STEM is an abbreviation combination of the first letters of the four English words: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

On November 9, 2023, the 42nd session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) General Assembly resolved to establish the UNESCO International Institute for STEM Education (UNESCO IISTEM) in Shanghai, China, marking the international community's efforts to enhance the development and promotion of STEM education globally. It also indicates that the international community attaches great importance to the crucial role of STEM education in the global digital transformation. STEM education aims to cultivate future innovative digital technology talents and promote the global development of STEM education, which is conducive to addressing the profound and complex impacts of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation on sustainable development and the labor market.

The origin and connotation of STEM education

STEM education refers to an educational concept that combines science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is problem-oriented, emphasizing the organic integration of multiple disciplines and cross-disciplinary practical learning, aiming to cultivate compound science and engineering talents with scientific inquiry ability, innovative consciousness and critical thinking.

STEM education originated in the United States. In the first half of the 20th century, science and technology developed rapidly, and science was regarded as the inexhaustible driving force for social development and progress. The United States first proposed the concept of scientific literacy in the 1950s, believing that enhancing the scientific literacy of its citizens is the key to improving the country's overall strength. With the rapid development of world science and technology, all industries in society have undergone earth-shaking changes, and there is gradually a shortage of high-quality talents in science and technology and engineering. In 1986, the National Science Council of the United States released the report "Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics and Engineering", which for the first time explicitly put forward the programmatic recommendation of "integration of science, mathematics, engineering and technology education", abbreviated as SMET education, and also marked the beginning of STEM education. In the 1990s, the National Science Foundation of the United States first used STEM to describe multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary practices, projects or policies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. As a result, STEM began to frequently appear in reports, policies, projects and laws of various countries. For instance, in 2004, the British government issued the "Science and Innovation Investment Framework", introducing STEM for the first time in a government document, setting long-term strategic goals for STEM and formulating detailed educational plans. In 2006, the "American Competitiveness Initiative" explicitly stated that the goal of education in the knowledge economy era is to cultivate talents with STEM literacy. Since then, the STEM education concept has spread all over the world and continued to develop and mature.

STEM education focuses on the education of an individual's scientific literacy, technical literacy, engineering literacy and mathematical literacy, covering the entire stage of their growth and development from kindergarten, primary school, junior high school, senior high school, to university and continuing education. STEM education emphasizes the integration and coordinated expression of knowledge from four disciplines. It integrates technical and engineering content into science and mathematics courses to promote scientific inquiry and engineering design. It features interdisciplinarity, situational and experiential nature, interest-based and problem-oriented nature, inquiry and collaboration, and the combination of empirical and technical aspects. STEM education has become one of the important concepts for cultivating digital technology talents in the current information age and the context of rapid technological development.

In recent years, the connotation of STEM has become increasingly rich and its extension has gradually expanded. New names such as STEAM, STEMx, and STEM+ have emerged, endowing it with meanings in art, humanities, and more. STEAM is based on STEM and adds Art, namely humanities and arts courses, to enhance the interest of STEM education, strengthen students' innovation ability, and better achieve the educational goal of digital technology talents. The "x" in STEMx stands for computer science, computational thinking, research and investigation, creation and innovation, global communication, assistance, and other constantly emerging knowledge and skills needed in the 21st century. It emphasizes the comprehensiveness of learning in technical fields. There is also the STEM+, which was first proposed in our country. This "+" encompasses the integration of science, technology, engineering, mathematics with humanistic spirit, artistic accomplishment and social values, with a particular emphasis on the cultivation of science, humanistic spirit and social values. It is evident that STEM+ is not merely about increasing content; more importantly, it is about enhancing the educational philosophy. No matter how the connotation of STEM education expands, its purpose is to cultivate digital technology talents with high-level thinking ability and practical operation ability, in order to cope with the challenges brought to human society by the rapid development of science and technology in the background of the digital and intelligent era.

The development goals and positioning of STEM education

After 30 years of continuous development, STEM education is regarded as an effective way to cultivate scientific and technological innovation talents, enhance citizens' scientific literacy, and maintain national competitiveness. The global focus of STEM education has expanded to all educational levels, spanning the educational system from kindergarten to undergraduate studies. The strategic positioning of STEM education in various countries and regions helps address the labor demands of the world economic transformation and make up for the shortage of digital technology talent education. STEM education is an effective way to cultivate scientific and technological talents and has gradually become a global consensus.

In recent years, many countries have issued a number of policy documents related to STEM education to continuously strengthen the important position of STEM education. The Australian Education Commission released the "National Strategy for STEM School Education 2016-2026" in 2015 to promote STEM education. The document proposed five national action areas, including enhancing the STEM capabilities of students and teachers, supporting STEM education opportunities in schools, promoting cooperation with universities and enterprises, and establishing databases and evidence bases, etc. The "2026 STEM: Vision for Innovation in STEM Education" released by the U.S. Department of Education in 2016 pointed out that the development of STEM education will face eight major challenges in the next decade. In January 2017, the British government issued the "Green Paper on Building Our Industrial Strategy", stating that technical education is at the core of the UK's modern industrial strategy. The lack of talents with STEM skills has become an important factor restricting the country's development, and STEM education must be elevated to the strategic height of national development. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research successively released "Towards the Future with MINT!" in 2019 and 2022. The "MINT Action Plan" and "MINT Action Plan 2.0" (MINT is the German word for STEM) clearly define the four major action areas of STEM education in Germany and formulate five plans for STEM capabilities throughout all educational stages (including continuing education).

