Ye Dewei: People-oriented STEM Education —— Exploration and Practice of A-STEM in Longgang District, Shenzhen

Dilthey, a German philosopher, once distinguished the methods used in natural science from those used in social science by saying that "nature needs to be explained and people must understand". What the author wants to express is how Longgang established contact with STEM and explained the exploration and practice of STEM education under the guidance of regional humanities.

STEM, the abbreviation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, originated in the United States and gradually influenced the educational reform in all countries of the world, especially science education. At first, STEM focused on a single theme. Later, educators thought that it was not enough to promote STEM education in a single discipline, and it was necessary to strengthen the integration among disciplines, so the development trend of comprehensive STEM appeared [1]. In addition, because of the limitations of STEM, the practice of incorporating art (humanities art) into the development of STEAM has emerged. In particular, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution to change STEM to STEAM (20 13) [2]. The resolution holds that bringing art and design into the STEM education program is conducive to innovation and economic growth in the United States. The reason is that artists and designers play an important role in manufacturing. Their art and design provide real solutions for our daily life, and make American products stand out in the global market, creating opportunities for economic growth; Its tools and methods also provide a new model for creative problem solving and interdisciplinary cooperation in a changing world. ...

In China, famous educational scholars Ren Youqun and Yu Shengquan have expounded the origin, evolution and connotation of STEM and STEAM successively. In 20 16, China first mentioned "Interdisciplinary Learning (STEAM)" in the official document of the 13th Five-Year Plan for Education Informatization. 20 18 the Ministry of education once again mentioned "interdisciplinary learning (STEAM)" in the essentials of educational informatization and network work. STEAM has become a "hot word" in China, which is a response and reflection on foreign STEM education.

In recent years, STEAM has led the trend of education reform in the world. Although there is reflection on STEM education, it also has its profound social background. From the historical development trend, globalization is irreversible and the information revolution is in full swing. From the Internet of Things to artificial intelligence, intelligent manufacturing and smart cities, all these have changed the production and life of human beings, but people's spirit and mind have gone to "islands" and "isolation"; In the new era, "educating people with moral education" has been clearly defined as the fundamental task of education, and it has influenced the direction of future education reform. To implement "moral education", we should not only impart knowledge and cultivate ability, but also guide students to establish a correct world outlook, outlook on life and values. All these put forward higher requirements for the development of education. Just as Europe and America, which first put forward STEM education, have gradually realized that its voice as a myth of hard skills is declining, in order to "lead the school to the whole-person education for children", it is necessary to combine the physical, psychological, social and emotional development with the traditional academic cognitive development, thus serving as the basis of the whole-person education.

As the administrative department of regional education, we deliberately put A in front, not to create new words, but actually to emphasize the characteristics of A (liberal arts) and the connotation and value of humanistic spirit. This is not only a profound reflection on the current STEM education, but also a variant of STEAM education. As the world's innovation capital and immigrant city, Shenzhen has gathered high-tech enterprises such as Tencent, Huawei and CITIC, and people from all over Five Blessingg. Urban development needs the cultivation and accumulation of cultural spirit, especially responsibility and mission, understanding and tolerance, fairness and justice, creation and innovation, and "empathy". Therefore, Longgang formally put forward the people-oriented STEM education, the deep reason of which is the regional thinking of innovating talent training mode, and also the practical orientation and value pursuit of implementing the fundamental task of "educating people with morality".

At the beginning of 20 17, the author led a professional team to carry out research, from the initial idea, to the concept formation, and then to clearly put forward the humanistic-led STEM, which was always carried out in constant argumentation. We invite experts, listen to suggestions, constantly revise, approve-deny-re-approve-deny, and spiral forward. In the process of theoretical argumentation, it was affirmed and supported by Professor Ren Youqun, former vice-president of East China Normal University (now director of the Department of Teachers of the Ministry of Education), and under his leadership, a research team represented by Wu Jincai and Wu Xiangdong, senior and special teachers, was established, and experts such as Ren Youqun, Luo Xingkai, Ding Bangping, Wang Su, Ye, Lin Junfen, Li Dawei, Jenna and Yang Xiaozhe were invited for eight months. Finally, on August 27th, 20 18, the first self-developed A-STEM curriculum construction guidance in China was officially issued [3], which marked a new milestone in A-STEM education in Longgang.

