𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐎 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐌-𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐝

Bangkok, Thailand ─ SEAMEO STEM-ED and collaborative partners on "Using Coloring Book to Enhance Unplugged Computational Thinking,” a premier crafted to enrich the intellectual capacities of educators and students alike, is currently undergoing its final review stage for the comprehensive guidebook. Soon to be unveiled as a manual for teachers, this resource aims to inspire and ignite the intellectual curiosity of the youth while developing a computational thinking dimension for future prospects.

The project was established to tackle the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, which significantly transformed the landscape of work and education. In this regard, UNESCO had explicitly urged involved agencies to unite as a force for competencies development. Such competencies include competency to lead through creating new value on the infrastructural bases for Society 5.0; competency to work through predicting the future society with negative and positive aspects under the 4th Industrial Revolution and SDGs, and utilize AI and Robots judiciously and critically to develop well-functioning society; and competency to live to find the own value for humanistically oriented activity on the Digital Society.

Being an agency pioneering STEM education in Southeast Asia, SEAMEO STEM-ED strives to refocus education on more cognitively demanding endeavors — characteristic of computational thinking, which serves as a foundation for adaptive thinking and plays a pivotal role in transforming how students think. With a shared goal and determination, SEAMEO STEM-ED, the University of Tsukuba (Japan), SEAMEO Regional Centre for Education in Science and Mathematics (RECSAM), SEAMEO Qitep in Mathematics (SEAQIM), SEAMEO Regional Open Learning Centre (SEAMOLEC), Centro de Investigacion Avanzada en Educacion, Universidad Chile, Institute of Research and Development in Teaching Profession (IRDTP) for ASEAN (Khon Kaen University, Thailand), and the Institute for the Promotion for Teaching Science and Technology (IPST), Thailand, have joined forces to harness the dream of witnessing a more prosperous future for education.

For its development, the project navigated through three extensive workshops — synthesizing essential foundations, finalizing contents and graphics, and adapting to different cultural contexts. On December 1st, 2023, SEAMEO STEM-ED hosted a two-day reviewing session at its home with involved agencies present to refine the final stage of this premier project.

The guidebook will be published and launched on February 27th, 2024 at the 12th SEAMEO-University of Tsukuba Symposium in Tokyo, Japan.

Stay tuned for the imminent release of this transformative guide that seeks to propel young minds towards new horizons.