Different Approaches to Learning Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

Case Studies from Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Finland

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• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9789292626464
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Educational Policy

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has an important role in ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. By utilizing an inquiry- based and experiential teaching and learning approach as well as integrating engineering and technology with science and mathematics, STEM promotes employability skills, entrepreneurship, and innovation. This publication presents case studies on the successful application of STEM in Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Finland. It aims to provide inspiration and lessons for developing member countries of the Asian Development Bank to enhance and develop their respective STEM education programs.

1

THAILAND
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education in Roong Aroon School

Abstract

How can science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education make an impact on lifelong learning? STEM furnishes an opportunity in the realm of education for real work and collaborative learning. When relevant and age-appropriate STEM projects are carried out in schools, students can directly link their knowledge and understanding with valuable life skills.

STEM education is offered at Roong Aroon School through project-based learning, an approach that encourages students to become self-directed learners and focuses on collaborative skills in working with others. In the process, students identify a real-life problem in their school community or in the wider community, carry out research to understand the causes and effects of the problem, and propose solutions. By focusing on real issues, students can extend learning outcomes to their society in a wider context.

Teachers facilitate the process by guiding students with a lesson framework, i.e., a “backward design road map” to plan key educational concepts in terms of content, learning objectives for knowledge, understanding, learning skills, values and attitudes, learning processes, and evaluation. This case study looks at Roong Aroon School’s STEM education in 2018 at the secondary level, Grade 7, which was developed around the theme of “mechanical toy inventions for kindergarten children in Roong Aroon School.”

In producing solutions, creating new inventions is a valuable step for students to gain content knowledge, along with developing 21st century skills for designs through exploration and experimentation. This process of applying STEM knowledge also builds confidence in the students, which will aid them in future experiences. Particularly notable in this case was how even the girls who were hesitant about physics and engineering especially gained more confidence.

STEM projects help students move within the whole person as they transition toward maturity capable of shifting between body and emotions and mind and thought. In this way, their project work becomes more integrated with who they are and helps them see how they can do good for others.

Introduction

Located near Bangkok, Thailand, Roong Aroon School is a private school that aims to guide students toward lifelong learning to enable them to lead meaningful lives. The school was established by the Roong Aroon School Foundation, a nonprofit organization that channels all of its income toward the management of the school. It provides early childhood education and basic education from kindergarten to Grade 12. The school’s curriculum aims to holistically integrate learning with the learners’ everyday lives, to enable them to apply the knowledge and understanding of content and develop valuable life skills and relationships in the real world. The school is located on the outskirts of Bangkok and is designed to support community learning with an atmosphere that promotes creative practices that help encourage children at each age level to attain their own learning potential. The buildings are grouped by departments and are nestled in a natural environment, with surroundings that are landscaped with lush greenery, fully accessible to all the students. Most of the area is developed to cater to both outdoor and indoor learning activities, supplemented by regular off-campus field study.

Activity-based learning for Grade 9 students Roong Aroon School adopts a project-based approach to holistic learning (photo by Roong Aroon School [RAS]).

Holistic learning in Roong Aroon School follows three modes:

(i)The 1st Learning Mode is Deeper Learning that aims to nurture one’s inner learning capacity—to promote wisdom-based learners and practice mindfulness cultivation, self-reflection, meditation, spiritual arts, public volunteer services, etc.

(ii)The 2nd Learning Mode is Learning by Doing that combines practice with hands-on activities in the real situations—to promote self-directed and self-reliant learners and to practice activity-based, problem-based, project-based, and research-based learning integrated with real-life experiences.

(iii)The 3rd Learning Mode is Communicative Learning that aims to share knowledge and understanding that builds learning capacity or a community of practices—to promote social engagement and develop learning partners in a sustainable manner, as well as practice group learning, discussion, dialogue, knowledge management, community sharing, group meeting, people mapping, and information and communication technology (ICT) presentation.

Roong Aroon School operates under the Thai national curriculum. There are three groups of subjects:

(iv)The Core Subjects group: mathematics, science, information technology, English language, and a special “Buranakan” social studies that integrates Thai language with communication, geography, and history.

(v)The Health and Well-being group: visual arts, music (with Thai classical and western music), physical education, and swimming.

(vi)Integrated STEM within the science and mathematics periods, complementary yet distinct from the traditional science and mathematics lessons.

Roong Aroon Student Profile

Students at Roong Aroon are predominantly from Thai backgrounds in the middle to upper-middle class socioeconomic ranges. Most students come from Buddhist families, though some families may consider themselves more secular. The school provides a fee reduction for staff’s children, in approximate proportion to the staff’s salary so that lower-salaried employees receive the largest reduction. Currently, about 70 students receive this benefit.

The school is strongly committed to an inclusive learning environment. During admission, the school carefully interviews parents of students with special needs to ensure they will be collaborative and active in working with their children from home as well. It is felt that having a few students in every classroom with learning styles that are different from the norm is both healthy and nurturing for all students in learning to accept and work with peers who are different from them.

