"ELTI-KUDITS" IZHEVSK
"STEM-education of children of preschool and primary school age"
This is partial modular program preschool education, aimed at the development of intellectual abilities in the process of cognitive activity and involvement in scientific and technical creativity.
There is currently a technological revolution. High-tech products and innovative technologies become integral parts modern society. In children's educational institutions, schools and institutes, robotics, design, modeling and design begin to take the leading place.
According to the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin, engineering education in the Russian Federation needs to be brought to a new high level. Minister of Education and Science D. Livanov stressed: "In order to increase the competitiveness of our country, it is necessary to strengthen the technical training of personnel." To solve this problem, the approval of STEM education in Russia is required. This will make it possible to train highly qualified specialists who will make a great contribution to the development of our society and state.
WHAT IS STEM EDUCATION INCLUDED?
Full-fledged systematic education, which includes the study of natural sciences in combination with engineering, technology and mathematics, is a STEM education. Essentially, it is a curriculum that is designed around the idea of teaching students through an interdisciplinary and applied approach.
The modern progressive system, in contrast to traditional education, is a mixed environment that allows you to demonstrate in practice how a given scientific method being studied can be applied in Everyday life. In addition to mathematics and physics, students explore robotics and programming. Children see with their own eyes the application of knowledge of exact disciplines.
THE IMPORTANCE OF STEM EDUCATION
The low quality of education in the field of exact sciences, insufficient equipment of the material and technical base, poor motivation of pupils and students - all this is a big problem in our educational system. However, the state, represented by the Government, requires the training of highly qualified specialists from a variety of educational areas natural sciences in the field of higher technologies.
In this regard, STEM becomes a priority. Thanks to its widespread introduction into Russian education, it will be possible to satisfy the need for scientific and engineering personnel who will play a leading role in the development of the technological process and the modernization of bio- and nanotechnologies in our country.
ADVANTAGES OF INTRODUCING STEM TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION
Development of interest in technical disciplines. The adoption of a progressive system in preschool educational institutions, schools, institutes and other specialized institutions will involve students in educational process.
Improving critical thinking skills. Pupils and students learn to overcome non-standard tasks by testing and conducting various experiments. All this allows them to prepare for adulthood, where they may face unusual, non-standard problems.
Activation of communication skills. The implementation of this system mainly involves teamwork. After all, most of the time, children explore and develop their models together. They learn to build a dialogue with instructors and their friends.
STEM education is a kind of bridge connecting the educational process, career and further professional growth. innovative educational concept will allow to prepare children at a professional level for technical developed world.
THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STEM TECHNOLOGIES
New state standards in the system Russian education requires implementation modern technologies into the learning process. In order to avoid a shortage of engineering personnel: IT specialists, engineers, programmers, the issue of introducing STEM into the Russian education system is acute.
The adoption of a progressive concept of education will in the future meet the needs of engineers specializing in the field of bio- and nanotechnology. It will also help prepare design, modeling and prototyping professionals who will play a major role in the implementation of large industrial national projects. At the moment, about 100 STEM centers are already operating in Moscow and the Moscow region.
STEAM education
What is STEAM education?It all started with the term STEM, which appeared in the USA and stands for:
Science (science)
Technology (technology)
Engineering (engineering)
Mathematics (mathematics)
The difference between STEAM and STEM is just one letter A - Art (art), but the difference in approach is huge! Recently, it is STEAM education that has become a real trend in the US and Europe, and many experts call it the education of the future.
Scientific and technical orientation (STEM)
The rapid development of technology leads to the fact that in the future the professions associated with high technologies will become the most in demand: IT specialists, big data engineers, programmers. The education system responds to such a social demand by the appearance a large number circles of robotics, programming, modeling (STEM). However, the idea that scientific and technical knowledge is not enough is heard more and more often. In the future, the skills of the 21st century, often referred to as 4K, will be in demand.
