STEM education is the abbreviation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, which advocates interdisciplinary education and uses multidisciplinary thinking and knowledge to solve practical problems. STEM education is not a simple superposition of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, but an effective integration of them into an organic whole, driven by solving real problems, applying knowledge and acquiring knowledge in practice, and cultivating students' problem-solving ability, compound thinking and innovative thinking.
STEM education is a brand-new educational paradigm in the era of knowledge economy. Its fundamental goal is to cultivate talents who are good at questioning, brave in practice and innovation, with interdisciplinary knowledge literacy and the ability to solve practical problems. It has become an important development strategy in the field of education in various countries.
As for the essence of STEM education, the academic circles in China mainly discuss it based on the historical track and constituent elements of STEM concept, showing an "integration orientation", that is, the core of STEM education is interdisciplinary integration. Interdisciplinary integration breaks the boundaries of a single discipline, emphasizes the "mixing" of disciplines, and organically integrates theories and methods from different disciplines and fields.
The subject integration of STEM education is not to blindly pile up or piece together the contents of different subjects, but to reconstruct and integrate the contents of various subjects and creatively carry out interdisciplinary teaching in combination with real life, with the aim of improving students' scientific spirit and innovation ability. Some experts suggest that the knowledge content of science, mathematics and other disciplines can be integrated on the basis of engineering technology, which can effectively improve students' comprehensive practice and innovative application ability and effectively make up for the shortcomings of engineering technology education in the field of basic education in China.
STEM education has the characteristics of experience, focusing on project-based learning and learning process, rather than the knowledge results embodied in the test paper and the connection between learning and the real world. In the process of participating and experiencing knowledge, students not only gain the knowledge of results, but also learn the knowledge of process in the process of solving project problems. STEM education advocates students to acquire abstract knowledge through self-study or teacher's guidance, and emphasizes students' hands-on, brains and participation in the learning process. STAM education provides students with a hands-on learning experience. Students use their mathematics and scientific knowledge to deal with real-world problems, create, design, construct, discover, cooperate and solve problems.
STEM education has situational characteristics, emphasizing that students can acquire the ability to apply maker knowledge in a situational way, and at the same time, they can understand and identify knowledge expression in different situations. STEM education emphasizes that knowledge is the product of learners' interactive construction through learning environment, rather than being instilled from outside.
STEM education emphasizes group cooperation, mutual help and inspiration, and builds group knowledge. In the process of completing the task, students need to communicate and discuss with others. The collaboration of STEAM education requires that the design of learning environment should include two elements: collaboration and dialogue: let students collect and analyze learning materials in groups, put forward and verify hypotheses, and evaluate learning results.
STEM education requires that the learning output link includes design works, which can promote the integration, migration and application of knowledge, and externalize the learning results and acquired knowledge and ability through works. Students learn knowledge, exercise ability and improve STEM literacy in the design process, so design is the core feature of STEM education.
The development of science education in primary and secondary schools in China is in the primary stage, and there are some problems such as the construction of scientific equipment in schools needs to be improved, the shortage of professional teachers, the improvement of students' own interests, the lack of a sound and complete system for the setting of science education courses and activities, and the insufficient publicity and promotion of science education.
Science education in junior high school and primary school is highly developed, but it is relatively rare in senior high school. From the high school stage, the biggest pressure still comes from the college entrance examination.
Primary and secondary school students have a certain sense of innovation and ability. Through related activities, their abilities of operation, practice, cooperation and communication have been improved, but their enthusiasm for participation and understanding of science education need to be improved.
The infrastructure construction of science education in many schools can't meet the demand. The policy and financial support of the government and relevant organizations are insufficient, and the participation of technology and talents in many fields cannot meet the demand. There is less communication between schools and insufficient sharing of resources and achievements.
Maker education is a practical course designed with the project as the center; STEM education is a comprehensive course, which aims to break the boundaries of disciplines and integrate related disciplines. In a narrow sense, science education is a subject course designed according to the subject field, while in a broad sense, its course form is unrestricted.
Maker education encourages students to use digital tools to turn their ideas into works in the process of discovering, exploring and solving problems, while teachers help students as supporters; STEM education is based on teachers' preset problem scenarios, guided by teachers' organizations, and interdisciplinary learning in the process of understanding and solving problems. Science education is to teach, discuss and practice knowledge according to the laws and principles of scientific learning, and teachers mainly impart knowledge.
Maker education emphasizes students' product creation, and the core is creation; STEM education emphasizes the integration of interdisciplinary and different disciplines; Science education involves four areas: personal needs, social problems, employment preparation and academic foundation for further study. It is to teach students the scientific knowledge of daily life and the future scientific and technological world, master scientific methods, cultivate scientific spirit and attitude, and educate students how to deal with scientific and social problems, so that they can have the necessary scientific and technological foundation for future job hunting and the necessary theoretical basis for continuing to study science.
From the perspective of connotation and characteristics, maker education, STEM education and science education obviously cannot replace each other, because their emphasis is different.
Maker education focuses on cultivating students' innovative spirit and practical ability in practice. Looking at the essence through appearances, maker education is actually a series of educational concepts. Its educational goal is to cultivate a whole person with maker spirit and accomplishment. The process has no strict and closed operation requirements, but is based on autonomy, openness and sharing.
STEM pays more attention to the learning process. The fundamental goal of STEM education is to cultivate talents who are good at questioning, brave in practice and innovation, with interdisciplinary knowledge literacy and the ability to solve practical problems. In the process of students' participation and experience, this method pays more attention to the process knowledge obtained by students in the process of solving problems, not just the knowledge results embodied in the test paper.
Science education is the education of imparting basic scientific knowledge, experiencing scientific thinking method and scientific inquiry method, cultivating scientific spirit and attitude, training basic scientific research ability and applying science and technology. It pays more attention to the teaching and accumulation of indirect experience and skills, and takes mastering existing scientific knowledge as the main content. In reality, it is more at the basic level of knowledge learning, rather than paying attention to the cultivation of practice and innovation ability like the other two.
Therefore, each of the three methods has its own emphasis, which can not replace each other, but can complement each other.
Maker education, STEM education and science education have their own advantages and disadvantages, and connecting them can just make up for their respective shortcomings. So it is obvious that the three can be complementary and integrated.
In the teaching process, teachers can combine maker education with science education, so that students can master basic scientific knowledge and divergent thinking, which is helpful to form innovative consciousness. Combining innovative practice with STEM interdisciplinary problem-solving concept can also achieve unexpected results. If the three methods help and support each other, we can better realize the optimization of education.
References:
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