## 1 Introduction  
The study of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has increased in the last decade, showing its importance in improving students' abilities in the 21 st century [1, 2]. However, its implementation in Indonesia has many challenges. First, the teacher does not understand STEM education and how to implement it for students. Second, it combines interdisciplinary science, a challenge for schools and teachers accustomed to single-subject teaching. Other problems are class hours, communication on interdisciplinary science, teaching materials, and its relationship with Indonesia's standard curriculum [3].  
Indonesia's learning curriculum is centralized, where the government monitors and evaluates teachers' school activities. The government has advised some schools in big cities to use STEM education-based learning. STEM education entered Indonesia in 2014, with Syiah Kuala University becoming one of the largest centers. In collaboration with SEAMEO and QITEP ([[https://www.qitepinscience.org/](https://www.qitepinscience.org/)]([https://www.qitepinscience.org/](https://www.qitepinscience.org/)), accessed on 30 June 2022), the STEM education research center focuses on improving STEM education quality. They conduct various workshops and develop education-based learning to assist its implementation in schools. Examples of experiments include electroplating, aquaponics technology, electrical installation, and others related to technology and engineering from elementary to high school levels. Although STEM implementation has been running for more than five years, only a few studies measure its success [4; 5; 6]. The previous study primarily used cognitive learning performance to measure the quality of its implementation [7; 8]. Additionally, several college studies have examined the effects of STEM education, though there is limited literature that focuses on K-12 students.  
The success of implementing STEM education is measured in many ways. Previous studies used the perspective of student academic performance [9; 10]. Other studies stated that academic performance is less effective in determining the success of implementing a new learning approach. Furthermore, several studies recommend analyzing student satisfaction as an alternative to successfully implementing a new learning model [11; 12]. Student satisfaction reflects their perceptions of the learning experience with STEM education [13]. Student satisfaction is also an important outcome affecting motivation, ability, and the desire to participate in learning activities [14; 15]. Furthermore, this study considered student satisfaction with STEM education as the dependent variable because it strongly relates to the perception of learning quality. Besides the importance of STEM education and its integration of various fields of science, unsatisfied students may be influenced by its difficulty to implement, impact, and inadequate facilities. Therefore, further studies should identify the predicted determinants related to student satisfaction with STEM education.  
This study aimed to develop a new model to explore factors related to student satisfaction toward STEM education through attitude and acceptance. The following section elaborates on the theoretical background of predictors that may relate to student satisfaction with STEM education.