In particular, the "A" in Longgang A-STEM refers to art (fine arts) or art (liberal arts) on the surface, and its deep spirit is the value orientation of truth, goodness and beauty, which highlights the pursuit of lofty life meaning, has a caring heart (empathy) for people, a just responsibility for society and an aesthetic wisdom for the world. It emphasizes that humanity leads STEM curriculum and teaching practice, and demonstrates its existence. Therefore, A-STEM advocates the interdisciplinary integration of humanities, art and science and engineering in the horizontal direction; Vertically, we should pay attention to the in-depth understanding of subject knowledge, apply what we have learned, and cultivate students' practical ability and innovative spirit.

Therefore, the author thinks that A-STEM is the development and upgrade of STEM, which integrates the knowledge in STEM field, emphasizes the deep integration of humanities and arts with science and engineering, takes humanistic spirit as the guide, implements humanistic feelings and values from beginning to end, and finds and creatively solves real-life problems as the core of interdisciplinary practical courses.

A-STEM mainly has the following three characteristics: First, it is humanistic, aiming at highlighting its significance and value of serving human well-being, and its process runs through intellectual property, scientific research integrity, ethics and so on. The second is to develop * * * creativity, clarify the result orientation, tool resources, method guidance, questions, doubts and challenges of project practice, closely combine the growth and changes of students' interests and research progress, and promote teachers and students to complete the curriculum construction together. The third is reconstruction and integration, which reconstructs the existing teaching materials based on national curriculum standards, integrates real life situations with interdisciplinary content, and unifies knowledge acquisition and application.

In a word, A-STEM is a comprehensive project practice course, with the core of cultivating students' practical ability and core literacy to discover and creatively solve real-life problems under the guidance of humanistic spirit and the goal of serving the meaning and value of human well-being.

A-STEM education adheres to humanistic orientation in the course content, develops interdisciplinary integration based on interdisciplinary concepts, pays attention to students' challenges to real situations, and takes rigorous scientific methods and advanced research methods as the course content. At the same time, vigorously develop and organically integrate the national curriculum content, the development needs of the times, students' hobbies and regional educational resources.

In terms of promoting measures, the author fully draws lessons from the "double-force-driven" model constructed in years of work and research practice, and relies on "administrative power" and "academic power" to drive the overall implementation of A-STEM education. "Administrative power" is embodied in the educational administrative department-school teaching and research department-principal as the core, and is promoted through policy documents, guidance, supervision and selection. "Academic strength" is embodied in the teaching and learning reform of teachers and students, driven by academic pursuit, professionalism and value orientation, and driven by curriculum leadership promotion, curriculum research and development, subject research and classroom revolution.

In terms of "administrative power", Longgang took the lead in issuing "Opinions on Implementing A-STEM Curriculum Guidance in Longgang District, Shenzhen", establishing an A-STEM Curriculum Construction Guidance Center, establishing a management and operation mechanism of "District Education Bureau-District Teaching and Research Section-District A-STEM Curriculum Construction Guidance Center-School A-STEM Curriculum Construction Department", and implementing a curriculum implementation mechanism of "vertical guidance and horizontal communication". At the same time, based on the needs of A-STEM education construction in the whole region, we will moderately introduce outstanding non-normal science and engineering graduates, establish a linkage mechanism with scientific research institutions, actively carry out special training for teachers' courses and share and exchange A-STEM cases, and improve the level of teachers' curriculum development and implementation.

In the aspect of "academic strength", teachers pay attention to the initiation of students' learning motivation and the excavation of curriculum emotional value and significance; The arrangement of course content is from easy to difficult, from simple to complex, from concrete to abstract. For example, primary school focuses on introductory courses; Junior high school requires a preliminary understanding and mastery of interdisciplinary concepts, which can affect students' judgment and action. In teaching and learning, curriculum construction is based on an open framework and actively seeks the dynamic generation of the classroom. Curriculum learning, teachers less intervention, more incentives; Give yourself more time and space to overcome difficulties; Strengthen the leading role of "metacognition and social emotional skills"; Attach importance to the construction and application of the model; Pay attention to communication, cooperation and deep learning, promote students' self-study and research, and effectively promote project practice.

