Our era can be described as the age of invention, production, technological advancement, and the Industry 4.0 revolution. This competitive environment among developed countries is forcing all nations to invest in science, engineering, and innovative technologies. For these reasons, many developed and developing countries are abandoning educational systems based solely on content teaching. Instead, they are updating their curricula and attempting to integrate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education, which allows for inquiry, research, production, and invention, into their educational systems.
STEM education completely eliminates the separation between the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, and is based on achieving full harmony between these disciplines. As a result of this structure, it aims to educate a generation that can ask questions, research, produce, and make new inventions to solve real-world problems in all levels from kindergarten to university, which is what Industry 4.0 needs.
The “Türkiye Yüzyılı Maarif Modeli” Includes STEM Education
The “Türkiye Yüzyılı Maarif Modeli” includes STEM education.
Interdisciplinary Approach
The “Türkiye Yüzyılı Maarif Modeli” includes interdisciplinary relationships in a way that supports the holistic development of students; teaching methods that support experience-based, context-based, and inquiry-based learning. Similarly, in STEM education, an approach based on inquiry, research, and invention is applied between the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.
Teaching-Learning Experiences
STEM education focuses on the engineering design process in which innovative solutions are applied to complex contextual real-world problems or issues by using existing science, mathematics knowledge, and technologies. Thanks to STEM education, students’ abilities such as creative thinking, critical thinking, and problem solving in the field of production and invention are developed.
STEM education is a student-centered education. Its greatest contribution to students is that it gives them 21st century skills. In STEM classes, students look for solutions to real-world problems. In the STEM education process, students identify the real-world problem, research, generate multiple ideas for solutions, create a prototype, test, evaluate, and redesign and re-evaluate until they reach their goals. In our country, there is a need for individuals who question, research, produce, and invent in almost every field. Thanks to STEM education, students with abilities and interest in science and engineering are identified at every grade level from kindergarten to 12th grade. With this sense of duty, we, as the General Directorate of Innovation and Educational Technologies, have intensively started working on the transition to STEM education in our preschool, primary, and secondary schools.
The most important issue in the process is the integration of STEM education into the curriculum. If this is done in a healthy way, curious, questioning, talented, and interested students studying in primary, secondary, and high schools can be identified. These students will be directed and encouraged to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in universities. STEM education will easily ensure the emergence and development of skills such as learning by trial and error, research, and invention, which are among the necessary strategies to ensure the increase of labor force quality. This will serve to close the gap in production, R&D, innovation, technical infrastructure, process development, and qualified labor force in the labor market.
The aims of STEM Education are summarized as follows:
- To increase students’ interest and desire to receive education in STEM fields and choose STEM professions, and
- To train the future workforce that has gained the ability to solve real-world problems with an interdisciplinary STEM approach.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education is largely about designing creative solutions to real-world problems. When students develop STEM projects based on solving real-world problems, they can see the real impact of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses they have learned more clearly. In such a problem-solving environment, students do not ask questions such as “When will I use what I have learned in real life?” and they can find the opportunity to apply their skills when they use the information they have learned in the STEM projects they develop to solve real-life problems.
As examples of real-world problems, we can give the following topics:
- Recycling of Waste
- Preventing the Harmful Effects of Waste on Nature
- Meeting the Energy Needs of Houses
- Decrease in Potable Water Resources Due to Global Warming
- Keeping Patients Away from Dusty Environments
- Food Safety
- Organic Waste Left in the Environment Causing Environmental Pollution
- Some Classrooms in Schools Not Receiving Sufficient Light During the Day
- Disabled Individuals Not Being Able to Express Themselves in Daily Life
- Need for Natural Fertilizer to Increase Product Yield
- Transmission of Contagious Diseases in Public Living Spaces
- Meeting Energy Needs by Utilizing Human Power
- Preventing Forest Fires
- Cleaning Pollution in the Seas
STEM education is a student-centered education. Its greatest contribution to students is that it gives them 21st century skills. In STEM classes, students look for solutions to real social, economic, and environmental problems. In the STEM education process, students identify the problem, research, generate multiple ideas for solutions, create a prototype, test, evaluate, and redesign and re-evaluate until they reach their goals. The project-based STEM education cycle for developing products and inventions never ends for students.
When developing STEM Projects, students work in groups. By working in groups, students develop the following 21st century skills:
- Critical thinking
- Creativity
- Collaboration
- Communication
These four skills are essential for students to succeed in school and work environments.
Examples of products and inventions that students who make STEM Projects can develop can be given as follows:
Landslide Warning System, Soil-free Agriculture, Using Rainwater in Buildings, Security Robot, Natural Fertilizer, Automatic Dripping System for Watering Flowers, Generating Energy from Windows, Setting up a Garbage Disposal System at School, Producing Energy from Water, Gas Poisoning Prevention System, Smart Bird House, Periscope Development, Energy-Saving Street Lamp, Humidity Prevention System, Remote Automation Controlled Agricultural Greenhouses, Technological Shelter for Street Animals, Automatic Forest Fire Warning and Extinguishing System, Agriculture in Aquarium, Sea Cleaning Vessel, System to Ensure that Vehicles Comply with Traffic Order, System to Prevent Vehicle Waiting in Traffic, Energy-Saving Water Heating System, City Transportation Information Stations for the Visually Impaired, Smart Baby Fever Measuring Device, Safe Pool System that Prevents Drowning in Pools, Barrier-Free Cane for Visually Impaired to Provide Easy Transportation, System for Using Domestic Waste Water in Garden Irrigation.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education is largely about designing creative solutions to real-world problems. When students learn in the context of STEM design based on solving real-world problems, they can see the real impact of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses they have learned more clearly. In such a problem-solving environment, students do not ask questions such as “When will I use what I have learned in real life?” and they can find the opportunity to apply their skills when they use the information they have learned to solve real-life problems.
