Reading books through the Lens of STEAM Erasmus Project

Project Title

Reading books through the Lens of STEAM

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 : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

In our opinion, reading is one of the most important skills which also affects the success in other subjects and improves communication skills. We identify such main benefits of reading as development of language and literacy skills; strengthening of comprehension and vocabulary skills; improvement of social skills and better understanding of our and other people‘s emotions ; expanding ability to build knowledge overall; processing more complex ideas, etc. It can be imagined that troubles in reading touch mostly the pupils with learning difficulties but nowadays when using of the various forms of digital media continues to increase among the teenagers their reading speed and comprehension decrease. A significant part of pupils have negative attitudes towards reading.
This Project is aimed to improve reading proficiency, habits and culture of the students using various reading activities, STEAM approach and experiential learning methods. We are going to put that into the practice setting such objectives
to make reading list of 12 books “12 books list“
to choose, read and discuss 6 books at all partner schools
to prepare and apply 6 toolkits based on the content, symbols and themes of each of the chosen books containing reading, experiential learning and STEAM activities.
to present European culture and traditions through the scope of national literature.
The aim of this project presume that the main target groups will be the pupils and teachers. The age group of the pupils is defined from 12 to 16 years due to a few particular aspects:
type of our schools where pupils in this age group make up the majority of the pupils
decreasing interest in reading of this age group
using such methods as peer tutoring and mentorship to run the activities.
The achievement of the project‘s objectives and its success depends on the meaningful involvement of the pupils and teachers in LTT and local activities. It is planned that at least 20 pupils from each partner school will take part in the LTT activities. The main part of the pupils as well as the teachers will participate in the local activities.
We are going to run the particular activities
making the reading list of 12 books “12 book list“ provided with the reviews created by pupils: collaborating on Twinspace the pupils will discuss and prepare “12 books list“. They will write reviews for each book and share them on Twinspace to choose 6 best ones for each book to include in the final product.
6 books to read together: “Fahrenheit 451“, “To kill a Mocking bird“, “Lord of the flies“, “The Little Prince“, “The Lord of the Rings“ and Jonathan Livingston Seagull“ which will build background for the local and LTT activities (6 short term exhanges of groups of pupils)
the pupils will read the books in native language and/or English, discuss them according the list of the questions, present its plot, characters, and themes and share impressions about it with other pupils and teachers in various ways (comics, special events, etc)
the pupils will take part in classes and workshops based upon the symbols and themes of these books and run applying STEAM approach and using experiential learning methods (Forum theatre, case studies, simulation, etc.)
Our Project isn‘t a quick fix tool making any significant change in reading and STEAM practices. We believe that the approach of integrated literature and STEAM will become a permanent feature of our schools development planning as well as an integral part of the plans for each subject. We are going to use the designed tools in our classes on regular basis after the project ends. Moreover there are strong expectations for the further development and enhancement of those tools.
Teachers will be provided with the various teaching tools/techniques for both reading improvements and STEAM development. Regarding the experience gained through this Project there will be a significant effect on the personal teaching style and approach. The teachers will make their classes more connected to “real world“ , creative and interesting for the pupils by organizing various hands on activities and investigations for them.
Taking part in the Project the pupils will gain the experiences that promote positive attitudes towards reading and STEAM and increase their interest in literature and STEAM fields. Such experiences will build the background and work as a trigger for the pupils
to get immersed in their reading
to discover information and stories that help them learn and achieve
to read and learn more — which makes reading easier and more enjoyable, and creates a ‘virtuous circle’ of constant improvement
to improve their literacy and learning achievements
to empower to use new technologies
to increase general knowledge of science and maths.
It also will provide the pupils with such skills as problem solving, critical thinking, communication and collaboration which all are a part of skill set required for nowadays and future.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 183480 Eur

Project Coordinator

Silutes r. Katyciu pagrindine mokykla & Country: LT

Project Partners

• Scoala Gimnaziala Nr 13
• 2nd Junior High School of Rethymno
• Osnovna sola Cvetka Golarja
• Istituto Comprensivo 6 Imola
• 52 primary school ‘Tsanko Tserkovski’