Future Skills (4K)
Skills of the 21st century is a special area that is being actively discussed now on different levels. The essence of the concept is this: the key skills that determined literacy in the industrial age were reading, writing and arithmetic. In the 21st century, the emphasis is shifting towards the ability to think critically, the ability to interact and communicate, and a creative approach to business. Thus, the main skills of the future 4K were formed:
Communication
Cooperation
Critical thinking
Creativity
These skills cannot be obtained only in laboratories or from the knowledge of certain mathematical algorithms. That is why specialists have to study STEAM disciplines more and more often.
The introduction of Art (art)
The need to combine science and art was also written by such thinkers as the Chinese mathematicians of the 11th century Enlightenment, as well as Leonardo da Vinci. Later, this opinion was shared by many European philosophers and psychoanalysts, in particular, K. Jung.
There is a physiological explanation for the unity of the scientific-technical and Arts-directions in education. The so-called "left" side of the brain is responsible for logic. It helps memorize facts and draw logical conclusions. The “right” side of the brain is responsible for thinking through direct perception and provides creative, instinctive, intuitive thinking.
STEAM education involves both hemispheres of the child's brain. In the early 1990s biochemist R. Rutberstein studied 150 biographies of the most famous scientists from Pasteur to Einstein. He explored the use of the left and right sides of the brain. As it turned out, almost all inventors and scientists were also musicians, artists, writers or poets: Galileo - a poet and literary critic, Einstein played the violin, Morse - a portrait painter, etc. Thus, creativity was stimulated and strengthened through the practice of disciplines related to with the right side of the brain.
A 2009 neurological study by Johns Hopkins University found that Arts education improves students' cognitive skills, develops memory and attention skills during class, and increases a range of academic and life skills.
Asia experience
According to the survey, parents of children in China, unlike parents in the US, believe that Arts is especially important for shaping their children's innovative skills. Thus, the role of mathematics and computer science is estimated in China at 9% (out of 100% of all sciences), in the USA at 52%. The value of creative approaches to solving innovative problems is estimated at 45% in China, and only 18% in the US. Entrepreneurial and business skills in China are given 23%, in the US only 16%. Knowledge of world cultures: 18% (China) vs. 4% (USA). All this allows us to consider that STEAM education already exists in China, while the STEM approach dominates in the USA.
Other Asian countries, such as Singapore, have also made great strides in developing the creative economy. Back in 2002, the Remaking Singapore initiative was launched to transform the city-state into a world center for creativity, innovation and design.
The new characteristics are associated with a human-centered, socially designed model that integrates all constituent economies. The Singapore government is reforming the education system to stimulate the creative qualities of young people. One of the ways of this is the introduction of young, new-minded talented people into various state structures responsible for economic policy.
STEAM in Russia
Currently, STEM education prevails in Russia, but the first STEAM projects are already appearing.
Tochka Growth is the first network of children's centers that has developed a program using the STEAM approach. To do this, our specialists were trained in the USA at STEAM Education courses. At the Growth Point, children from the age of 3 can try themselves as an engineer, get acquainted with technologies, experiment and make discoveries.
We encourage children to explore, teach them not to be afraid to make mistakes and draw conclusions. Much attention is paid to the development of communication skills and project activities. These qualities will be especially important for working in the organizations of the future. Sign up for STEAM classes for the 2018-2019 academic year.
STEM centers (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) is a network of research laboratories that supports the scientific, technical and engineering component in additional education schoolchildren. The project is designed to increase students' interest in engineering and technical specialties and motivate high school students to continue their education in the scientific and technical field. STEM labs make modern equipment and innovative programs more accessible to children interested in research.
In many countries, STEM education is a priority for the following reasons:
In the near future, in the world and, of course, in Russia, there will be a sharp shortage of: IT specialists, programmers, engineers, specialists in high-tech industries, etc.
In the distant future, there will be professions that are now even hard to imagine, all of them will be associated with technology and high-tech production at the junction with the natural sciences. Specialists in bio- and nano-technologies will be especially in demand.
The professionals of the future require comprehensive training and knowledge from a wide range of educational fields in science, engineering and technology.
