Outputs:
1. Workshop: The workshop proposed in this project will be held in May, 2020. In the workshop, delegates will gather and exchange the progress and reform of STEM education in their respective economies since the last event. Besides presentation given by the delegates, this workshop will cover keynote talks, discussion, and world café-format dialogues. In addition, there will be school visits to local schools that have been implementing programs to support and encourage female students in learning knowledge in STEM.
. Keynote Talks & Workshops: There will be keynote speech and workshop conducted by scholars/policymakers that are working on gender equality in STEM-PLUS education. Keynote scholars/policymakers will be hailed from regional STEM education community (including both APEC members and non-APEC economies) and should be individuals with STEM related publications in international peer reviewed journals/books. Potential local speakers are Prof. I-Jy Chang ad Prof. I-Ling Chang, who have been working on projects that encourage more school girls to participate competitions and pursue a career in science and technology. In addition, Prof. I-Jy Chang and Prof. I-Ling Chang have also been featured in the reports of The Society of Chinese Taipei Women in Science and Technology. Invited speakers will also be experts in addressing gender inequality and lack of promotion of women representation in STEM-PLUS education. Potential experts such as Sonya N Martin from Seoul National University, who authored a book that viewed the challenges faced by female in science education in a cultural perspective. Besides, there are two confirmed new speakers, which are Prof. Merrilyn Goos and Prof. TEO Tang Wee. Prof. Merrilyn Goos is currently coordinating gender projects in International Science Council and will deliver the best approach for female engagement in STEM-PLUS fields. While Prof. TEO Tang Wee. focuses on social equality study and will also share the gender studies within STEM education. Both developed and developing economies will be represented among the keynote speakers to ensure different perspectives, problems, and needs from different economies in female engagement education field are covered, making all participants feel the talks are relevant. Topics of talks and discussion will focus on program that support school girls in learning STEM-PLUS knowledge, challenges faced by school girls in STEM and how to resolve them, and how to encourage school girls to pursue a career in STEM, a career in area of the development of sustainable growth in particular.
. Delegate Presentation: Delegates from the last event or their colleagues will be invited to share the progress and reform made in their economies since the last meeting. The brief presentation (around 15 minutes) serves as a way to monitor the impact of the last event, and share new discoveries and challenges in STEM-PLUS education with member economies. The files used in their presentation will be shared across the APEC regions via the project website with the permission of the author(s).
. World Café: On the last day of the 3-day event, a world café will be held to facilitate discussion among delegates and the invited experts. The world café is crucial to generate new ideas and suggestions for developing and refining programs that better support school girls in learning STEM-PLUS knowledge, and further motivate them to pursue a career in STEM fields.
. School Visits: For one day of this 3-day event, one local school with programs that support and encourage female students in learning STEM will be visited. The high school, Taipei Municipal Zhong Shan Girls High school, is a school that features innovative teaching methods and focuses on building learning competence . Through classroom observation, hands-on activities, and group discussion, the delegates will get to reflect on the pros and cons of the existing programs. With the new perspectives, the delegates and local representatives can further refine current programs as well as develop ways of evaluating such programs.
| Discussion Area | Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Status |
| Keynote Talk & Workshop Topic Focus | Techer Professional Development for all students | Promote Female Engagement in STEM-PLUS Education | Differs |
| Delegate Presentation | Provide insights and perspective according to their existing approach | Provide insights and feedback comparing two phases event and results | Progressed |
| World Café | Group discussion | Group discussion with mind-mapping | Progressed |
| School Visit | STEM Education Module Observation for all students | STEM Education Module Observation in female schools | Differs |
2. Records: The keynote talks and the delegate presentation will be recorded with the permission from the speakers/delegates. The Power Point files from the presentation, materials distributed in the workshop, and the results of the world café and panel discussion will also be archived for future reference. These materials will be made available for scholars, teachers, and policy makers across the APEC regions to broaden the impact of this project.
3. Website: The website built for the last event will continue to serve as a platform to disseminate information regarding this event. Most of all, materials generated in the event, such as abstract and summary of the keynote talks and delegate presentation, will be posted on the website and share with APEC member economies. With the funding from the government of Chinese Taipei, the website will continue to share the results of the past and new projects with member economies. For this website, please visit the following link: https://www.apecstemplustw2019.org/about.
. Result of the Pre-workshop and Post-workshop Survey: Before the event, background information regarding the current situation of STEM or STEM-PLUS education, existing gender gaps, and female students in STEM in participating economies will be collected. The information will provide a clearer picture of STEM education in participating economies and will be of great importance to facilitate meaningful discussion. After the proposed event, a questionnaire will be sent out to collect feedbacks for the event.
