Developing make spaces to promote creativity around STEM in schools Erasmus Project

Project Title

Developing make spaces to promote creativity around STEM in schools

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 : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

The main objective pursued by the project is to improve STEM skills in secondary school students. Additionally, to achieve this goal, workspaces or makerspaces will be created. It is a new design of learning space, space where robotic and electronic technologies will be learned. Coding and computational thinking are fundamental in workspaces, where students work by project, design, create, solve problems and learn from themselves. It is important that students are prepared for the new professions that will be created around robotics, teamwork, empathy and creativity.

The goal is to use these workspaces for all students, helping to improve students with low academic performance, facilitating inclusion and gender considerations. The use of pedagogies that favour student-centered learning, exercises creativity, increases student engagement and the frequency of authentic learning, improves critical thinking and provides a constructivist learning model. When we realize that technology is popular in younger generations and that they are fascinated with the use, it is important to know how we can integrate technology into the teaching and learning process.

The goal is to motivate students towards STEM careers, paying special attention to gender considerations, so that girls are also attracted to these careers. Initiative and entrepreneurship are also important competencies that must be worked in an environment of collaboration and peer learning.

The main result of the project is a Technical Guide and an eLearning platform for the creation of MOOCs.

The Guide is titled: The new STEM world, How to create makerspaces in schools. With more than 600 pages, the user can find five introductory points to create creative spaces: Rationale&Motivation to create makerspaces in schools, how to create a makerspace, how to provide the work to students (Workflow), how to evaluate them and gender considerations. You can also find 41 activities, which have been revised and therefore all have alternatives, constituting more than 80 activities to be carried out.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 105265 Eur

Project Coordinator

COLEGIO ENGEBA, SL & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Zespol Szkol nr 10 im.prof.J.Groszkowskiego
• Istituto di Istruzione Secondaria Superiore “A.Berenini”
• SULTANTEPE ORTAOKULU
• ASOCIACION DE INVESTIGACION DE LA INDUSTRIA DEL JUGUETE, CONEXAS Y AFINES