Education in the field of STEM is the basis for training employees in the field of high technologies. Therefore, many countries, such as Australia, China, Great Britain, Israel, Korea, Singapore, and the USA, conduct state programs in the field of STEM education. In Russia, they also understand this problem - they are opening Technical Education Support Centers (TsTEC), which will partially solve the problem of attracting students to engineering and robotics. Thanks to partnerships with businesses, for example, with Intel, STEM centers are being opened at universities, CTPEs and technoparks, enabling schoolchildren to get acquainted with science, take part in scientific research. And, it is possible that one of these guys will not go to fashionable lawyers-economists, but will choose the path of a scientist or inventor, or will take a great interest in programming.
Advantages of STEM technology
1. STEM education is becoming an area of increased funding: a growing number of diverse non-profit organizations provide grants to schools for the implementation of technology-oriented projects.
2.Meanwhile, STEM is the widest range of professional development opportunities (efficiency of use) Also, a nationwide campaign for the introduction of STEM teaching technologies is gaining momentum in the country.
3. Providing students with access to technology. Today, with the world permeated by ubiquitous computer networks, children are creating, sharing and consuming digital content on a scale never seen before. They run websites, shoot movies on phones, and develop games themselves.
3.STEM technology means creating a learning environment that allows students to be more active. Whatever happens, students are involved in their own learning. The bottom line is that students are better able to remember what they have learned when they are involved in the process rather than being passive observers.
4. STEM technologies require students to have great ability to think critically, work both in a team and independently.
Disadvantages of STEM technology
1. Weak communication skills, especially vocal skills. ATSTEMengineers pay the most attention to formulas, equations, structures of materials in which, most likely, will be used dry book language.
2. Since engineers are mostly focused on STEM, they may lose their creative skills. Most inventions and innovations originated at the beginning of thinking non-existent and “crazy enough” things.
3. Engineers who are well trained to deal with operating systems and technology may find it difficult to solve common "everyday problems".
4. A pronounced narrow specialization of teachers, and as a result, the knowledge of schoolchildren will be fragmented. Only teachers who have passed additional vocational training and ready to work in a unified system of natural sciences academic disciplines and technologies.
Conditions for the introduction of STEM technology
1. It is necessary to build an extensive system for searching, supporting and accompanying talented children.
2. It is necessary to develop a creative environment to identify especially gifted children in every secondary school. High school students should be given the opportunity to study in correspondence, part-time and distance schools, allowing them to master profile training programs regardless of their place of residence.
3.At the same time, a system of support for talented children should be developed. These are, first of all, educational institutions of round-the-clock stay. The existing experience in the activities of physical and mathematical schools and boarding schools at a number of Russian universities should be disseminated. 4. Work with gifted children should be economically viable. The per capita funding standard should be determined in accordance with the characteristics of schoolchildren, and not just the educational institution. The teacher, thanks to whom the student has achieved high results, should receive significant incentive payments.
5. It is necessary to introduce a system of moral and material incentives to support domestic teachers. And most importantly - to attract young talented people to the teaching profession.
Although in Russia modern educational systems are not calledSTEM, scientific and engineering education is now given priority. This means, taking into account the experience of the United States, global trends in the development of education, it is irrational to postpone the solution of creative issues until later. In 2014, 155 STEM centers were opened in Russia in Moscow, the Moscow region and the Volga region federal district. In accordance with the plans of the project organizers, up to 7 new regions will join the program in 2015.
Grade STEM technologies according to the characteristics of A.I.Prigozhin:
1) innovative potential
combinatorial
2) source of initiative
The state is speaking, from the point of view of the ideological orientation of the official policy of the state, this is a direct social order,
3) scope of application
Systemic (technological, organizational, solid material and technical resources, human resources, etc.)
4) features innovation process
Interorganizational, Report to the President of the United States "Cooking and Inspiring: Teaching in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in the United States", prepared by the US Presidential Council on Science and Technology in September 20105) features of the implementation mechanism
6) the principle of relation to one's predecessor
diffuse;
7) social consequences
Causing social costs: huge material costs (training, organization of the process itself, technical equipment),
8) type of innovation
Logistics
social
Organizational and managerial ( teacher training),
Pedagogical (training of teachers in technologies, costs - physical, temporary, mental - of teachers for the preparation of students
9) production efficiency, management, improvement of working conditions
Today, in many countries, the concept of STEM education is increasingly being introduced into various educational programs, STEM centers are being created, international conferences are held in this area. Russia is no exception.
