Pakistan is blessed with a young and dynamic population with over 64% of people under the age of 30 years. The world today is driven by knowledge and innovation based economies and Pakistan lags behind in the ranks of innovative societies by a major league. In 2019, Pakistan was at 105th position out of 121 nations at Global Innovation index despite growth in young population. However, the trends are changing slowly as Federal Government reinforced time and again its commitment to push Pakistan into the 4th Industrial Revolution of Digital Economies. The emergence of STEM schools in past few years is a major indication towards changing trends in education system of Pakistan. Both Parents and Educators need to equip themselves with knowledge regarding these developments to make better decisions concerning their children’s future.
What makes STEM school different from traditional schools?
The four main elements of STEM schools: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics are not new concepts and are already present in one form or another in every school. However, the difference emerges in the question of how these concepts are applied learning. While traditional schools focus on explaining theoretical concepts of STEM, the STEM schools are focused on practical implications of those concepts through experimental learning.
Types of STEM schools
There are four types of STEM schools: Exploratory, Introductory, Partial Immersion and Full Immersion.
Exploratory STEM school system refers to schools that have a traditional education setup, however, STEM concepts are given due significance. In these schools, frequent events like science fair, robotics classes and IT sessions are conducted on regular basis to allow participation of students who are interested in these areas and have a potential to further excel in these fields.
Introductory STEM schools introduce STEM concepts on a regular basis to daily curriculum. In introductory STEM schools, students are provided with regular opportunities to solve real life problems and science and design challenges to understand STEM on a deeper level.
Partial Immersion schools offer an integrated curriculum that is specially designed by faculty to offer STEM as an instructional focus. Not only the Immersion schools offer experimental based studies and environment but also STEM themed special advance classes as well to take interested several levels up by offering extra challenges and real life problem solving opportunities.
A Full Immersion school is a non-traditional STEM school where whole curriculum is designed based on the motive to provide STEM profession readiness experience to students. The students in Full Immersion STEM schools work with STEM professionals, both from academics and professional industry and are fully ready to join their selected fields when they pass out.
This article gives an overview of STEM schools and STEM based learning institutions in Pakistan and their scholastic philosophy to help understand the basic difference between traditional education and STEM education.
STEM Schools in Pakistan
In Pakistan, most of the STEM schools are in Exploratory and Introductory phase since it’s a new concept in the country. Several schools have been established in past few years that work on the philosophy of Play, Learn, Focus and Imagine. The Concept Based Curriculum (CBC) taught in most STEM schools in Pakistan work on interdisciplinary and applied approach. Some of the well-known schools like Roots Millennium, Beacon house School System, Haque Academy, LGS, and many more have also integrated STEM modules in their regular curriculum to step into the new world of education. Some of the STEM schools in Pakistan include Soar STEM School (Lahore), STEM International School (Gujranwala), STEM Lab (Sialkot), STEM Academy (Rawalpindi), The Punjab School (Lahore), STEMERS (Karachi), TLS: The Lab School (Karachi), STEM360 (Karachi), The Science School (Islamabad) and many more.
STEM Centers and Clubs
STEM labs and centers have gained popularity over the past few years as several initiatives were taken by professionals from around the country to start new era of education. The clubs and centers offer both online and offline courses to kids from age 5 to 17 years in various disciplines of STEM. The courses offered by these clubs include science, mental math, robotics, programming, Lego club, engineering products, and web designing. Some of the institutes offering STEM courses include RoboKids, RoboMinors, The Robotics Club Pakistan, Pakistan Science Club, STEM Visions, Engineering for Kids, LearnOBots, Science Fuse, My Robotics, and STEMERS.
Read More: Ask the Educationist: All you need to know about STEM Education
