转自：上海STEM云中心
The promotion of science, technology,engineering and mathematics education is more than a fad: it is a much-neededmovement to encourage a well-rounded education that is essential to Australian students. The focus on STEM, resulting from a 10-year national strategy, was never to denigrate humanities, arts and social sciences, but rather to addressan imbalance in the education of Australian students.
促进科学、技术、工程和数学教育的发展不仅仅是一种时尚，更是一种急需的战略：鼓励澳大利亚学生至关重要的全面教育。人们对STEM的关注，源于10年的国家战略，不是为了贬低人文、艺术和社会科学，而是为了解决澳大利亚学生教育的不平衡问题。
In the Balmoral speech at Queenswood on Wednesday, NSW Education MinisterRob Stokes was correct in stating that education for the sake of education isessential to a progressive society. The importance of a well-rounded educationin preparing children to be well-rounded citizens cannot be denied. But are students currently receiving such an education? With a shortage of trained mathematics teachers in secondary education and the paucity of scienceeducation in primary school it is unlikely.
新南威尔士大学(NSW)教育部长罗布·斯托克斯(Rob Stokes)周三在昆斯伍德(Queenswood)的巴尔莫勒尔(Balmoral)演讲中说，教育是社会进步中必不可少的一环，这是无需置疑的。在培养孩子成为全面发展的公民方面，全面教育的重要性是不可缺少的。但是学生们现在接受这样的教育吗?由于受过中等教育的数学教师的短缺和小学科学教育的缺乏，全面教育仍然没有实现。
Yes, there has been a focus on promoting a STEM education. It is a focus that is stillneeded; not to the detriment of other subjects, but because of the falling uptakeof STEM subjects. High school students are less likely to undertake morechallenging mathematics subjects whileat a tertiary level, STEM enrolments are at the lowest proportion of enrolmentsin almost a decade.In the minister’s own state of NSW in 2017, about one in five students did notstudy a single mathematics subject in the final year of the Higher School Certificate, and only 50 per cent studied at least one science course.
是的，我们一直致力于推动STEM教育发展。但是仍需关注的焦点是：不是为了损害其他学科害，而是因为STEM学科的吸收下降。高中学生不太可能接受更具挑战性的数学科目，而在第三级，STEM的注册人数是近10年来的最低比例。在2017年，部长自己的新南威尔士州NSW，大约有五分之一的学生在高中毕业证的最后一年没有学习一门数学科目，只有50%的学生学习了至少一门理科课程。
Stokes lamented academic discipline silos yethis inference that a STEM education does not require creativity, analytical skills and communication skills is the exact kind of thinking that createsthese silos. A STEM education is more than just maths, equations and scientific principles, it is a way of looking at the information available, analysing that information, drawing conclusions and finding creative solutions to future problems. It prepares people to become self-actualised, engaged and proactive members of society.
Stokes哀叹学术学科的‘筒仓’，但他认为STEM教育不需要创造力、分析技巧和沟通技巧的想法恰恰是造成这些‘筒仓’的一种思维方式。STEM教育不仅仅是数学、方程式和科学原理，它是一种观察信息、分析信息、得出结论和找到解决未来问题的创造性方法的方法。它帮助人们成为自我实现、积极参与活动的积极向上的社会成员。
Those in the STEM sector have long recognised the need for multi disciplinary collaboration and the rise of disciplines like science communication benefits such collaboration.
STEM部门的人早就认识到需要进行多学科协作，科学传播等学科的兴起有助于这种协作。
To believe that STEM separates disciplines andonly focuses on technical skills or employment is a fundamental fallacy. Noscientist spends half of their life studying quantum physics in the primaryhope of being employable. They do it because they are creative and curious, thesame as anyone passionate about their chosen professional field, whether it bein STEM, humanites, arts and social sciences - or anything in between.
要相信STEM将学科分离，只关注技术技能或就业是一个基本的谬误。没有哪位科学家花一半的时间来研究量子物理学只是为了能被雇佣。他们之所以这么做，是因为他们有创造力和好奇心，就像任何对自己选择的专业领域充满激情的人一样，无论是在STEM、人文、艺术和社会科学领域，还是介于两者之间的领域。
To refer to the promotion of a STEMeducation as a “fad” and to say that “STEM seeks to dehumanise education –reducing it to an equation of inputs and outputs”, and to do so at a girl’scollege, is also extremely harmful to the progress of gender equity in STEM.Women are still under-represented in the STEM workforce. Young girls stillenvision scientists as men, and until this inequality is remedied it isessential that a STEM education is encouraged and not disparaged among youngwomen.
将“STEM教育”的推广称为“时尚”，并说“STEM试图使教育失去人性——将其简化为输入和产出的方程”，并在女子大学里这样做，这对STEM的性别平等的进展也是极其有害的。女性在STEM劳动力市场中的比例仍然偏低。年轻女孩仍然把科学家想象成男性，直到这种不平等得到纠正，才能让STEM教育在女孩中受到鼓励，而不是在年轻女性中受到贬低。