Since last year, Intel has been holding competitions and assigning the status of STEM centers.
In the spring of 2016 under this program 145 educational institutions Russia received the status of Intel STEM centers.
If we translate literally, we get:
science
Technology - Technology
Engineering - Engineering
Math - Mathematics
STEM education is an association of sciences aimed at the development of new technologies, innovative thinking, and meeting the need for well-trained engineering personnel.
It is assumed that the introduction of STEM education into the school can contribute, in the future, to solving the problem of preparing good engineers.
Consider 10 benefits of STEM education:
1. Integrated learning by "topics", not by subject.
STEM education combines an interdisciplinary and project-based approach, the basis for which is the integration of natural sciences in technology, engineering creativity and mathematics. Excellent conversion curriculum, the purpose of which is the abolition of the teaching of the above-mentioned disciplines as independent and abstract.
It is very important to teach science, technology, engineering and mathematics in an integrated way, because these areas are closely interconnected in practice.
2. Application of scientific and technical knowledge in real life.
STEM education through practical exercises demonstrates to children the application of scientific and technical knowledge in real life. At each lesson, they design, build and develop products of the modern industry. They study a specific project, as a result of which they create a prototype of a real product with their own hands.
For example, young engineers building a rocket are introduced to concepts such as the engineering design process, launch angle, pressure, tensile force, friction force, trajectory, and coordinate axes.
3. Development of critical thinking and problem solving skills.
STEM programs develop the critical thinking and problem-solving skills needed to overcome the challenges children may face in life. For example, students build high-speed cars, then they are tested. After the first test, they think and determine why their car didn't make it to the finish line. Maybe the design of the front end, the distance between the wheels, aerodynamics or launch force influenced this? After each test (run), they develop their design to achieve the goal.
4. Increasing self-confidence.
Children, creating different products, building bridges and roads, launching airplanes and cars, testing robots and electronic games, developing their underwater and air structures, each time get closer and closer to the goal. They develop and test, re-develop and test again, and thus improve their product.
In the end, they, solving all problems on their own, reach the goal. For children, this is inspiration, victory, adrenaline and joy. After each victory, they become more confident in their abilities.
5. Active communication and teamwork.
STEM programs are also characterized by active communication and teamwork. At the stage of discussion, a free atmosphere is created for discussions and expression of opinions. They are so free that they are not afraid to express any opinion, they learn to speak and present. Most of the time, children do not sit at a desk, but test and develop their designs. They communicate with instructors and their teammates all the time. When children actively participate in the process, they remember the lesson well.
6. Development of interest in technical disciplines.
The task of STEM education in elementary school is to create preconditions for the development of interest among students in the natural sciences and technical disciplines. Love for the work done is the basis for the development of interest.
STEM classes are very entertaining and dynamic, which keeps the kids from getting bored. They do not notice how time passes in the classroom, and they do not get tired at all. Building rockets, cars, bridges, skyscrapers, creating their electronic games, factories, logistics networks and submarines, they are showing an increasing interest in science and technology.
7. Creative and innovative approaches to projects.
STEM learning consists of six stages: question (task), discussion, design, construction, testing and development. These stages are the basis of a systematic project approach. In turn, the coexistence or combined use of different possibilities is the basis of creativity and innovation. Thus, the simultaneous study and application of science and technology can create many new innovative projects. Art and architecture are a wonderful example of coexistence.
8. Bridge between education and career.
There are many publications that analyze the level of growth in the need for different specialties.
According to various estimates, out of 10 specialties with high growth, 9 will require STEM knowledge. In particular, until 2018, the demand for these specialties is expected to increase: chemical engineers, software developers, petroleum engineers, computer systems analysts, mechanical engineers, civil engineers, robotics engineers, nuclear medicine engineers, underwater structures architects and aerospace engineers.
