K., Hermanto, H., & Purwanti, K. Y. (2025). A Comparative Study of Inquiry, STEAM, and STEAM-Based Guided Inquiry (GI-STEAM). European Journal of STEM Education, 10(1), 16. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/17191
Chicago
In-text citation: (Suryani et al., 2025)
Reference: Suryani, Ela, Zuhdan Kun Prasetyo, Hermanto Hermanto, and Kartika Yuni Purwanti. "A Comparative Study of Inquiry, STEAM, and STEAM-Based Guided Inquiry (GI-STEAM)". European Journal of STEM Education 2025 10 no. 1 (2025): 16. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/17191
Harvard
In-text citation: (Suryani et al., 2025)
Reference: Suryani, E., Prasetyo, Z. K., Hermanto, H., and Purwanti, K. Y. (2025). A Comparative Study of Inquiry, STEAM, and STEAM-Based Guided Inquiry (GI-STEAM). European Journal of STEM Education, 10(1), 16. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/17191
MLA
In-text citation: (Suryani et al., 2025)
Reference: Suryani, Ela et al. "A Comparative Study of Inquiry, STEAM, and STEAM-Based Guided Inquiry (GI-STEAM)". European Journal of STEM Education, vol. 10, no. 1, 2025, 16. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/17191
Vancouver
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Suryani E, Prasetyo ZK, Hermanto H, Purwanti KY. A Comparative Study of Inquiry, STEAM, and STEAM-Based Guided Inquiry (GI-STEAM). European Journal of STEM Education. 2025;10(1):16. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/17191
Keywords
creative thinking, GI-STEAM, inquiry, scientific attitudes, STEAM
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