How do you prepare students for cutting-edge jobs when you need more qualified teachers? That’s the quandary UBC’s Samia Khan is meeting head-on. The Faculty of Education associate professor is innovating with global partners to increase the supply of highly skilled science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) teachers in Southeast Asia. The international research project, called MII-STEM, focuses on examining the effectiveness of modelling – a key scientific practice – and how it’s taught to STEM teachers in training. Funded by a UK Government Global Challenges Research Fund grant, the project will yield new curricula to be taught at partner university science teacher education programs: Indonesia’s Universitas Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa, Thailand’s Kasetsart University and Hanoi National University of Education in Vietnam. MII-STEM aims are synched with the UN Sustainable Development Goal #4 – ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education – and also support Thailand’s new national strategy to become a more innovative nation with expertise in R&D, sustainable technologies and high tech.
Learn more about the MII-STEM project.