We have elaborately touched upon the many facets of science and how it spreads across all areas of our daily life in some of the previous blogs. A vast majority look at science as a subject to be studied for the purpose of being gainfully employed. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and related careers are much in discussion, leading us to an important question: How may a student learn in a way that makes him garner those skills which can lead him to a chosen career path for now and the future?
The World Economic Forum (WEF), in their Future of Jobs Report, 2020, puts forth a vivid picture of the future. The WEF has been doing so for several years now, publishing the report in 2016 and in 2018 as well, highlighting the changing role of humans in the workplace, given the high level of automation. Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of WEF and the author of the book, “The Fourth Industrial Revolution”, has highlighted the onset of the 4th Industrial Revolution. This revolution is distinct from the previous three. The First Industrial Revolution, ushered in mechanical production. The Second Industrial Revolution enabled mass production, made possible through the advent of electricity and the assembly line. The Third Industrial Revolution, also referred to as the computer or digital revolution, was fostered by the development of semi-conductors, mainframe computing, personal computing and the internet.
The most recent Industrial Revolution (IR), also called the 4th IR, builds on the previous Revolution and is characterized by a far more ubiquitous and mobile internet; sensors; Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning. Virtual and physical systems are interacting in an unprecedented way. Smart factories, customization of products, creation of new operating models and an amalgamation of myriad technologies such as Internet of Things, AI, Robotics, Big Data & Analytics, 3-D printing, Cloud Computing and many others, is what we are witnessing on an unfathomable scale. What is more, these interact in the physical, digital as well as the biological domains!
Some of the 4th IR technologies and sectors are making their presence felt across diverse industries. For example: Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing are useful in practically all industries, from Agriculture, Automotive, Consumer products, Education, Energy Utilities and Technologies, Financial Services, Healthcare or Manufacturing. While those working in the above 4th IR areas are well-versed with the far-reaching effects of these technologies; the public at large has come to recognize it gradually over several years and in a more sudden way during the Covid 19 pandemic, when there was a far greater dependency on technology and the virtual world, by society.
Impact of the 4th Industrial Revolution and a Relook at Student Skill Sets
What are the effects on us all, especially students who are preparing for the immediate future? Change is happening at a frantic speed and keeping pace requires a different set of skills and the way we learn. For science students these are exciting times no doubt, but 2 important points deserve a mention: a) the boundaries between subjects are collapsing as these changes are widespread across all industries including non-science areas such as finance or hospitality (and interdisciplinary learning, holistic curriculums and universities are catering to a student population, which is gearing for the future[1]) and b) just knowledge of facts are not going to equip us with the skills to chart out a career path. We need to necessarily build new habits of the mind; new ways of thinking and new ways of learning.
To give a sense of that change, we draw your attention to the 3rd Industrial Revolution. It commenced sometime in the 1960s with mainframe computing; personal computing in 1970s and 1980s and the internet in 1990s. But we see the proliferation of the internet happening at a rapid pace starting early 2000s and a quantum leap thereafter. Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee of MIT, mentioned the dawn of the 2nd Machine Age, which is a move to the “automation of knowledge”. They reckon, the 1st Machine Age was the automation of manual labour and physical strength.[2] The 2nd Machine Age is characterized by a dramatic progress in digital hardware, software and networks with: a) Exponential growth of Moore’s law[3] and remarkable strides in computing, b) ubiquitous digitization and c) tremendous opportunities to combine the above two, leading to innumerable innovations.[4] Digital exponential technologies combined with other rapidly expanding technologies such as biotechnology, nanotechnology and AI, is increasing the pace of change[5] for all of us. If machines can do more, then that has a significant impact on what humans are expected to do.
Previously, our university degrees had a fair chance of getting us a job and in past generations, learning tapered off after completing our education. There was clear compartmentalization of: 1) education and training and 2) work life. Today the scenario is markedly different. Learning and working go hand-in-hand. This means:
- Student Life – We work with our hands (involved in doing), while we learn, through varied experiences (referred to as Experiential Learning), giving us a sense of the “real thing” – Experiential Learning in our formative years
- Work Life – Once we complete a formal degree and enter work life; we must continue to learn because new skills are required of us to keep pace with the environmental, technological and social changes. Without lifelong learning, one would have little chance to contribute positively to any job in a sustained manner. In fact, the job that one did 3 years ago, may not exist now and one may need to re-skill/upgrade to fit into a related/higher version of that role – that is the pace at which the world is moving. There is a reason for this: anything that is repetitive or falls into a pattern can easily be completed by a machine, sooner or later such jobs would become redundant. Such jobs are unlikely to exist in the future. How soon that future will arrive is uncertain but routine jobs are certainly at risk. – Therefore, learning while working/continuously upskilling is the only recourse
With the above two defining almost our entire human life, we clearly come to see that Lifelong Learning is an imperative. We can also see why the WEF has said the following: “85 million jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labour between humans and machines, while 97 million new roles may emerge that are more adapted to the new division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms, across 15 industries and 26 economies covered by the WEF report”[6].
