Organizing Collaborative Learning in STEM Education to Develop Students’ 21st-Century Skills

21st century skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, technology literacy, communication, and collaboration, are essential for adapting to a complex and globalized world. STEM education, is considered an effective solution to help students build the knowledge and skills needed to solve problems encountered in life. Besides, cooperation is a core principle of modern education, promoting active idea sharing, joint problem solving, and knowledge building in real-life contexts. To evaluate the impact of collaborative learning on the development of 21st century skills in STEM education, we conducted a controlled experimental study with 165 high school students (81 experimental, 84 control), both groups worked on the same STEM topic in which the experimental group was organized according to the Student Teams-Achievement Division collaborative learning model. The results of the experimental effectiveness evaluation using the Difference-inDifference model showed that the group of students applying collaborative learning in STEM teaching had significantly higher 21st century skills (0.24 to 0.29 scores) than the group that did not use collaborative learning methods in STEM teaching. Based on the findings, we believe that teachers need to create a structured group learning environment in STEM teaching to stimulate initiative, where they can support each other, share ideas, convey opinions, and provide constructive feedback, thereby promoting the development of 21st century skills.