(Figure: Robot programming hardware, photography by Tianyi)
The current STEAM education circle is rather messy, but behind the clutter, there are still certain rules to follow. This paper summarizes three common design traps and four types of design genres in the STEAM curriculum design field at home and abroad, and summarizes the five design relationships that need to be focused on in the STEAM curriculum design, in order to communicate with colleagues and help the industry. Health professional development.
Three thinking traps
1. Blindly pursues technology and cool, simple things are complicated - tool and rookie engineers
Many teams instinctively think about using electronic devices, robots, 3D printing, programming, etc., so their design ideas are based on tools, and their thinking is deep in thinking. "How do I use this tool?". Therefore, the theme of their course is not so much a practical application in life, but rather an empty head.
Nowadays, many people say that STEAM instinctively connects to makers, electronic geeks, etc., is the trap of this idea. This kind of thinking design will only make your course have a few bright spots, but it will not cover its long-term weakness and weakness, and will make the course designer fall into the self-superiority of technology and manual level, and fall into the corner of the horn. Can't extricate themselves.
In fact, in today's technology circles (mainly the Internet and IT services industry) entrepreneurs, there is always no shortage of this type of entrepreneurial team. What they call "pain points", "ecology", "closed loops", and "demand", in fact, as long as they think a little, they will find that they are actually pseudo-needs, which are traps of thinking that complicate simple things. This kind of thinking style, which is complicated by simple illustrations and simple problems, is too young and too easy to be confused by appearances. This is often the "novice engineer" in the mouth of senior engineers.
The field of curriculum design is similar to this!
2, blind pursuit of fun, science and science - self-proclaimed popular science and folk scientists
There are also a lot of teams that have designed a series of fun and interesting scientific experiments. The equipment used is indeed a common item in life. From clothing to speech and behavior, it seems to be a kind of Frankenstein. However, in fact, these experiments It is nothing more than the reduction of common chemical and alkali neutralization, static electricity, electromagnetic induction, light scattering and other basic physical and chemical experiments. The only difference is that these experiments have been carried out in a layer of fun and funny packaging, it seems that this is the scientists daily.
The practice of curing the weird image of scientific researchers in this way has probably greatly violated the original intention of STEAM education to respect science. The 21st century has been almost 20 years old. Why is it still the same as the popular science routine of the 1980s? The scattered experiment, the exaggerated image design, this practice, if it was the implementation of the concept of "science" An impression is understandable. But now it is necessary to carry out the education behind science, but still stay at such a superficial level, only to show that designers have the wrong place to use creativity!
This class of courses, as long as you ask a few questions, can refute their design philosophy: What are the uses of these experiments, and what is the relationship with the subsequent development of students? These experiments are really applied by scientists at work. ?
Many people who are determined not to leave this curriculum design genre, regardless of their age, are "folk scientists" in the eyes of real scientific researchers. It is really not elegant.
3. Blindly pursue the logic of discipline, academics are too rigorous - idealists and researchers who live in fantasy
If the first two factions are like a miscellaneous military design school, then the third kind of thinking trap comes from the orthodox academic school. They maintain a strong sense of professional superiority, quite well-known and high-profile, but often too entangled with the rigor and correctness of the discipline, so many curriculum design is designed to popularize the subject knowledge, the pursuit of difficulty and depth, Get rid of too much life reality. As a result, the design of such a course, once formed, will immediately lead to mutual conflict within the academic circle. If it is designed by a subject expert, then it will be smashed by a group of course experts - too boring, too deep, regardless of the student's law of development! If it is designed by a course expert, it will often be attacked by subject experts Nothing is too shallow - too radical, it is entirely to train students into opportunistic folk scientists!
Four groups and design genres
The basic genre of players who are currently working on STEAM courses is also obvious. In these genres, the backgrounds of individual designers may be intertwined, so when identifying a specific course product, a moderate consideration is needed.
