1. STEM Education and Thai Higher Education –Policy and Practice Methi Wecharatana, Ph.D. Professor, New Jersey Institute of Technology Presented at MOU-ATPAC Meeting Office of Higher Education, Ministry of Education Bangkok August 8, 2016

2. Rationale and Policy Why does the U.S. need STEM? U.S. is Falling Behind and Facing Shortage of STEM Workforce (“Gathering Storm”) Partnerships of STEM Education -Industry Goals and Framework of STEM STEM Initiatives –U.S. versus Thailand

3. STEM Knowledge and Skills Mathematical and scientific reasoning Technological design Systems analysis and evaluation Deductive and inductive reasoning Practical application of engineering science

4. “If there is to be a next generation of great U.S. scientists and engineers, the system of science education must inspire students’ interest in STEM and help them reach their potential.” William H. Schmidt, Nathan A. Burroughs, and Leland s. Cogan

5. “Science, technology, engineering, and math are essential to building prosperity. The U.S. should be the world incubator for innovation, which means we need great schools and must be the best in sciences.” James B. Hunt, Jr., Chairman Hunt Institute Foundation Board

6. U.S. is Falling Behind The U.S. (students) is falling behind in science, technology, engineering and mathematics: In 2009, just 34 percent of U.S. 8 th graders were rated proficient or higher in a national math assessment, and more than one in four scored below the basic level

7. Alarming Problems for the U.S. 45%: Share of 2011 U.S. high school graduates who are ready for college-level MATH 30%: Share of 2011 U.S. high school students who are ready for college-level SCIENCE

8. Shortage of STEM Workforce The projected shortage of STEM workers with U.S. college degrees by 2018: 3 million

9. Workforce Shortage in Manufacturing Manufacturing companies report workforce shortages: – 63% in Aerospace and Defense – 45% in Energy, and – 63% in Life Sciences

10. STEM and Future Targeted Industry Every future targeted industry requires workforce with STEM skills: – Tourism, Gaming, and Entertainment – Health and Medical Services – Business, IT, Management and Analytical Services – Ecosystems, and Clean Energy – Mining, Materials, and Manufacturing – Logistics and Operations – Aerospace and Defense

11. Future World Economy Needs STEM Many newly developed countries have rightly concluded that the way to win in the world economy is by doing a better job of educating and innovating” –Norman Augustine former CEO Lockheed Martin, Forbes Magazine, 2010

12. “Gathering Storm” “The National Academies’ Gathering Storm committee concluded that a primary driver of the future economy and concomitant creation of jobs will be “innovation”, largely derived from advances in science and engineering While only 4 percent of the nation’s workforce is composed of scientists and engineers, this group disproportionately creates jobs for the other 96 percent”

13. “……We don’t want our kids just to be consumers of the amazing things that science generates; we want them to be producers as well …….…..……We have got to make sure that we are training great calculus and biology teachers, and encouraging students to keep up with their physics and chemistry classes………...….. It means teaching proper research methods and encouraging young people to challenge accepted knowledge.” Barack Obama at the National Academy of Sciences April 2013

14. STEM Strategic Plan and Goals Improve STEM Instruction: – prepare 100,000 excellent new K-12 STEM teachers by 2020, and support the current STEM teacher workforce Increase and Sustain Youth and Public Engagement in STEM: – Support a 50 percent increase in the number of U.S. youth who have STEM experience each year prior to completing high school

15. All Hands on Deck ?

16. STEM Strategic Plan and Goals Enhance STEM Experience of Undergraduate Students: – Graduate one million additional students with degrees in STEM fields over the next 10 years Design Graduate Education for Tomorrow’s STEM Workforce: – Provide basic and applied research expertise

17. Partnerships with Industry/Private Sectors ExxonMobil Foundation Dow Chemical Foundation INTEL Foundation Siemens Foundation Google Aerospace Industries Association Carnegie Corporation of New York Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation

18. Why STEM Education? STEM education creates critical thinkers, increases science literacy, and enables the next generation of innovators Innovation leads to new products and processes that sustain our economy This innovation and science literacy depends on a solid knowledge base in the STEM areas

19. Structure of STEM Framework National Research Council concluded that “K-12 science and engineering education should support the integration of knowledge and practice” And the framework consists of 1.Scientific and engineering practices (modeling, solution, explanations) 2.Crosscutting concepts (seven key concepts) 3.Disciplinary core ideas in Science and Engineering (physical science, life science, earth/space science, and engineering)