9. Preparing children for the technological innovations of life.
STEM programs also prepare children for the technologically advanced world. Over the past 60 years, technology has evolved greatly, from the discovery of the Internet (1960), GPS technology (1978) to DNA scanning (1984), and of course the iPod (2001). Today, almost everyone uses the iPhone and other smartphones. Today it is simply impossible to imagine our world without technology. It also suggests that technological development will continue and STEM skills are the backbone of this development.
10. STEM as an addition to the school curriculum.
STEM programs for students aged 7-14 are also designed to increase their interest in their regular classes. For example, in physics lessons, they study the force of gravity of the earth, explain with formulas on the board, and in STEM circles, schoolchildren building and launching parachutes, rockets or airplanes can strengthen their knowledge. It is not always easy for students to understand terms that they do not see or hear. For example, pressure or expansion of volume due to an increase in temperature. In STEM classes, they can easily understand these terms through fun experiments.
In schools in the US and Europe, STEM technologies have long been used in education. In Russia, this trend is just beginning to spread. To what extent is this possible in our schools? I propose to discuss on the forum http://roboforum.nios.ru/index.php/topic,236.0.html
based on materials from various sources on the Internet.
prepared by V.V. Lyubimova,
methodologist GCI "Egida"
STEAM is one of the trends in global education, which implies a blended learning environment, and shows the child how to apply science and art together in everyday life.
The abbreviation, terrible at first glance, is actually very simply deciphered: S - science (natural sciences), T - technology (technology), E - engineering (technical creativity), A - art (art), M - mathematics (). Although initially this approach was simply called STEM, without a creative component. But art is very important for comprehensive development, so it was decided to add the letter A (Art) to the abbreviation.
With the reform of education, the STEAM methodology is going to be introduced into all schools in Ukraine. In the meantime, I am mastering the innovative system of education. But you do not have to wait until the child begins to study in a new program. Many games that you already have at home will be a great tool for developing a child's creative and engineering thinking. And other STEAM games for kids are very easy to make with your own hands.
The game is the most fast way to engage and . Therefore, we have made a selection of 11 toys that will introduce the child to all the ideas of STEAM. Such simple yet smart toys will encourage even the smallest of designers to invent, create and dream.
11 STEAM games for kids to develop engineering thinking and creative imagination
Salty dough
Salt dough is great for children's games from 3 years old. - these are toys, creating which, for the first time, the child encounters three dimensions: height, width and length. In addition, you can make such material for fun children's leisure at home, using only flour, water and salt.
Plasticine for modeling
Cardboard constructor
A great alternative to a store bought one. Colored geometric figures made of cardboard will help the child learn to recognize shapes and colors, and besides, it’s also good to design.
Developing board "Geometric"
The smallest such game will help to master the account. Older children can weave shapes of animals and objects, letters and numbers, various patterns with rubber bands. Such toys stimulate children's imagination and help kids better navigate in space.
Astronomical geoboard
Toddlers use the geoboard while older kids use to explore area and perimeter in practice exercises. But it is able to inspire children of any age to study the constellations.
LEGO constructor
The most famous designer in the world. Children like it because you can create completely different designs from the same blocks. And if you combine editing, you will get an excellent project within the framework of STEAM education.
Flexagon
It is rightfully considered a unique symbiosis of mathematics and. Children, spellbound, will sit and twist the paper puzzle dozens of times.
Wooden toy "Jenga"
This is not only a fun game for the whole family, but also a great way to learn more about buildings and balance.
Spirograph
This is the case when mathematics is beautifully combined with art. Spirographs have been popular since their inception in 1965, and for good reason, as they make creating complex shapes incredibly easy and fun.
Wooden constructor
Almost every second person will surely have a designer made of wooden blocks. Such a constructor can be used as a puzzle game, adding more complex shapes from small blocks.
Robotics
They will allow you not only to spend useful time with your children, but also to introduce them to creativity using advanced technologies.
STEAM education toys from a very young age should give children the opportunity to explore all possible solutions to problems, or even help them come up with their own. And who knows, maybe they will help grow the next generation of unique architects, designers or thinkers.