The STEM strand

Senior High School (SHS) students opting to take the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Strand have a set of core subjects slightly different from those taking the other strands (Accountancy, Business, and Management; General Academic; and Humanities and Social Science).

While students in the other strands take “Earth and Life Science” and “Physical Science,” STEM students take “Earth Science” and “Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction.” STEM students are presumed to be more literate in science and, therefore, capable of tackling more advanced science subjects.

“Earth Science,” for example tackles such topics as hydroelectric energy, continental drift, and index fossils. “Disaster Preparedness and Risk Reduction,” on the other hand, helps students identify areas exposed to hazards that may lead to disasters, recognize vulnerabilities of different elements exposed to specific hazards, interpret different earthquake hazard maps, and use available tools for monitoring hydrometeorological hazards. (If you think basic education is “basic,” think again!)

After such “easy stuff,” STEM students then take the following Specialized Subjects:

Pre-Calculus

Basic Calculus

General Biology 1 & 2

General Physics 1 & 2

General Chemistry 1 & 2

Work Immersion / Research / Career Advocacy / Culminating Activity

The teaching of calculus in SHS is a simple illustration of the reason the old (that is, current) General Education Curriculum (GEC) subjects are no longer relevant to university students.

In the old GEC, for example, Algebra is a required subject. Clearly, to take Algebra after you have mastered Basic Calculus is patently silly.

Similarly, the two introductory subjects in the old GEC on Natural Sciences are also no longer necessary, since STEM students will have had specialized subjects in biology, physics, and chemistry.

It is not only the STEM students that will find the two Mathematics and the two Natural Sciences subjects in the current GEC unnecessary. The core subjects for the other tracks (“Earth and Life Science” and “Physical Science”) tackle more advanced topics than those usually taken up in the current GEC.

For example, the non-STEM “Earth and Life Science” also takes up the topics I mentioned earlier (though less in depth). It even includes “How genetic engineering is used to produce novel products” and “Describe how the present system of classification of organisms is based on evolutionary relationships.”

The non-STEM “Physical Science” tackles such things as “Give evidence for and explain the formation of the light elements in the Big Bang theory” and “Cite the contributions of J. J. Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, Henry Moseley, and Niels Bohr to the understanding of the structure of the atom.”

In fact, even the “General Mathematics” subject that all SHS students (both STEM and non-STEM) take already covers such things as “Distinguishes logarithmic function, logarithmic equation, and logarithmic inequality” and “Calculates the fair market value of a cash flow stream that includes an annuity.”

I like taking Calculus as an example of how the K to 12 curriculum is now in step with the rest of the world. If you go to Amazon.com and search for “calculus textbook 2014,” these are two of the recent titles you will find:

“5 Steps to a 5 AP Calculus BC, 2014-2015 Edition” – a reviewer that helps high school students pass entrance examinations to universities.

“Calculus for the Ambitious” – according to the blurb, “It will open up the ideas of the calculus for any 16 to 18 year old about to begin studies in mathematics.”

Of course, what is offered in SHS is only Basic Calculus, not the kind of calculus that, say, is covered by “Calculus: Early Transcendental Functions,” a textbook meant for a three-semester course for engineering students in college.

I can almost hear so many math-challenged students cry out in anticipated pain, but think again. If what you want is a job, the most numerous and most lucrative jobs are in the STEM field. (The STEM Strand is also the one to be used by those planning to go into a health-related area such as nursing or medicine, or an IT field such as analytics.)

If, on the other hand, what you want is to help the country, today’s heroes are really scientists. One reason our country is lagging behind practically every other country in development is our lack of scientists.

Why do we lack scientists? One cause is the lack of good science teachers. Representative Antonio Tinio is quoted in the 18 March 2013 issue of Asian Scientist Magazine as saying, “We have a lot of problems in the country’s science education. One of them is the shortage of teachers who have a background in science.”

If more students take the STEM Strand (not to go to nursing, which is an overpopulated field, but into the hard sciences), we shall have not only more scientists but more science teachers. Ultimately, the country will be scientifically literate.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Technical Panel on Engineering, by the way, has decided to decrease the number of college years it normally takes to acquire an engineering degree. Right now, it takes five years after high school. Students who finish Grade 12, on the other hand, will need only four more years to finish their engineering degree.

(To be continued)