. 4. Reports: Summary reports will be drafted for this project. The reports will be prepared during/after the event. Expected content of the reports may include basic information about the event, the summary of the event, contributions from participants, pre- and post-event survey results, description of the school observations, the accomplishments of the event, and other useful information where appropriate. In addition, a summary report (approximately 10-20 pages) with the results of the workshop, such as suggestions for policy or practice models that support school girls in learning STEM, will also be generated and shared with APEC economies. The summary report will be drafted after the proposed event, and will be completed in September at the earliest.
Outcomes: The objectives for the proposed project are to share recent discoveries and challenges in STEM-PLUS education in Asia-Pacific regions, and to address gender issues in STEM-PLUS education. To achieve these objectives, the following outcomes will be delivered through this proposed event.
1. Changes in behaviour in the participating institutions to address Gender Issues: in order to facilitate longitudinal exchange of ideas and innovations in STEM-PLUS education for female students, as well as challenges of female engagement faced by member economies, a regional collaborative sharing platform will be provided in this project. ‘It is expected that new schemes will be designed from existing curriculum in order to alleviate gender issues in the STEM education throughout the 3-day workshop. The new schemes developed from the event will be included in the summary report. Besides, the event website will serve as the medium that share related materials discussed in the last event and the updated information open to both participants and non-participants. Materials and records published on the website may be used as reference and general guideline when implementing the STEM education scheme enhancement. In this way, more universal STEM-PLUS educational schemes can be developed to educate a more science-literate generation with high mobility and adaptability.
2. Improve the understanding of how to design, implement, and evaluate programs that assist female students in the learning process and motivate them to pursue a career in STEM : the event will feature keynote speech and workshop given by local and foreign experts who have been working on promoting female participation in STEM through education. Moreover, local schools with such programs will be visited to observe how the programs are designed and implemented. Lastly, the participants will engage themselves in world café and group discussion to share their findings and reflection. It is expected that indicators will be suggested from the world café discussion. With the new perspectives formed in this event, the participants will have a clearer understanding of how to design, implement, and evaluate programs that assist female students in the learning process and motivate them to pursue a career in STEM. After integrating the information from the discussion, analysis, on-site observation, the best practice models along with the indicators will be summarized in the summary report to serve as a general instructional recommendations and the indicator for APEC economies. For the short-term objectives, we hope to see more school girls choosing a science or technology oriented program in secondary schools and further seek careers in the scientific related fields. In addition, school girls will also demonstrate equivalent performance in STEM related subjects compared with boys. For the long-term goals, we hope women in APEC economies will become valuable workforce in STEM industries, and the gender gap in STEM industries will be diminished.
Beneficiaries: Direct beneficiaries of this project are expected to be academics, secondary science teachers, policy makers/government officials from Chinese Taipei and APEC member economies. Ideal participants should be familiar with the past and current STEM-PLUS education developments in their respective economy, have experience and knowledge in the design, implementation, and practice of STEM-PLUS education for women and girls in STEM-PLUS education and careers. Among which, the secondary science teachers will be the main target of the funding nomination. [We] welcome the economies to nominee delegates from governmental agencies, research institutions, and secondary school systems. Because our program can provide diverse input to different levels of participants. In particular, after my presentation at SOM 1 EDNET in in Malaysia, some enconomes show their interest to the workshop and mentioned different sources of potential delegates to be considered due to their local needs. It enhances our intention of fitting the needs for a wider group of participants. tThe preferred nomination will be clearly stated in both the nomination form and invitation email sent to the economies.
Economies are encouraged to recommend high school teachers, educators, and researchers who are interested in gender issues. If delegates from the last event have also been interested in this topic, they are also welcome to participate again. The diverse cultural background of the participants is crucial for the discussion in the event to incorporate multicultural perspectives. On top of that, the suggestions for best practice models will be more universal and can be apply to more economies across the APEC regions.
Through the proposed event, the participants will be updated with current progress made in educational approaches to address gender imbalance in STEM-PLUS education. Moreover, the participants will exchange their knowledge with one another and will cultivate a new perspective on how to support school girls in learning STEM-PLUS knowledge. After the event, it is expected that the participants will introduce the knowledge and ideas they gained with their colleagues and propose changes in educational policy or program. Through innovating and fine-tuning approaches to facilitate female participation in STEM, the participants will have a long-lasting and profound impact on their economies. It is hoped that through the impact brought by this event and the participants, school girls in the member economies will be empowered in learning STEM-PLUS knowledge, and will be better encouraged and motivated to pursue a career in STEM. In the future, these female students will help ensuring ample workforce in the APEC regions while increasing female representation in STEM industries. On top of that, these women in STEM will become role models for future school girls and further promote female participation in STEM for the following decades.