STEM education emerged in China's policy documents around 2015, developing in tandem with the country's educational informatization. In 2015, the Ministry of Education issued the "Guiding Opinions on Comprehensively and Deeply Promoting Educational Informatization during the 13th Five-Year Plan Period (Draft for Comment)", which clearly stated that new educational models such as STEAM education and maker education should be explored. The "National Informatization Education Plan for the 13th Five-Year Plan Period (2016-2020)" released by the Ministry of Education in 2016 pointed out that it is necessary to actively explore the application requirements of information technology in new educational strategies such as cross-disciplinary learning, STEAM education, and maker education, in order to explore new educational strategies that adapt to the development of informatization. The "White Paper on STEM Education in China" released by the National Institute of Education Sciences of China in 2017 proposed that STEM education should be incorporated into the national strategy for cultivating innovative talents. In 2018, the Ministry of Education issued the "Education Informatization Action Plan 2.0", highlighting the urgency of the shift from a tool-oriented mindset to an artificial intelligence-oriented one. The "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening and Improving Experimental Teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools" issued in 2019 further advocates the integration of programming education. In other Asian countries, such as Japan, although the term "STEM" has not been officially marked in policy documents, technology has been listed as the core of educational reform. The basic goals and educational policy goals proposed in the "Third Basic Plan for Education Revitalization" released in 2018 all cover the STEM education concept, listing the comprehensive cultivation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics as the focus of Japan's education revitalization plan. The South Korean government began to pay attention to STEAM education in 2007 and incorporated it into the national talent cultivation strategy in 2010. It has successively issued policy documents such as the "Medium and Long-Term (18-2022) Plan for Establishing Inclusive Talent Education (STEAM)" and the "Master Plan (Scheme) for Inclusive Education to Transform Learning Models 2020-2024". Gradually improve the macro layout of STEAM education reform.

The significance of the establishment of the International Institute of STEM Education in China

In 2023, the 42nd session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) General Assembly resolved to establish the UNESCO International Institute for STEM Education (UNESCO IISTEM) in Shanghai, China. This is the first international research institution established by UNESCO with a focus on STEM education and also the first UNESCO Class I center to be located in China. It is also the first global first-class institution in Asia. The International STEM Education Research Institute is a component of UNESCO. Its main function is to promote inclusive, equitable, appropriate and quality education for all in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics from early childhood to adulthood. It serves as an information exchange center, network center, resource center and capacity building center in the field of STEM education. Serve the strategies of UNESCO and the needs of its member states, and contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda and world peace and development.

The establishment of the International STEM Education Research Institute in Shanghai, China, is a prudent decision made by UNESCO, reflecting the international community's recognition of China's STEM education practices and its trust in the country.

China has a relatively solid foundation in STEM education. At the national level, China's industrialization process has driven the vigorous development of science and engineering education within the country. At the mass level, there has long been a popular saying in China that "mastering mathematics, physics and chemistry will make you fearless anywhere in the world." This reflects, from one aspect, the social tradition that the public tends to choose STEM subjects for study and employment. The "Research Report on the Development of China's Scientific and Technological Human Resources (2020)" shows that by the end of 2020, the total number of scientific and technological human resources in China exceeded 110 million. According to the statistics of the OECD, the number of STEM subject graduates in China is five times that of the United States and accounts for almost a quarter of the global total. In addition, in 2014, Shanghai took the lead in establishing the STEM+ Research Center to carry out STEM+ educational practices. The projects cover over 600 experimental schools in various districts of Shanghai, spanning the entire educational stage from kindergarten to high school. In 2017, the Ministry of Education listed STEM education as one of the important contents of the new curriculum standards. It is evident that STEM education has a solid practical and mass foundation in China, which is an important reason for the establishment of the International STEM Education Research Institute in Shanghai, China.

The establishment of the International STEM Education Research Institute in Shanghai is of great significance. On the one hand, Shanghai has a strong radiation capacity, which is conducive to promoting the development of STEM education in the countries along the Belt and Road Initiative and the Asian region, and reducing the regional gap in the global development of STEM education. The STEM education practice with Chinese characteristics can provide technical support for countries and regions in need, share Chinese solutions, and enhance the cultivation level of global digital technology talents. On the other hand, China and even Asia need such global institutions to promote the extensive development of STEM education in China, improve the domestic STEM education-related curriculum design, teacher training and other links, and deeply connect with the world's cutting-edge education, thereby strengthening the global radiation and influence of Chinese education.

Guangming Daily (January 18, 2024, Page 14)

Source: Guangming Online - Guangming Daily