FMIPA UNY held The 9th International Seminar in Sciences, Environment, and Education (ISSEE) 2024 on Thursday, 19/9/24 which took place in the faculty meeting room. The seminar presented speakers Dr. Nur Hidayah binti Ahmad from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Prof. Ahmad Qoblan from the United Arab Emirates University, Dr. Chatree Faikhamta from Kasetsart University, Thailand, and Prof. Ariswan, M. Si. from Yogyakarta State University. The opening remarks were delivered by Prof. Soni Nopembri, M.Pd., Ph.D. as the Vice Rector for Academic and Student Affairs of UNY. Today's seminar serves as a platform to explore how global partnerships can improve the quality of education and research, with a particular focus on one of the most powerful yet often overlooked resources we have, local and Indigenous knowledge. The integration of local and indigenous wisdom with modern scientific research holds great promise for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). From sustainable agriculture and wastewater treatment practices to biodiversity conservation and climate resilience, indigenous knowledge systems provide time-tested, sustainable solutions. By incorporating this knowledge into our research, we can create more inclusive, place-based solutions that benefit people and the planet. We hope this conference will be a platform for meaningful dialogue, critical inquiry, and collaborative exploration.
Speaker Prof. Ahmad Qablan, Ph.D., from the College of Education, United Arab Emirates University explained that STEM skills are needed to develop, among others, clean coal technology to build new coal-fired power plants with lower carbon emissions. Nuclear engineering to decommission old plants and build new nuclear power plants. Fuel cell technology, fuel cells combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce water, electricity, and heat, a potential alternative energy source. Renewable energy technology, i.e. generating electricity from renewable sources.

Some of the advantages of STEM are the integration of subject matter makes more sense in real-world applications. There are many content connections between STEM subject matter. Most products designed and created/built in technology and engineering use scientific principles and laws.

“Some of the problems with STEM Most teachers have not been educated to teach STEM (either before or during their tenure). Traditional thinking by teachers and administrators is that each subject should be taught separately (or in “silos” or “cognitive compartments/tubes”). In this educational research, Students are taught to score well on “high-stakes” national or state exams that are compartmentalized into subject areas such as science, math, etc.,” he said.

Meanwhile, Prof. Dr. Ariswan, M.Sc., explained that the development of sustainable renewable energy technology in the long term in large numbers through the development of material engineering must continue to be carried out. Material engineering can increase the conversion efficiency of solar cells, namely converting most of the sun's energy directly into electrical energy. This is a must because through research it has been found that semiconductor material engineering can determine how wide the energy band gap of a solar cell material is which is closely related to the ability to absorb solar energy, which is then converted directly into electrical energy. When the spectrum of the wavelength of sunlight is known with certainty, material engineering can be carried out so that the material is able to absorb most of the sun's energy, which is then converted into electrical energy.

“The principle of tandem system engineering as a third generation solar cell is a solution to increase the conversion efficiency of solar cells. Semiconductor material engineering must continue to be studied so that the utilization of abundant solar energy can be optimized towards clean world energy. This article briefly describes how to optimize the utilization of environmentally friendly, ecologically clean, safe, and sustainable solar energy, which can actually be realized towards the largest percentage of renewable energy (EBT) utilization in the future”.