Scholarships are also offered for students who complete Grade 9 to continue to study at Roong Aroon through Grades 10 to 12. Scholarships can be attained by students who perform well in volunteer work through Grades 7 to 9, showing their empathy toward others, care for the environment and also earning at least a 3.85 grade average (on a 4.0 scale). The standard is set high for good students who contribute meaningfully to helping others, the school, and the community.

Learning space The natural environment within the school forms a learning space in the Roong Aroon community (photo by RAS).

Elements of STEM Education

Today, students can easily access information and knowledge—no longer the sole domain of educators. In view of many and significant global challenges and societal concerns, students want to see how, why, when, and where their learning is relevant to living in the world. “How do we use this knowledge for life?”

STEM education involves integrative ways of teaching and learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. An integrative approach to STEM aims to apply theoretical knowledge to real life. In a research study of 34 educators involved in intensive, long-term STEM programs, especially for middle schools and engaged in intensive professional development, three themes were identified across interviews as central to the success of STEM education: (i) interdisciplinary connections; (ii) the need for new, ambitious instructional practices in enacting a STEM approach; and (iii) the engagement of students in real-world problem-solving (Holmlund et al. 2018). All three themes are pivotal to how Roong Aroon School approaches its ongoing STEM education.

STEM education integrates different subject concepts and skills to apply knowledge in an invention, a product, or a task. By engineering their own inventions or products, learners go deeper in their understanding of core concepts. Doing a STEM project encourages and trains students to see problems as opportunities and allows them to discuss and interact with their teams and teachers. Self-direction, self-monitoring, and self-responsibility are key characteristics that should be imbued in the next generation and that can be embedded firmly within STEM education (León et al. 2015). When facing an unknown problem, students need to develop the abilities for teamwork, sharing, and learning with groups of diverse people. Internationally, the diverse outcomes of STEM include knowledge; higher-order thinking skills; design; and the development of personal characteristics such as perseverance, cooperation, and responsibility—these outcomes have been well researched and acknowledged (Wahono et al. 2020; National Science and Technology Council Committee on STEM Education 2018).

Science is a tool that humans use to find answers to phenomena, including the natural environment and the issues in society that affect lives. It is also a discipline that helps expand human limitations, when invention and technology make life easier or help support difficult tasks. Scientific concepts and content often relate to nature and the environment around us. Its learning processes inspire students and help develop their mindset to value the importance of scientific knowledge and skills.

Technology is integrated seamlessly into STEM projects by allowing students to choose from an array of tools they already have at their fingertips, or are learning in their ICT classes. One student may use old fashioned paper and pen technology, while another may choose Google Slides, and yet another uses the latest Illustrator or ProCreate¹ program installed on their own computers. Experimenting with new ICT is never discouraged. If a student is having trouble with paper and pencil designs, the teacher might even consult with the ICT teacher about what programs are being used in any given year that might be best for STEM-related plans and diagrams or the later reporting of students’ discoveries. Giving students many choices about the technologies being used is considered by many teachers as essential to supporting the students’ ongoing motivation, rather than imposing a one-size-fits-all technology requirement. Students’ own choices are often far better informed from using the latest program that they have been learning than if teachers had insisted that all students used a single program for their STEM projects. In doing so, students in each STEM team begin effortlessly to teach each other about the programs they know best.

Engineering is a systematic planning process for creating useful products. The creation includes designing and drawing 3D drafts to plan the creation systematically (with rules of physics and mathematics), making a prototype to test out its functionality, and then developing the final product. In the present case study, a full engineering example is elaborated with an example of middle school students creating 3D toys for kindergarten students.

Mathematics learning occurs where teachers design lesson plans for students to learn through exploration, experience, research, and activities that require mathematical problem-solving. According to Kirin Sinha, a Mathematics graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the founder of SHINE for Girls, an organization enlivening the capabilities of girls in STEM fields, mathematics and kinesthetic learning go naturally together. As Sinha (2014) explains:

Kinesthetic learning is founded on creativity, which makes math a natural pairing. There is a widespread misconception that STEM fields stifle creativity. But math also requires creativity and a willingness to approach a problem from multiple angles. In fact, STEM fields are about creative problem-solving, not rote memorization.

Roong Aroon’s hands-on approach lets students test their assumptions and see patterns in their thinking until they understand the principles behind the phenomena. At Roong Aroon, learners are engaged through direct experiences, before they embark on invention planning, where they plan, design ideas, and make diagrams before project implementation.

Scientific learning Students conduct experiments to deepen their learning experience (photo by RAS).

Core Issues and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education in Roong Aroon

This case study examines STEM education at Roong Aroon School by looking at the school’s general approach, then describing the full case of one successful Grade 7 STEM project with a showcase of student work (Box 1), followed by a review of the multifaceted features of STEM at Roong Aroon and 21st century skills that are developed within this approach to STEM. Later in the case, a summary of the curricular challeng...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Tables, Figures, and Boxes
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Executive Summary
• 1. Thailand: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education in Roong Aroon School
• 2. Republic of Korea: A National Framework for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics Education
• 3. Singapore: Sustainable Implementation of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics in Singapore Schools
• 4. Finland: On the Trail of Learning—Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics in Finnish Basic Education
• 5. Conclusions
• Bibliography
• Footnotes
• Back Cover