Transdisciplinary Approach Will Help Bring Back Science Into Mainstream Consciousness
Emeritus Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
Opinion - Bacalah Malaysia
July 28, 2024
It is well known now that STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) as a cliché is no longer attracting students. When I was a student, science as a discipline was highly on demand. To be in the science stream is a dream for many.
Beginning with just simply Science, it later took another alphabet and became S&T.
The technology bit adds more prestige to science as an enabler of sorts. It was coupled with the space race where more of the T was displayed to mesmerise the younger minds.
Then STI was introduced with the ‘I’ added as innovation as though S&T can proceed without a form of innovation. What has Thomas Edison been telling us all this time in his effort to invent (or innovate ) a light bulb?
"Just that it is now a catch word for everything including for the non-science. It is more for marketing purposes when science is commodified! For a while there was STE with environment takes the lead in shaping S&T instead of innovation which is always subsumed as mentioned.
Environmental science hit it big as the world suffers massive degradation due to scientific abuses and pseudo-sciences.
It is looked upon with suspicion especially in developing countries where the negative impact of environmental science is more apparent than the good ones which benefited the developed West more!
"Now suddenly, came STEM primarily because the West is slowly losing its innovative edge to Japan, Korea and now China and Taiwan. In the 1960s, the three most innovative words are “Made in Japan.” The US automobile industry was swallowed whole by the Japanese modest scientific counterparts in just about two decades after losing World War II.
What they lost on the battleground they recovered in the S&T laboratories.
The huge US gas-guzzlers lost its place in the midst of an environment crisis worldwide, allowing the Japanese to lead the way by putting the E where it should belong.
The rest is history by bringing S&T into the realm of the sustainability where people and planet matter. Not just prosperity, economically defined as it was before. The 3Ps redefined the meaning and purpose of the “new” science.
"Given this new paradigm, STEM is at odds with three Ps where the merging of people, planet and prosperity is in disarray! The E is engineering and M is mathematics. They are relevant but not as important as the 3Ps in shaping the future of humanity. The unprecedented pandemic tells us a great deal about how important the 3Ps were!
Before the vaccines where ‘engineered’ the strategies deployed were all people and planetary oriented.
Physical distancing, isolation, lockdown, movement control, wearing facial protection, cleaning of hands and contact surfaces, etiquette in sneezing and coughing etc are more behavioural in nature (read, people and planet).
"Not of rocket science! Even after the vaccines were made available (not without many ethical problems), many of the people and planetary etiquette cannot be totally disbanded or dispensed. Meaning to say STEM alone is not sufficient to solve the pandemic chaos of humanitarian proportion.
This is where the missing ‘A’ comes into the picture. It stands for Arts, that is, humanity and people-related subjects so that STEM can be humanised through a new acronym: STEAM. This will allow the E to be extended to Ethics, Ecology, Environment as well as Economics.
Similarly, M into Management and Mental Health that making the humanising endeavours even more relevant.
In faith-based organisations like IIUM, ‘R’ is also added in to spell STREAM where Religion or more specifically Rahmatan lil ‘alamin (Mercy to all) are clearly manifested in the reality.
"This very much mirrors the heights of the Muslim scholarship while European counterpart was still in the so-called Dark Ages. It broadens the context of study and practice of S&T beyond the current publish-or-perish mantra into one that speaks of do-or-die!
The relevancy of this interdisciplinary approach rather than the suggested linear STEM approach becomes even more acute with the advances of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ChatGPT of late.
Increasingly, more voices are saying that humanities must precede science in a transdisciplinary way to further cope with the rapid emergence of the various versions of AI and ChatGPT.
To the extent that cursive writing (a form of art) has now been reintroduced in many countries preceding the technological demands as it is today.
In short, it goes beyond STEM into STEAM or STREAM as discussed.
Reportedly, in New Zealand, handwriting is recognised as valuable for brain development and memorisation. It was a myth that it was no longer important in the modern world, said one education facilitator.
“There’s all sorts of research that shows it’s still really, really important.” Ontario in Canada has taken this on last year. Thus, it may well be that we are lagging far behind in our approach and thinking to bring science back to life! – BACALAHMALAYSIA.MY
- The writer is Rector, International Islamic University Malaysia