What New Skills Are Required for the Future?
There is a participation by humans and machines in the domain of work, with the percentage of machine participation increasing significantly. The question we next ask is, what roles will naturally be performed by humans vis-à-vis, machines and what skills will be required of us? The answer is simple, what machines can’t currently do to the level of perfection that humans can. World Economic Forum has identified Top 15 skills for 2025[7]:
- Analytical thinking and Innovation
- Active learning and learning strategies
- Complex problem-solving
- Critical thinking and analysis
- Creativity, originality and initiative
- Leadership and social influence
- Technology use, monitoring and control
- Technology design and programming
- Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility
- Reasoning, problem-solving and ideation
- Emotional Intelligence
- Troubleshooting and user experience
- Service orientation
- Systems analysis and evaluation
- Persuasion and negotiation
One significant commonality across the skills is that, each of them help us deal with uncertainty and flux, in varying degree, which is a characteristic of this age. For instance,[8]
Active Learning means understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Analytical Thinking means analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
Innovation means to use creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for answers to work-related problems.
One other skill that is consistently mentioned, is that of self-management (which helps with skill 9 specifically, in the list and other skills too) and working with people/collaboration. One can immediately identify, that these skills may undergo some change, with changes in the overall landscape of 4th IR innovations.
So, what can students do? The Role of Experiential Learning
Build the fundamental skills, which are crucial (for surviving and thriving) and help one to adapt more readily, where one can command a ‘comparative advantage’, such as managing, advising, decision-making, reasoning, communicating and interacting. We are looking at adaptive, flexible minds, as such minds would have the cognitive agility to keep up with the fast-paced shifts in the work domain.[9]
A report states that the future is that of a “liquid workforce, which doesn’t work in silos of functions but work will be organized around ‘projects’, with training embedded within it”.[10] This new way of working is happening already in several pockets, and it may take a few years before it is adopted on a large-scale but if current job-holders are required to keep updating their skills, then the expectation from students (the future workforce) is very clear.
In all of this, a word of caution should be spelt out.
Subject matter knowledge is still very much required and what we learn in school (established knowledge) in science or any other subject, would still form the basic foundation as that is the fundamental premise of our world. BUT only accumulated knowledge or facts learnt through textbooks, wouldn’t suffice. That knowledge needs to be put to practical use in the real world, to deal with real problems, that’s the direction in which science education is heading as ‘Future of Jobs’ demands that. To enable that, a new way of thinking and new skill sets will be required.
Experiential Learning (EL)
That is why Experiential Learning is so critical and touted as the best possible approach to learn science today. Experiential Learning is “a process through which a learner constructs knowledge, skills and value from direct experiences”[11].
In our previous blogs, we have touched upon several examples of Experiential Learning. “Problem-based learning and Experiential Learning are essential components to higher education pedagogy in the era of 4th IR[12].” A wealth of evidence reveals to us how engaging EL can be for students, giving them the much-needed rationale and motivation to learn science. Apart from this, research has shown that EL promotes critical thinking, develops teamwork and higher order thinking skills and the best time to introduce EL to facilitate the development of these skills is formative middle school years[13].
As a starting point, students, parents, teachers and mentors can look at all such opportunities of Experiential Learning and their potential to enhance the WEF Skills listed above (tick marking wherever skills are developed/enhanced). A template or table would be useful in this regard (we pick only a sample of WEF skills):
Sample Experiential Learning Opportunities | Sample WEF Skills | |||
Analytical Thinking | Problem-Solving | Collaboration and Social Influence | ||
Real-life Case Study on quality of water in local water body & Problem-Based Learning approach to find solutions to eliminate contamination, if any | ||||
Inquiry-Driven Scientific Investigation on Flu Outbreak in local community | ||||
Working with a STEM Experiment Kit | ||||
Internship with a Biotechnology company (Project-Based Learning involving creation of product or meeting performance standards as per specifications) | ||||
Research Paper on how science can help eliminate Plastic | ||||
Field Visit to local horticultural institute | ||||
School Laboratory work | ||||
Design Workshop – designing a water filtration equipment | ||||
Classroom Instruction from Teacher | ||||
E-Learning on a Science Education Platform | ||||
Participation in a Science Seminar on 4th IR Technologies and their Impact |
The aim of the above exercise is to evaluate: 1) If we are engaging enough in Experiential Learning activities; 2) if we are acquiring the required skills and 3) which skills need to be acquired through fresh EL opportunities.
