Enhancing students’ conceptual understanding through contextualized STEM approach: advancing science literacy in health and education

Introduction: understanding plant asexual reproduction is vital for fostering scientific literacy, especially in agriculture, biodiversity, and sustainability. Yet, students often struggle with these abstract concepts due to limited contextualization and practical application in traditional instruction. This study examined the effectiveness of a Contextualized STEM Approach in improving students’ conceptual understanding, performance, and perceptions.Methods: a quantitative one-group pretest-posttest design was employed with 105 Grade 7 students from a public secondary school in Iligan City. Data were collected through a researcher-made pretest and posttest, a perception survey, and performance task scores. Analyses included descriptive statistics and paired t-tests to determine conceptual gains and intervention effects.Results: findings revealed a significant increase in posttest scores (MD = -10.84, t = -40.996, p < 0.001). More students attained Mastery and Proficient levels, while those in the Unsatisfactory category decreased by 20%. Most groups achieved the Advanced level in performance tasks, demonstrating effective application of propagation techniques. Survey responses showed strong agreement that lessons were relevant, clear, and engaging.Conclusions: the Contextualized STEM Approach enhanced students’ conceptual understanding, performance, and motivation in learning plant asexual reproduction. These results affirm its potential as an effective pedagogical strategy in science education. Future studies may investigate its scalability across varied topics and learner groups.