Development of bilateral science education program by engineering students: Case of joint curriculum planning in Japan and Thailand

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to propose effective bilateral science education program for high-school students based on the assessment on current situation of science education in Japan and Thailand. The uniqueness lies on the fact that undergraduate students majoring engineering, who could be role models for high-school students conducted and implemented whole process of situational assessment and proposal development of science education. Japan and Thailand have considered scientific literacy as a basis for the countries' human resource development. Yet, despite of national policy's emphasis on science education, in real classroom situations, there seems that students have not been very much enjoying learning science. In order to overcome the situation, as part of problem-based learning (PBL) course jointly conducted by Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan and Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, group of engineering students proposed a science education program and implemented concurrently in two countries. In so doing, following activities were conducted; 1) group discussion on science education in high school, 2) expert lectures, 3) site visits in two countries, 4) analysis through KJ method, 5) data analysis, and 6) group work. This paper summarizes assessment process for the current situation of science education in Japan and Thailand followed by its findings, and introduces alternative science education program to current teaching. Through this process, the paper aims to propose effective pedagogies for science learning utilizing digital devices.