SYNOPSIS

A vibrant competence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is central to building and increasing our nation’s productivity.  All governments, globally, are investing in improving STEM education.  There is significant activity underway across the country in schools and education systems, by university and industry, to lift student engagement and attainment in STEM and to support teachers to improve student outcome.  
To remain competitive in the global economy and 4th industrial revolution, Malaysia needs to build a strong workforce in STEM.  But educators and policymakers face immense challenges.  All young people should be prepared to think deeply and to think well so that they have the chance to become the innovators, educators, researchers, and leaders who can solve the most pressing challenges facing our nation and our world, both today and tomorrow.  

But, right now, not enough of our youth have access to quality STEM learning opportunities and too few students see these disciplines as springboards for their careers.  STEM education has the potential to produce and sustain a new workforce of problem solvers, innovators, and inventor who have the knowledge, skills and values to innovate and compete in the new global marketplace – 4th Industrial Revolution.  The strength of the STEM workforce is often viewed as strong indicator of a nation’s ability to generate ideas towards the creation of innovative product and services as well as to sustain.  The question is, “What kind of education system does Malaysia need to transform STEM education and deliver it equitably to all students?  To what extent does the present system ensure that students acquire the relevant knowledge and skills to meet 4th Industrial demands?  In this presentation, presenter will share and discuss how STEM Education lead to more growth especially in terms of cognitive skills and economic outcomes

Keywords:  STEM, 4th Industrial revolution, problem solver, innovator,  inventor


SPEAKER BIODATA

Professor Dato’ Dr. Noraini Idris is an educator, consultant, and distinguished mathematic educator.  She gained her PhD from The Ohio State University, USA and has been entrusted with the position of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation) at Sultan Idris Education University as well as well as Dean of the Faculty of Education at University of Malaya.  She published a variety of national and international academics publications to her credit and is a Fulbright Research Fellow.  Subsequently, she presented papers both nationally and internationally and conducted several researches with UNESCO, the British Council, Australian Universities – such as Melbourne, Sydney and the Sumitomo, Japan.  

Her research areas are mathematics education, teacher education, computer-assisted assessment, higher education, and comparative education.  She has been the principal investigator for a a government-funded research on Development of A Teacher Education Model for Preparing Quality Teachers for The Future and Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM).  She is an active research member on Classroom for Teaching and Learning of Mathematics research team comprises of USA, Germany, Italy, Spain, and China.  She is also an International Editorial Advisor/Reviewer for Journal of Mathematics Education, USA and Research Academic Journal, USA.  

Among her distinctions are the Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Awards - the only Asian recipient for the project on Minority Young Scholars Project and the Graduate Research Alumni Student Award from Ohio State University, a Gold Medal for ITEX (Geneva, 2005) and Best Award at MTE 2007, 2009 on designing assessment system for school-based assessment and higher education on Gold Medal at ITEX 2011, 2013, 2014 for designing Module of Teacher Education.

Most recently, she has been awarded the Leadership STEM 2018 from the Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA) and Visionary Leadership Category from the International Education Award 2018.