A Review of STEM Education with the Support of Visualizing Its Structure Through the CiteSpace Software

Over the past few years, diverse forms of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) intervention have been designed, demonstrating their beneficial implications on students' cognitive and affective domains. This study aims to systematically review the development of STEM education intervention on secondary education through the application of the innovative CiteSpace software and an in-depth systematic analysis. This complementary review provides an overview of visualised citations and empirical studies in chronological order as well as an in-depth analysis of STEM education intervention, which has not been conducted in previous research. The largest seven clusters and top 10 references with strongest citation bursts over the past 20 years were identified via CiteSpace analysis. A total of 38 articles were selected and cross-examined by the co-researchers based on the adapted systematic review guide, specifically aiming at ensuring the quality of the study. The findings revealed a number of studies that designed their own STEM intervention (20), reported on understanding (16), attitude (30), and investigated the gender aspect (4) as well as the science practices (11). The findings also provided significant insights into the STEM education trend with an existing evidence base as reference for future STEM education research and development. In conclusion, this study presents the practicality and feasibility of using CiteSpace analysis in a systematic review.