TR213: HUMANIZING STEM EDUCATION THROUGH SCIENTIST-TEACHER-STUDENT PARTNERSHIP (STSP)

NAPISAH BINTI YAHYA UNIVERSITI MALAYA

STEM education is increasingly recognized as the foundation for national development, productivity, economic competitiveness, and social prosperity. Despite efforts to improve STEM education, the current focus remains mainly on technical skills and knowledge acquisition, often neglecting the integration of the humanities, which limits students' broader development and their ability to engage with STEM from a more human-centered perspective. The growing need to humanize STEM by incorporating humanities disciplines is becoming increasingly relevant in the era of scientific advancement. Concerning this issue, this qualitative study aimed to conceptualize humanizing STEM in secondary science learning. This study interviewed eight humanities teachers, four humanities scientists, four science teachers, and six science experts. The research utilized the STSP model to examine how collaboration between these disciplines can improve STEM instructional practices. Three themes emerged from the interviews, namely, (i) integrative collaboration, (ii) contextualized learning, and (iii) ethical, cultural, and social responsibility. The study found that the integrative collaboration of science and humanities draws on knowledge, skills, and values across both disciplines. Humanizing STEM learning is contextualized on ethics, social issues, and cultural contexts to provide meaningful and relevant real-world applications of knowledge. This approach shifts STEM education to ethical, socially embedded, value-laden endeavors, aligning scientific literacy with moral and cultural awareness. As a powerful pedagogical innovation, humanizing STEM through STSP represents a critical step toward a more human-centered and connected future in science education, mainly in conceptual foundations, practical implementations, and transformative potential in humanizing STEM learning for the 21st century.