20. A Strong STEM Curriculum Research shows that there are three main features of a strong STEM curriculum: A focused curriculum concentrates on a few key topics at a time, aiming for student mastery A rigorous curriculum introduces students to these topics at a demanding yet developmentally appropriate level A coherent curriculum organizes topics in a logical way, moving from the simple to the complex and from concept to practice

21. Key areas of Technology and Engineering Literacy Framework –NAEP 2014 Body of Knowledge Skill and Performance

22. Advancing STEM: A Decade of Action PhaseTimelineGoal Initiating the STEM education reform Two yearsDesign, develop, and implement model instructional units Bringing the STEM reform to scale Six yearsChange policies, programs, and practices at local, state, and national levels Sustaining the STEM education reform Two yearsBuild capacity at the local level for continuous improvement of school science and technology programs Evaluating the STEM education reform Continuous, with a major evaluation in 10 years Provide formative and summative data on the nature and results of the reform efforts

23. STEM Initiatives U.S. versus Thailand U.S.Thailand Crisis of problems and workforce shortage in STEM related industries were identified (2009) Do we have the same crisis and in what specific industries? -STEM versus Private Tutoring School, Complex Entrance Exams PCAST made recommendations to NSTC and President Obama for STEM Initiative (2010) Can NSTC or STI make similar recommendation to Thai Prime Minister and/or Thai Government on STEM Initiative? President Obama’s State of the Union made STEM a National Priority (2011) Will Thai Prime Minister and/or government make STEM a National Priority? STEM Initiative started (2011) with a 10-year strategic plan (2011-2020) What are the goals, strategic plan, and timeline of Thailand’s STEM Initiative? –Students, Teachers, Curriculum, and Teaching Methods Annual STEM Budget in 2013: US$3 billion What will the projected annual STEM budget be?

24. Lincroft High School, NJ No. 1 STEM school of the U.S. High Technology High School’s curriculum is engineering centric, with courses in civil engineering and architecture, computer integrated manufacturing and digital electronics High Technology High School Students at High Technology High School can earn college credit for core course work through partnerships with Rochester Institute of Technology, Georgian Court University and Brookdale Community CollegeRochester Institute of TechnologyGeorgian Court University The school encourages parent involvement through an active Parent-Teacher Association and fundraising opportunities.

25. Thomas Jefferson High School No. 3 STEM High School of the Nation 40% of the Teachers has Ph.D. Every student has to do research (Team) Many research projects are in Biotechnology Measure: – How many students got accepted into top ten U.S. Universities? – What are their major? – What are their future professional career?

26. Pre-college Program Started in 1990 NJIT launched a Pre-college program, which was funded by NSF (National Science Foundation) Activities: – The program brought in students from Grade 4 to Grade 12 to spend 4 weeks during the Summer break at NJIT – Each group of students are working with NJIT Professors on research projects that were funded by various government agencies and private sectors

27. Freshman Research Projects Freshmen of our Honor College Team project (a group of three) Students select and design their own projects One Project: – Many young kids in the U.S. die from drowning – This group of students introduced a wrist band that was fitted with RF and Sensors – When this wrist band is under the water more than 3 ft and longer than a given set time, it will send alarm signal to their parents and life guards – Received a patent

28. Freshman Research Projects FTFTF Freshmen at NJIT require to do research project Team project (a group of four) Class is given a specific project – One of the four bridges was closed down for emergency repair, how should traffic patterns of the remaining three bridges be modified to accommodate this unexpected situation? – Each team was given a drone to fly over any traffic area that students want to study – Each proposed solution required professional presentation (Report, Drawings, and Presentation)

29. Freshman Project with “Solar Cell” Convinced that “Solar Energy” will be critical to global development in the near future, freshman class students were given “solar cells/ small solar panels” and asked to create their own research projects One group of students connected a small solar panel with a “Stop Sign” to help prevent accidents at a traffic junction (dark, no street light) 24 small light bulbs were attached to the “Stop Sign”, using power from the solar panel the sign has a blinking light clearly visible at night The City installed several Stop Signs with this idea

30. Research & Development To be successful, you need IdeasPeopleTools

31. What Drive Research? Freshman projects Drug companies Cell phone development Advanced Battery Research Problem/ Product driven Fly ash project / Patents Fracture Mechanics of Cementitious Materials Curiosity driven

32. Successful Educational Program in Thailand Media and Entertainment – Many programs on TV/Media attract interest of young children/teenagers in this area – So, many want to be Movie Stars How to inspire toward STEM-related careers/professions? Media has a critical role to promote STEM

33. Thank you