1. A passionate science and engineering graduate (extreme left)
This group of young people, in the face of the new STEAM concept propaganda, felt that they should seize this fascinating opportunity to be famous, so that the image of educational critics was on the stage of educational curriculum design, and they learned in college. The basics and simple pedagogical knowledge began to design the STEAM courses that they considered ideal. Most of their courses can't escape the two thinking traps in the front, either blindly pursuing electronic coolness or blindly pursuing experimentation. This type of course is more suitable for those who pursue short-term interests and pursue freshness. The audience is small. If you follow the course, it may be easy to prematurely limit the child's thinking pattern.
2. Cross-border science and technology team (middle left)
Many of the group's curriculum design teams are Internet industry people who believe in freedom, equality, and openness. Because they can't find a stronger career driver in the traditional Internet circle, they turn to education. The courses they are concentrating on rely on cool technology tools or logical thinking in the Internet circle. They are more suitable for the education of children of technology enthusiasts and their children who are passionate about technology. They are more entrepreneurial and elite. But relatively speaking, they are better at marketing and online promotion, so the visibility of the course will be higher and more representative.
3. Traditional educational institutions, publishing institutions and universities (right-wingers)
This group's curriculum design, because it has the most contact with students, is very good at classroom design, and also has a strong traditional education channel and educational resources. However, when their curriculum design is faced with customer pressure and policy orientation, it is the easiest to compromise and the most easy to return to the traditional teaching mode. Therefore, many courses designed by this group have revealed strong design orientations such as enrollment, progression, evaluation, etc. The goal of the course is utilitarian, and the course display level is quite moderate. There are fewer courses in the color course, and less systematic and professional. . However, the courses they produce are often more suitable for the management department to seek resources, and are also most suitable for most ordinary families who have the need for further studies and competitions.
4. Traditional research institutions, design, consulting, media, independent teams, etc. (uncertainty)
This group is the least easy to define group, because most of them are currently niche design teams. Courses designed by this group are often difficult to style. At present, some of them are more colorful, and some are copied from foreign improved courses. The courses developed and designed independently can rarely come into the system, so if you happen to meet customers, you must cherish them.
The design advantages and shortcomings of this group are obvious. The advantage is that they have no particularly strong vassal relationship with any industry intrinsic, so the independence of design is relatively good. The disadvantage is that their strength is relatively weak, and professional accumulation may not be enough. Therefore, in the process of pursuing survival, it may become a vassal of a certain large faction and a pawn.
At present, the curriculum of this group of groups seems to be more suitable for families and institutions with long-term educational ideals and strong psychological endurance.
Five design relationships to be clarified
1. Relationship between course content and technology tools
Technology tools should be completely compliant with the design of the course content, not the other way around. In order to apply a certain technology tool (such as 3D printer, VR equipment, etc.) and to complete a course design, it is not called curriculum design, it should be called tool instruction manual and brochure. This relationship must be clarified.
The content of the course is positioned to meet the complete educational goals. In the process, what kind of tools are needed are determined according to the actual situation. In this sense, curriculum design is the same as engineering implementation.
2. Relationship between content scene and subject specialty
The content scene is leading, and the subject profession should be matched and combined under the premise of respecting the content scene. The content of the course comes from the reality of life. The reality of life here needs to be carefully stratified according to the age of the students. However, the content scene tends to be relatively low-level, and in order to achieve a high level of discipline professional level, appropriate improvement is needed. At this point, course experts and subject experts need to be discussed before they can be determined.
3. Relationship between activity goals and learning effects
The activity is not just for the classroom to be happy and funny, the design of the activity should be related to the main learning objectives, otherwise it is a waste of time. The learning effect is not only the effect of memory, but also the emotional stimulation effect, healthy development effect and so on.
4. Relationship between short-term effects and long-term systems
The short-term effect is to generate interest, and the long-term system is to learn the effect. The short-term effect is to obey the long-term system planning, and the short-term effect is only a short-lived.
5, the relationship between the overall design and landing difficulty
In the overall design process, it is necessary to consider the difficulty of landing and the deviation of landing. The process of landing will become plausible due to various policy interventions, effect pressures, site restrictions, and personnel errors. Therefore, in the overall design process, it is necessary to consider the deviation brought by landing in advance and include it in the curriculum design.
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