ABSTRACT

This article considers the future of STEM education in Singapore, with implications for comparable schooling systems. The Thinking Schools Learning Nation (TSLN) interventions since 1997 brought changes to science education ostensibly for economic competitiveness, the results of which can only become visible in international comparisons in this decade. I propose that TSLN represents a trade between some sacred cows of public schooling in exchange for magic beans, and I assess how well these beans have grown. In terms of economically productive creativity, the metrics present a mixed picture. Three problems that may have been overlooked could have contributed to this outcome: (i) misunderstanding the role of culture in artefact creation and use; (ii) a rational, deficit model for education; and (iii) an underestimation of the complexity of educating for economic goals. To attend to these issues, I propose a holistic vision of a STEM curriculum that recognises the social sciences of STEM as a legitimate concern for STEM educators, and a humanistic pedagogy that eschews deficit models for education. Such a vision recovers the value of the ‘useless’ knowledges of the humanities in STEM education, and approaches instruction with an intention towards enabling students to respond to unforeseeable futures.

摘要

本文考虑了新加坡STEM教育的未来，并对可比的学历系统产生了影响。自1997年以来，思想学校学习国家（TSLN）的干预表面上改变了科学教育，以提高经济竞争力，其结果只有在这十年的国际比较中才能看到。我建议TSLN代表一些公立学校的神圣母牛之间的交易，以换取魔豆，并且我评估了这些豆的生长情况。在经济上富有创造力的创造力方面，指标呈现出不同的景象。可能被忽略的三个问题可能导致了这一结果：（i）误解了文化在人工制品创造和使用中的作用；（ii）合理的教育赤字模型；（iii）低估了为实现经济目标而进行的教育的复杂性。为了解决这些问题，我提出了STEM课程的整体构想，该课程将STEM的社会科学视为STEM教育者的正当理由，并提出了一种人文主义的教学法，避免了教育的不足模型。这样的愿景恢复了STEM教育中人文科学“无用”知识的价值，并以指导教学为目的，旨在使学生能够应对不可预见的未来。