Integrating Freshman STEM Education into a Big-History Course in Japan

Abstract

Undergraduate education for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) has been a global priority of governments for decades, because of its direct connection to work-force development in a world with growing dependence on technology and information. Technology is the outcome of an evolutionary process leading to increases of complexity and emergence of new functionalities, which is a central theme in Big History. In modern Japan, large public universities focus on undergraduate STEM education, originally inspired by the American model. This Japanese STEM approach is rather heavily based on liberal arts and general education courses that are taught as distinct silos in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, etc. At least, this is the case for most of the first-year and some of the second-year content in most four-year degree programs. This model has its benefits and provides a solid foundation in these disciplines, one that expands on high school experience. However, this often means that students tend to overlook or forget the deep connections between disciplines.