Enriching STEM Curriculums with Integration of MIT BLOSSOMS and Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Challenges for Malaysian educators Zaleha Abdullah*, Mohd Nihra Haruzuan, Nurbiha A Shukor, Noor Azean Atan, Noor Dayana Abd Halim Department of Educational Sciences, Mathematics, and Creative Multimedia Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru, Malaysia Email: *zac@utm.my Abstract— Across the nation students’ enrolment and achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are on the decline. BLOSSOMS project has been introduced as an initiative on addressing the issue, where teachers are trained to design and develop a BLOSSOMS’ educational interactive video of STEM lessons with the integration of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) approach. The various reactions and responses from the teachers are recorded emphasizing on their needs and challenges in completing the task. A total of 148 online semi-structured questionnaires were collected, followed by in-depth interviews with five teachers who were involved in the project. This study creates an awareness of the needs to further extend BLOSSOMS project. Also, to highlight issues of concern related to teachers’ lack of content knowledge mastery of STEM subject. Keywords-BLOSSOMS; STEM; HOTS; Content Knowledge I. INTRODUCTION BLOSSOMS which means Blended Learning Open Source Science or Math Studies is an educational interactive video project initiated by a group of educators from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (MIT), USA. BLOSSOMS project highlights the importance of 'real life experience' or the relevance of learning science, math, engineering and technology (STEM) to everyday life at the high school level. There are more than 100 BLOSSOMS videos were produced by the trainers from the United States with colleagues from Jordan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Singapore. Malaysia is the sixth country involved in the MIT video projects BLOSSOMS. BLOSSOMS project in Malaysia led by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) have started since January 8, 2013. This collaboration between MIT, UTM and Ministry of Education Malaysia (MoE) is expected to provide significant benefits to the education system as the country faces a shortage of students in the field of science and mathematics at the university level. Also, it was reported that the quality of education in Malaysia has declined, particularly in science and mathematics:  Poor performance in TIMSS 2011 (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) [1, 2].  Poor performance in PISA 2012 (Programme for International Student Assessment) [3]; and  Unpleasant report by the World Bank – entitled “Malaysia Economic Monitor: High-Performing Education “[4]. One of the main causes that contribute to this result is the lack of integrating a curriculum that emphasizes the element of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), instead more on memorization approach [2, 5, 6]. There are also other factors raised by some studies e.g., insignificant evaluation methods, less effective processes of teaching and learning, and less experienced teachers or teachers’ lack of Pedagogical Content Knowledge [7]. In general, most studies have found that the main issue that needs to be addressed is related to the ineffective practice of teaching and learning. Hence, this study is carried out to:  identify teachers’ needs in designing and developing BLOSSOMS for classroom learning ; and  identify the challenges in designing and developing BLOSSOMS for classroom learning. II. LITERATURE REVIEW The implementation of BLOSSOMS is hoped to help increase the number and performance of students in the STEM field through the inculcation of interest and increase knowledge and skills at the school level. These are the important elements found in BLOSSOMS:  BLOSSOMS strength lies in its interesting pedagogical approach, one of the key elements needed to foster student interest and assist teachers in implementing effective teaching. This is particularly useful in helping teachers who are lack of Pedagogical Content Knowledge. They will be able to conduct teaching and learning guided by BLOSSOMS video.