The proposal of STEM education stems from the hope of the United States to cultivate scientific and technological talents, revitalize domestic scientific and technological and economic development, and maintain a leading position in the world. In recent years, A-STEM education in Longgang is based on the needs of regional realistic development and innovative cultivation of talents, and it is the concrete exploration and practice of the fundamental task of "educating people with moral education". This kind of exploration and practice has continuously expanded its influence in this region, especially since the publication of "A-STEM Curriculum Opinions", the reform process of A-STEM education in this region has been accelerated and great gains have been made.

1. Lead the growth of teachers and students and serve regional education. The first A-STEM case sharing training activity in Longgang was held grandly. Eighty-eight primary school science teachers cooperated to create a micro-A-STEM creative science experimental course. 15 teachers and students representatives shared and displayed the research results of A-STEM courses and projects, which attracted nearly 300 teachers to attend the meeting, especially when Baidu and Google did not have the "A-STEM" entry. There are more than 2,700 teachers from other schools and educational institutions in China, who watched the whole course through live webcast. In particular, experts from Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, represented by Ding Bangping, believe that Longgang A-STEM education has captured the soul of STEM education and formed regional characteristics. It can be seen that Longgang A-STEM education has led teachers and students well, and radiation has served regional education.

2. "Double Force" drives A-STEM education to take root. As a decision-maker, leader and practitioner of A-STEM, the author actively publicized the direction, significance and value of A-STEM education in the early stage, and then insisted on "down-to-earth" and practiced it in a down-to-earth manner. On March 27th, 20 19, the author shared with more than 400 teachers "How do I start interdisciplinary study" and "How to cultivate my own empathy", which fully stimulated teachers' enthusiasm for thinking and exploring. As a result, our top-level administrative design, organizational deployment and implementation in the early stage are closely linked with the positive reform of teachers and students' teaching and learning in the later stage, which broadens horizontally, develops in depth and crosses each other. In the process of practice, our team is getting stronger and stronger, a school dedicated to change, and teachers who consciously improve their professional ability and life realm are constantly emerging; The expert team, represented by Wu Jincai and special-grade teachers in Wu Xiangdong, continued to play the role of guidance, demonstration and radiation, and promoted the implementation of regional A STEM, achieving practical results.

3. The improvement of humanistic spirit of teachers and students. A-STEM education in Longgang has realized the deep integration of humanities and science. On the one hand, it greatly improves students' interest and participation in learning science. It takes students' hobbies and personalities as the starting point, highlights students' subjectivity, experience and practicality, and improves students' learning effect. On the other hand, it is directed at the object of education-it is "a living, concrete and flowing life, which must be experienced with sympathy in order to understand its meaning and essence" [5]. Throughout the history of human development, endless exploration and practice are nothing more than endless space, long time and deep mind and spiritual world. No matter how long the time is, how wide the space is, and how deep the soul and spirit are, human beings are constantly exploring the meaning and value of "being human", and its core is the return and promotion of humanistic spirit.

In the new era, how can A-STEM education overcome the relative lack of excellent teachers in primary and secondary schools and the pressure of academic performance? How to pay more attention to the cultivation of humanistic spirit and cultivate students' sound personality? How to focus on the core literacy integration content, serve everyone's future lifelong learning, and lead them to serve human welfare? This will be the direction and future of Longgang A-STEM education.

[1] National Academy of Engineering and

National research council. ? STEM integration in K- 12 education: current situation, prospect and research progress [M].DC, Washington: National Academy Press. 20 14.

[2] House of Representatives. H. Resolution 5 1. (2013-02-04) [2019-03-15]. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/bill-1/kloc-0.

[3] Shenzhen Longgang District Education Bureau. Guiding Opinions on the Construction of A-STEM Curriculum in Longgang District of Shenzhen, Shen Longjiao [20 18] No.93.2018-27.

[4] Ye Dewei. Report on the 12th Five-Year Plan of Guangdong Education Science Project "Promoting Teachers' Professional Development Based on" Double Forces Driving ",20 14.

[5] edgar morin. Complexity theory and education [M]. Beijing, Peking University Publishing House, 2004.