A Case Study in Experiential Learning[14]
1st Case Study: STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) is an experiential programme in a traditional school in the U.S. Midwest.[15] The teachers of the school work collaboratively with an organization that specifically designs experiences for the students that connects the content in the textbook to real-world experiences. 4 projects were flagged off:
- How do we minimize the impact school groups have on the high school wetland? – learn human impact on wetlands and strategies to preserve a wetland at high school level (Problem-Solving)
- How might we design the ultimate cardboard sled that is built for speed? – learn Engineering Design process and data collection
- How might we bring a fresh perspective to the life of fish within our local watershed? (Effects of pollution on fish)
- How might we design a tour that engages the community in the education of energy stewardship? (Understand best practices on sustainability across local businesses)
The results showed learning through collaboration, which included recognizing the challenges involved in collaboration. For some students, it was their first exposure to students, outside of their own peer group and they acknowledged that group-working brought different skills together. They seemed to develop a mature attitude, as some believed, that they just had to try their best while working in a group, as not every member may contribute equally. Some were more informed about career choices, after the Experiential Learning, as they now knew what engineers or marine biologists do, building early aspirations. The skills and attitudes that formed were over and above the building of various other WEF skills as part of their EL activities.
The 2nd Case Study is that of grade 3rd– 6th students, who attended a week-long summer camp, where they learnt about biotic processes of microorganisms, plants and soil[16] through a combination of lessons and field trips. The EL activities included:
- Observing microorganisms through the correct use of a microscope
- Modelling the life cycle of seeds
- Investigating decomposition of organic material through composting
- Analyzing soil samples and soil texture techniques
The above camp also included, field trip to Nature and Science Museum (viewed a health exhibit and saw an IMAX movie on nature); field trip to botanic garden and observing plants; visit to Rocky Mountain National Park and involved in nature walk, observed how the valley formed through glacial activity and planting a community garden.
The major findings from the above study were: autonomous learning through reflection, building of deeper content knowledge and exposure to the natural world for the first time (sights, sounds and smells). These are elementary skills which go on to build the more complex skills that are required for this age. Without a solid foundation in the formative years, the higher order skills may not be developed in children, making them unprepared for the real-world.
The old way of learning catered to the needs of the earlier Industrial Revolutions is one belief. Research studies and future job reports by WEF as well as other noted organizations[17] reveal that a renewed set of skills are required for this dynamic age – critical thinking, creativity, digital fluency, interpersonal skills, adaptability, problem-solving and self-management.
A critical aspect of learning science in this age is also about using these technologies to deepen our understanding. For example, the use of Virtual and Augmented Reality to enable experiencing the phenomenal world, which has been covered in considerable depth in the blog ‘Blended Learning’.
The WEF Report indicates that Indian Companies, identified nearly all of the WEF skills as the top skills required of employees. While on one hand students need to pay attention to renewed skills, on the other hand they need to be aware of emerging roles in science, technology and engineering, which require those skills. There is greater demand for AI and Machines Learning Specialists, Data Analysts and Scientists, Information Security Analysts, Internet of Things Specialists, Big Data Specialists, Project Managers, Fintech Engineers, Software and Applications Developers amongst others. Students may not be fully aware what these jobs entail, but this is the time to build awareness about what are emerging areas and which professions or roles may not even exist in the future. This will enable science students to start thinking about their career path and how to build the right skills to be future-ready!
[1] Example being Yale-NUS Liberal Arts College in Singapore. Liberal arts, contrary to popular belief includes
arts, humanities, social and natural sciences as cited in P.Lewis, Globalizing the Liberal Arts: Twenty-First
Century Education, 2018
[2] N.W.Gleason, Introduction, Higher Education in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, 2018
[3] Exponential increase in computer power and decreasing cost in storage, which obeys a geometric relation
known as Moore’s Law
[4] ibid – footnote 2
[5] B.E.Penprase, The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Higher Education, 2018
[6] World Economic Forum, The Future of Jobs Report, October 2020
[7] Ibid – footnote 6
[8] We recommend reading ‘World Economic Forum, The Future of Jobs Report, October 2020’ Appendix (Table
A2) to understand each of the skills
[9] N.W.Gleason, Singapore’s Higher Education Systems in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Preparing
Lifelong Learners, Higher Education in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, 2018
[10] Accenture, “Liquid Workforce, Building the Workforce for Today’s Digital Demands”, cited in Higher
Education in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, 2018
[11] Jacobs, 1999 cited in Z.Gross & S.D.Rutland, Experiential Learning in Informal Educational Settings, 2017
[12] R.R.Hussain, W.H.Mamat, N.Salleh, R.M.Saat & T.Harland, 2007 cited in N.W.Gleason, Singapore’s Higher
Education Systems in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Preparing Lifelong Learners, 2018
[13] S.C.Scogin et al, Learning by Experience in a Standardized Testing Culture: Investigation of a Middle School
Experiential Learning Program, 2017
[14] For more case studies in Experiential Learning please refer blog on Learning STEM with Toys and Inquiry-
Based Learning
[15] S.C.Scogin et al, Learning by Experience in a Standardized Testing Culture: Investigation of a Middle School
Experiential Learning Program, 2017
[16] C.M.Djonko-Moore et al, Using Culturally Relevant Experiential Education to Enhance Urban Children’s
Knowledge and Engagement in Science, 2018
[17] Defining the Skills Citizens will need in the Future World of Work, Mckinsey & Company, June 2021