High Scores but No Confidence in Science and Mathematics

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) examines and compares the educational achievements of 9-year-old and 13-year-old students in various countries to issue a TIMSS report every four years. In South Korea, the subjects are fourth graders in primary schools and eighth graders in secondary schools. South Korean students always place in the highest group in terms of achievement in science and mathematics. In the TIMSS report for 2011, executed in 42 countries, secondary school eighth graders in South Korea ranked third in the world in science and first in mathematics. Compared with the results for 2007, the students’ achievements in science had gone up one spot from fourth, and their position in mathematics rose from second to first.

However, South Korean students have failed to escape from the lowest group in the evaluation of interest and self-confidence. In the 2011 results, South Korean students’ interest in science sat at around 11%, which is far behind the international average of 35%. Their interest in mathematics was 8%, which is also much lower than the international average, which is 26%. How is it that our students have achievement rates in the highest group while their interest and self-confidence are lagging behind in the middle and lowest groups?

Many people point to the country’s schooling methods that focus on unilateral knowledge delivery and rote repetition as one of the main causes. In South Korea, it is not common for a student showing high results to voluntarily demonstrate an interest in science and mathematics. STEAM was developed to settle such issues in science and mathematics classes.

In 2011, steps from the elementary and middle miracles, including the pole support system ‘Second’ scientific and technical personnel Development Assistance Plan (’11 – ’15) and the Elementary and Secondary Math ‘was established in the first phase of the plan scientific and technical personnel training challenges of science education has been strengthened, including for the first time, STEAM education Arts (a) fusing elements of Korean talent STEAM education began in adding.
Depending on the change and the contribution of creative science and technology personnel for the added value of the country is increasing, it reveals a systematic response is required for scientific personnel training and secure to lead the industry of the future.
To this end, we are expanding the scope of the project life cycle, including elementary and secondary education.
This is the second project is one of 15 projects focused directly strengthening of future STEAM education of.

Learning Standards Framework of STEAM Classes

‘Learning Standards Framework,’ the Backbone of STEAM

The ‘learning standards framework’ is presented to clearly and efficiently achieve the goals of STEAM. This framework is divided into the three steps of the presentation of situations, creative design, and emotional touch, and is implemented consecutively.

Step 1: ‘Presentation of Situations’ to Let Students Recognize Problems as Their Own Issue

The ‘presentation of situations’ step exhibits the problem to be solved by connecting it to the real world in order for students to recognize the problem as their own issue, and explains the situation to include the whole program.
Also in the introductory part of conventional learning, teachers commonly used a device for inducing motivation. However, STEAM is different in the scope of the presentation of situations.
The situations presented in the introductory part of STEAM must be composed of contents that cover the entire process of a class. The more familiar the difficulties or problems presented are to students, the higher their desire to solve the problem will become.
These examples simultaneously increase immersive learning and the will to solve problems by establishing connections to situations that students frequently experience. You must remember to check if the question or problem given to students in the step of the presentation is later solved through the process of creative design and emotional touch.

Step 2: ‘Creative Design’ for Discovering How to Solve the Problem on One’s Own

The step of ‘creative design’ is made up of the process of thinking and developing the best solution within various limitations appearing in a real world problem.
The key to creative design is to let students reflect their own ideas developed through their creativity in classes and activities selected to obtain a variety of results. Problems are not easily solved by only taking a scientific perspective. Most scientific knowledge is based on completed theories which are not proper for solving problems in the real world.
Conventional science has played the role of satisfying intellectual curiosity about how the world works, while modern science is asked to present solutions for the challenges that humankind currently faces or is expected to face in the future. The creative design method of STEAM, which reflects this situation, can be said to be closer to the field of ‘engineering’ than to ‘science.’
How different are science and engineering? Science is a study that presents an answer to a question of ‘why?’
On the other hand, engineering gives answers to the question of ‘how?’ An engineer thinks in a process to find solutions by asking questions like ‘How should we design an engine for a vehicle to run with less fuel?’ or ‘How can we put more data into a hard disc without increasing its size?’ or ‘How can we give someone an injection without causing pain?’

Find Your Own Way, Not a Single Determined Answer

In many cases, the experiments presented in textbooks have a single determined answer. This is because the learning aims not to let students solve given problems on their own, but to check that they have properly learned the material. Methods of experimentation where solutions are gently explained deny the opportunities for students to solve problems using their own creativity.
Here, the process of creative design is needed. While looking for the solution to a problem, students come to materialize their ideas and express them actively through discussions. When they face a more complex problem, they integrate their knowledge in various studies and, in the case of group activities, find a clue to the solution through cooperation. Here lies the essence of what makes STEAM greatly different from conventional classes.

Do Not Deviate Greatly from Students’ Level and the Subject Scope

You must caution yourself against setting a scope that deviates too much from the curriculum or selecting a problem that is too hard to solve at the students’ level, because you may have to make a manual of the design process for students to imitate in order to succeed in the program.
You must not choose a tool that is hard to deal with at the students’ level, either. If students come to focus on how to use the tool when they should actually be conducting creative design, they may end up failing to be immersed in the task at hand.
In order to successfully lead in creative design, teachers must recognize the scientific grounds for a given problem and prepare a broad variety of solutions. In a STEAM class, the teacher must concentrate not on presenting a specific method to solve the problem but on guiding the directions for a creative design to head in the right direction.

Step 3: ‘Emotional Touch’ for Challenging a New Problem

Emotional touch is an essential element for providing interest and motivation to students. If students succeed in solving a problem by recognizing the given problem, connecting it to their own situations, and uncovering clues on their own through creative design, they will come to foster their abilities to be immersed in solving problems and gain the courage to take on new challenges. The effects of emotional touch is increased only when teachers help students achieve continuous thinking and the will to act, not just with feeling the benefits of STEAM classes.
In conventional classes, however, the main provision of motivation for learning is simply a tool used to prepare for connections with different content. In STEAM classes, the element of emotional touch influences the whole process of a class. Emotional touch arise from the presentation of a real world problem related to the learning content, and the students who have undergone emotional touch come to examine whether the problem leads to another situation in the real world, not just by recognizing the necessity of learning. Through this process, students can move on to the next step, that of creative design.
After succeeding in solving the problem, students come to display their passion and will to learn even extending to related matters thanks to their new sense of accomplishment. At last, emotional touch complete the virtuous circle for students to challenge and take on a new activity.
Virtuous circle-type self-directed learning may seem similar to the affective domains, which are presented as educational goals in traditional pedagogy, but it is different in that it holds a different perspective. Emotional touch allow students to be engaged to provoke an impressive learning effect where they come to be touched and emotionally connected to their learning. It does not focus on the perspective as an educational goal, but looks at providing the proper kind of learning experience to a student.

STEAM Class Checklist – Is My Class a True STEAM Class?

Even if you have identified the basic concepts and key elements of STEAM, it is not easy to determine if various school programs in operation are in fact true STEAM classes. When teachers design a STEAM class, they should be careful to consult the following checklist to determine whether each of the STEAM elements is properly checked and reflected.