Welcome to the Korea-Australia STEAM training workshop. I have also been participating in this international cooperation project led by Professor Hye-eun Chu for many years, gaining interesting and meaningful experiences and achievements. I have been interested in climate change education research for about 5 years, and initially had a negative view on STEAM convergence education. It was thought that potential dangers, including the climate crisis, had arrived as a boomerang for the success of a modernized society based on science and technology, and the spread of abundance and freedom. This idea was changed through a conversation with Professor Larry Bentz at an international conference. It has been found that the use of technology can help scientific inquiry and solutions to risks including the climate crisis. The subject of my recent research project was STEAM convergence education as citizen science education on atmospheric environment using technology. The technology used is an Arduino-based combination of sensors, communication, and coding related to the atmospheric environment, and the students learned this technology, conducted research, and practiced for improvement. Data measured directly using technology and the arguments based on it gave students a powerful voice and gave confidence to family, friends, and others. Although I cannot share this experience today, it seems that various STEAM activities on environmental topics in Australia and Korea will be introduced. In our lab, we introduce the climate crisis board game that Mr. Woo-Yong Park developed with the advice of game experts. We hope that today's workshop will provide new perspectives and meaningful experiences for all participants.
Our collaboration has been generously supported by two Australian Korean Research Foundation grants (2017-2019 and 2020- 2022), a 2019 award from Macquarie University, and varied supports from Seoul National University professors, graduate students, and school teachers.
Although the global pandemic has delayed our in-person meeting, we have been able to continue our collaboration virtually. And now, we are happy to introduce our hybrid (in person and online) Intercultural STEAM Program (ISP) teacher workshop! We are delighted to invite teachers and science education researchers/graduate students to learn about the ISP curriculum ideas and to help colleagues develop partnerships for future collaborations.
This workshop will introduce participants to the Intercultural STEAM Program (ISP) and will focus on examining how we can better develop student competencies in science education that focus on improving students’ Intercultural Understandings and their Understanding of Global Issues. Our ISP materials are designed to provide students from different countries opportunities to use online communication tools and video interactions to actively examine and address science-related problems that reflect differences in cultural practices and social structures.
We ask for your interest and support for the Intercultural STEAM project (ISP).
Photos: Korean teachers, researchers and education students engaing in the Intercultural STEAM Korean Symposium
Below are links to the resources, and materials that were used in this symposium