Research Article
Theoretical Research for Establishing a Japanese-style STEM education: Analysis from a Comparative Historical Point of View
2021 Volume 45 Issue 2 Pages 142-154
Details
2021 Volume 45 Issue 2 Pages 142-154
This paper focuses on theories for establishing Japan’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The authors conducted comparative and historical research on STEM education, with special references to Western mathematicians such as Dyer, Perry, and Moore, and engineers who engaged in the reform of mathematics education around the millennium of the 20th century. Dyer and Perry established a new technical/engineering education approach in both Japan and the United Kingdom. We investigated the origin of the term “STEM,” as well as the state of the educational approaches to STEM subjects in the United States and the United Kingdom. We subsequently historically analyzed the scientific and technical education in Japan since the mid-19th century and reviewed ideas of the mathematician and science historian Kinnosuke Ogura (1885–1962).
Consequently, we extracted the following four aspects for establishing a Japanese-style STEM education model. This model is characterized by 1) the aims and objectives of STEM education, 2) the learning values of STEM subjects, and 3) collaboration with teachers of other STEM subjects. Its final attribute is 4) the understanding of the learning of STEM subjects on the part of pupils, teachers, and parents.
