The STEM programme encompasses the four disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. It is widely acknowledged that a nation’s advancement and economic success in today’s world is highly dependent on STEM talent and literacy. To be an informed citizen in a world with advanced technology and innovation, one needs to acquire STEM skills such as problem-solving, judgment, decision making and evidence-based reasoning so as to understand everyday STEM applications.
The Multi-centric Education, Research and Industry STEM centre or meriSTEM@NIE is a cross-disciplinary multi-centric education, research and industry centre within National Institute of Education, NTU. The term meristem refers to the tissue in plants that consists of undifferentiated cells that can rapidly divide to form more cells. These meristematic cells therefore form the areas of active growth in plants, and they have the potential to develop into all the various types of cells in the plant. Supported by a cross-disciplinary group of researchers and practitioners with multi-centric interest in and across education, research, and industry in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, meriSTEM@NIE aims to strengthen the engines of growth and development in the STEM domains.
Since its inception in late 2018, the mission of meriSTEM@NIE has been to provide leadership and nurture integrated STEM education efforts in teaching and learning, and to enhance the STEM literacy of citizens in Singapore. Through collaborative partnerships among researchers, academics, industry experts, practitioners and educators, the centre has continued to design and implement numerous STEM programmes.
These include STEM hackathons for pre-service and in-service teachers in Singapore that are focused on human capacity building. Other outreach programmes are aimed at developing the capacities of educators across the ASEAN region in the areas of STEM curriculum design and implementation. The data gathered from all of these programmes will enable meriSTEM@NIE to disseminate evidence-based findings that are rigorous, while contributing to the larger STEM research knowledge base.
