STEAMing for the Future Erasmus Project

Project Title

STEAMing for the Future

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Gender equality / equal opportunities

Project Summary

COVID-19 has meant a change in every area of life from work, leisure and community involvement to parenting and school, radically changing the way we approach technology. In March 2020, teachers, students and families had to start using distance learning and some schools really showed they were not prepared for the challenge, thus manifesting a real need of teachers’ training on the introduction of Virtual Learning Environments and the corresponding redefinition of teacher’s role. Thus, the leveler power for the children’s opportunities of the digital era has not become a reality in all European countries yet.
Our project wants to be part of the UN and EU priorities. The former, namely the “Sustainable Development Goals: Our Framework for COVID-19 Recovery” aim to help countries in mobilizing resources and implementing innovative and context-appropriate solutions to provide education remotely, leveraging hi-tech, low-tech and no-tech approaches (goal 4), as well as enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women (goal 5). Similarly, the EU priorities for 2021 aim at leading “the transition to a new digital world where everyone has a fair chance to reap the benefits of digitalisation”.
In this new-normality COVID world, online and blended learning in most European countries is still in the process of development. Similarly, there is a need to develop the STEAM skills in both teachers and students alike in order to encourage the scientific vocation in both girls and boys.
The focus of the project will be on the exchange of good practices in order to learn how teacher trainers in the fields of ICT and STEAM are currently performing their jobs in different European countries at a time where online learning is both the need and the must due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The profile of the participants will be teacher trainers who thanks to the knowledge/skills acquired with this project, will be able to
• reflect on the different methodologies related to online learning and on the teacher’s role in the 21st Century and how COVID-19 has accelerated its changes.
•design innovative online/ blended courses related to STEAM competences and create an open resource bank for interactive teaching of STEAM.
•be the process counsellors and involve the participant teachers in the trainings/courses in becoming the change agents of innovation, whose methodologies, know-how and expertise will enable a step change in the students’ learning having an impact on the students’ performance, motivation and skills.
• popularise robotics making it accessible to the educational community by integrating it in the curriculum and not as an extracurricular activity afforded by a minority.
• reduce the gender-based digital divide in Maker Culture by promoting the role of women in science and technology.
• engage the students in risk of social inclusion in the STEAM subjects thanks to the new redefinition of methodologies and teacher’s role acquired in this project.
The first year of the project will be devoted to clarifying the status of the issue, get to know each partner’s sharing expertise on the different topics and discuss the different methodologies involved in online learning, how to safeguard the inclusive nature of online learning, how to reduce the digital divide. During the second year, partners will focus on designing the common online training to be taught in each country. We want to involve as many participants as possible, ranging from teacher trainers, other teachers, students in primary and secondary school participating from the in-between activities and regional authorities.
For the implementation of the project we will organise: 6 short-term joint staff meetings framed in International Day Events (European Robotics Week, 11th Feb Int Day Women in Science, Space Day, International Science Week and Safer Internet Day. This will be combined with Etwinning exchanges in order to organize the “in between” activities involving the educational community.
The results will be Final Conference: STEAM 4 the Future Final where results and participants’ experiences will be shared together with workshops related to the fields tackled during the project, a digital handbook of exchange of good practices, the design of an innovative online/blended course related to STEAM and its future implementation in the 3 countries and the project website. The envisaged impact: increased teachers’ empowerment to redefine their role due to COVID-19 consequences and become “the agents of innovation” and develop new pedagogy and curricula; better knowledge about different methodologies (LBP, flipped classroom,etc) and online/blended teaching; increased capacity to create digital materials adapted to students with special needs; regarding students: increased levels of achievement and interest in STEAM, increased awareness of gender stereotypes in scientific vocation

Project Website

http://steam4future.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 58825 Eur

Project Coordinator

CEP IBSTEAM & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Porin kaupunki
• SCUOLA DI ROBOTICA