4 Dankookians (Students of Dankook University) from the Dept. of Science Education and 6 students from Australia and Uzbekistan have won an award at the 80th KASE (Korean Association for Science Education) Summer Conference for their development of a carbon-neutral STEAM education program on July 27.

   “STEAM education creates synergy by blending 5 academic fields. Likewise, we were able to create dynamics by harmoniously blending each country’s distinguished language, school, and curriculum traits.” (Moon Ye-jin, Senior, Dept. of Science Education) The contestants recalled their research progress as ‘eye-opening’ as prospective science teachers from three countries came together to make an education program. Contestant Lee Hye-min (Senior, Dept. of Science Education) told that she was able to develop an international perspective on carbon neutrality and understand how this can differently integrate into each country’s classrooms. She shared that “With the process, our team could broaden our horizons about education.”

   Contestant Lee Hyun-ah (Senior, Dept. of Science Education) also talked about the distinction that she felt between Australia and Uzbekistan’s science teaching methods. “Australia emphasizes on whether it can be applied to daily life. On the other hand, Uzbekistan focuses on visualizing and modeling by using various teaching tools.” Contestant Park Si-hyun (Senior, Dept. of Science Education) added that “Korea is also at its turning point where education is aiming for a more student-centered and applicable learning.”

   The contestants look forward to one day applying the program to classrooms and sharing each country’s results.