Lim Tit Meng is a Singaporean STEM outreach pioneer. Not only is he responsible for a science busking festival and a taboo-busting sex-education musical, he’s launched an innovative program for secondary schools that is changing the way students learn about careers in STEM.
The idea that students should sit in a lecture hall and listen to their professor recite facts about developmental biology or some other topic, and be expected to retain such knowledge, has long been outdated.
What a difference it would make to students’ learning if their lecturer made lessons more engaging through story-telling, such as by dramatizing the challenges, uncertainties and triumphs of a sperm cell travelling through the female reproductive track for fertilisation.
For Lim Tit Meng, associate professor of biological sciences at the National University of Singapore, applying an unorthodox teaching style to his lessons was just the beginning. In 2008, after three decades honing his talent for science communication at the university, Lim began a secondment at Singapore’s national public science outreach institution, the Science Centre Singapore (SCS), leading the education division.
In 2010, he was offered the role of chief executive officer of the SCS, and in the 12 years since, he’s used his position to take science communication into shopping malls and schools, sparking curiosity in young visitors and students.
The SCS hosts more than 1,000 interactive exhibits, which teach topics ranging from the science of phobias to the history of toilets. Visitors can spend half a day learning how to be a scientist or participating in stargazing at night.
“When I joined SCS, I wanted to project the image of STEM as fun, playful and engaging,” Lim told The Brilliant. “I was in the Chinese Drama Club in high school. That experience made me appreciate visual learning and creative writing.”
In 2008, inspired by the fever over American Idol and its Singaporean adaptation, Lim introduced the Science Busker Festival, where students and their families could perform in shopping malls to earn votes from scientists and members of the public. The festival, now in its 14th year, chooses its winners based on the scientific rigour and entertainment value of their performances. Winners are offered contracts and paid to perform at SCS.
One of the winning teams was a family effort, with a mother and son bantering about the physics of energy. The father’s contribution, quietly bringing props to the duo, and a well-timed Star Wars reference (“May the force be with you!”) added to the humour.
“The festival is so successful, we have inspired other festivals outside Singapore including Science Buskers in Africa,” says Lim. “Maybe they could have asked me to be a judge,” he jokes.
Lim has also written a musical called Sex Cells (a twist on “sex sells”), to explain the topic of sex to visitors aged eight and above.
In Singapore, many parents avoid talking to their children about sex, and sex education, which is focused on abstinence, begins in secondary school. The musical’s fresh approach to a sensitive subject was welcomed by teachers, says Lim.
“Over two days, we had more than 1,600 in the audience, and the teachers were so impressed that we were able to explain the ‘taboo’ topic of sex to their students, such as the anatomy of the male and female reproductive systems, and how conjugation is needed for sexual reproduction,” Lim says.
Visual entertainment and storytelling are also a great way to discuss ethical challenges in research to young visitors, he says.
“In 2016, we commissioned a theatre company to act out a drama on the bioethics of involving children in clinical trials. I see the SCS as a safe place for us to engage in difficult conversations.”
Making room for early childhood learning
When Lim’s two children were young, he and friends with kids of similar ages ran a kids club. There were all kinds of hands-on activities, including playing with engineering concepts by building simple machines out of LEGO bricks.
The experience gave him valuable insights into how children think and learn, and how persistently curious they are, he says. “Kids are amazing. When you give them a fork, they would try to bend it, hit it and try many ways to test out the functions of the fork. I call this the three ‘INs’ – inquiry, investigative and innovative.”
Keen to offer kids a chance to learn in an age-appropriate environment at the SCS, in 2014 Lim oversaw the addition of a 3,000-sq-metre child-friendly area called KidsSTOP, targeted at visitors aged eight and below. In 2016, the SCS introduced a toddler science program, which caters to two- and -to-three-year-olds.
“KidsSTOP is like a giant playground for children to explore and learn about the natural world and human-made environment through activities that engage all senses,” says Lim. “There are many interesting exhibits and the kids can do simple experiments, like making flying objects or making music with fruits.”
New ways to teach STEM in schools
Lim says effective STEM education starts early, with informal learning at home and at institutions like the SCS. He also feels strongly about how STEM is taught to school students, and that applied science learning can benefit everyone. Until recently, such learning opportunities were only available to a small proportion of students in Singapore who met the strict admission criteria of the country’s most elite schools.
“I wrote a proposal for the Ministry of Education in 2009 about the importance of applied science learning in schools, but I was probably a couple of years too early,” Lim recalls. “In 2014, our education minister wanted to transform secondary schools in Singapore so that students in non-elite, or neighbourhood, schools could also enjoy applied STEM learning. My proposal was floated around (I had no idea they still remembered it), and the ministry was happy with my proposed scope and delivery methods.”
Under this STEM applied-learning program, schools write a proposal to receive funding from the education ministry to create lessons in domains such as biomedical sciences, food security and robotics, in partnership with the SCS. Students then apply their knowledge to projects, such as building a heart-rate monitor using basic programming or designing flying machines.
The SCS also connects schools with industry partners to “bring real-life relevance to the projects the students are working on,” says Lim, giving the example of food companies bringing beverages into schools to introduce concepts of nutritional science.
There was a lot of interest from schools from the outset, Lim recalls. “Our initial target was to introduce the STEM applied-learning program to 50% of the non-elite schools in three years. We met our target way earlier and were even told to slow down.”
Although the program started out as an experiment, its success has made it a permanent part of Singapore’s secondary school education. Unlike the rest of the mainstream curriculum, where learning is chiefly assessed through paper exams, in the applied science program, students demonstrate effective learning based on the outcomes of their projects. The Ministry of Education has also set up a STEM education committee to enhance the pedagogy in this program and organise professional-development workshops for teachers.
It’s been very rewarding for Lim to see his ideas put into practice, and watch students learn and succeed, he says.
“This is definitely one of the highlights of my career,” says Lim. “I feel so proud seeing student projects from this program winning the Shell Bright Ideas Challenge in Singapore, and they went on to represent the nation at global contests in London. The students from non-elite schools proved that they can be creative and innovative when nurtured and given a chance to grow. When we invest in STEM and our youth, we can truly create changemakers to generate creative solutions for our world.”
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Article by Andy Tay
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