I REFER to your editorial, “Stimulating interest in STEM” (NST, May 27). It is lamented that with only 20 per cent of total students pursing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, we are set “not to produce the kind of workforce needed to even accommodate the technology extant today”, least of all catering to our needs in the future.
Calls to get more students to enrol in STEM courses have been with us for a quite a while now. However, there has been no significant progress. The Arts or Social Sciences-based courses continue to appeal and dominate enrolment.
Perhaps we need to examine what we have been consistently doing all this while and consider why it has not produced the desired results.
It has to begin in schools. We have this 60:40 Science and Arts policy. It dictates that students, on finishing their Form Three education, be streamed into Pure Science or Arts classes in Form Four.
To join the Pure Science classes, the students need to have scored minimum grades of A or B for Science and Maths in their Penilaian Menengah Rendah (now PT3) exam.
Students’ performances in their Form Three exams and their subsequent options and the insufficient Pure Science lab facilities in upper secondary schools have resulted in the desired ratio never being met all these years. In fact, the actual ratio edges more to the reverse; 40:60. The number of Pure Science and Arts classes in most schools attest to this conclusion.
Nevertheless, let’s look at a hypothetical ideal case scenario. You have a cohort of 1,000 fourth formers: 600 doing Science and 400 doing Arts. After their SPM results and assuming a fair attrition rate of 20 per cent, you are left with 480 Science and 320 Arts students.
Now, say another 20 per cent of these post-SPM Science students decide to switch to the Arts. You are then left with 384 in the Science and the Arts increases to 416 students. Note that Arts students cannot take up STEM courses simply because “they have not done SPM Pure Science”.
So, from a cohort of 1,000, you now have only 384 students who are “qualified” to take up STEM courses. And, this is the ideal case! In reality, the number is much less and that’s why the continual calls to enrol students for STEM.
The situation will remain the same so long as we continue to do the same as we have done all along.
We are in dire straits. We need a paradigm shift, a transformation. Putting new wine in old skin will not do.
FIRST of all, do away with streaming in Forms Four and Five. We should have just a single general stream for all.
Lest we fear that our Forms Four and Five students may lose their edge in the pure sciences, we can take cognisance of the fact that much of the “higher-learning preparatory” materials now being taught to Forms Four and Five pure science students can be carried forward to Form Six/Matriculation/Diploma/Foundation courses.
In fact, the introductory phase in these post-Form Five classes always repeats and revises these Forms Four and Five materials. On the other hand, it is necessary, even mandatory, for present Arts stream students to learn much more science than they are doing now.
This means that all students in Form Four go into a single general stream where the Science syllabus is broader than the present General Science subject in the Arts stream. At the same time, the general stream will be spared the “higher-learning preparatory” materials found in the present Pure Science subjects syllabi. This also makes the demands on lab facilities less strenuous.
This way, everybody gets to learn enough Science, and there is still teaching/learning time left for other subjects.
SECOND, we need to once again emphasise and accord greater importance to those effective Science teaching-learning methods which incorporate experiments, activities and even field trips in the lessons.
If all students are to learn more Science, it is the duty of the teachers to make the subject more interesting and more challenging. We need to demystify the study of Science. Science is not difficult to learn if it is properly and creatively taught with dedication.
Students must be taught, coached and trained to think, operate and work as scientists. Besides gaining the knowledge of the subjects at their level, they must also learn to acquire the appropriate scientific skills and recognise and cultivate those attitudes and demeanours of a scientist. Learning Science should be a holistic experience.
THIRD, we need to change our mindset and perception that “Science is difficult”. We live in a world of science and technology. Knowing basic STEM helps us to live a better and fuller life. We have no choice but to learn Science.
And, we should begin to think: “Now everybody can do Science!”. Our mental preparedness and belief is a necessary first step to our successful learning of Science.
Consider now this new scenario. Every student does Science in the general stream. With a cohort of 1,000 students and taking into account a realistic attrition of 20 per cent, we will have 800 post-SPM students qualified to be considered for STEM courses in higher learning institutions. Our STEM aspiration will then be more than on target.
Liong Kam Chong,Seremban, Negri Sembilan