STEM Education Based on Outreach Programs by Cooperating with Industry

Introduction: Science and technology are becoming more diversified, interdisciplinary in recent years. Therefore, it is necessary to further promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education for among the next generation in order to education. It is important to understand the social roles and significance of science and technology when the students study STEM. In order to develop education, the Office for the Next Generation (ONG) at Institute of Industrial Science (IIS), the University of Tokyo has been developing new models for STEM education since 2011. The ONG organizes various outreach programs such as visiting lectures and workshops based on the IIS researches by collaborating with industries. The products in the industry can be good examples for STEM education to deepen their understanding of each subject and also the social aspects of science and technology. Methods: We adopted "train" which is a research topic of Professors Suda and Nakano, IIS as a theme of our new educational activity. We organized 2days workshops by cooperating with Tokyo Metro Co., Ltd. Students visited Tokyo Metro to observe real train on first day, and conducted experiments at IIS on second day. The themes of each workshop are as follows; Mechanism of Wheels: The students tried to make variously shaped wheel models run on a curved rail, and learned that the shape of wheels is important for curving along the rail. Electricity of Train: The students measured a voltage and a speed of a model railroad, and they learned a relationship between the electricity and the speed of the train. Motor of Train: The students measured an electric current, a speed and a diameter of wheel of the model railroad, and calculated a rotation speed of the wheel. They learned a relationship between the motor of train and the electricity. The workshops are concerned with the school-level mathematics and physics as well as politics, economy and modern society. Results and Discussion: In order to evaluate the workshops, we asked 157 students to fill questionnaires before and after the workshops. The questionnaire is in a four level evaluation; 4) very interested, 3) interested, 2) not very interested, and 1) not interested. A Rate of the students who are interested in science and technology (level 4 or 3) is 94% before the workshops, and is 97% after the workshop. The rates of the students who are interested in industry are 86% (before) and 93% (after). The rates of the students who are interested in the relationship between science and technology and society are 91% (before) and 97% (after). Therefore, the workshops attracted many students in terms of science and technology, industries, and social aspects of science and technology. Conclusions The ONG has designed new models for STEM education by cooperating with industries. Our results indicate that the workshops by cooperating with Tokyo Metro would be effective in order to make students understand STEM as well as the social role and the significance of science and technology.