STEAM People – learning resources to promote STEAM values and competences in adults learners Erasmus Project

Project Title

STEAM People – learning resources to promote STEAM values and competences in adults learners

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 adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; Access for disadvantaged; Open and distance learning

Project Summary

STEAM learning is an educational model that pursues the integration and development of scientific-technical and artistic subjects in a single interdisciplinary framework (Yakman, 2008). Since its importance was first outlined, educational systems in Europe have developed strategies to implement this approach in their curricula and teaching methodologies.

But why is STEAM learning so important? If we stick to the pedagogical approach, we can affirm that the STEAM values:
– Promote a culture of scientific thinking for decision-making, which is very useful in our personal and professional life.
– Allows the acquisition of a series of technological and scientific knowledge, applicable to any possible situation that may appear in the future, from an integrated perspective.
– Allows a greater awareness of the relationships between different areas of knowledge.
– Favors the development of a set of other key competences, such as problem solving, analysis, innovation and creative and critical thinking.

In other words, STEAM learning contributes to develop skills, competences and attitudes that help us understand the world. Thus, to be able to be an active member of our society, we need to integrate a STEAM set of values and skills.

While more and more STEAM initiatives are being integrated into schools, VET centers and universities, adult education is the great forgotten field in this area. The difficulty to design STEAM learning paths and the limited motivation of adult learners towards some areas that are understood as too “technical” and linked to certain professions (such as engineers, scientifics, etc.) is a common barrier.

With the STEAM People project we designed tools and resources to integrate STEAM learning and values in adult education. Independently from their starting level of knowledge, we developed two main outputs which goal is to empower adult learners and trainers:

A “Guide of Good Practices STEAM”, providing examples of good practices in the implementation of teaching/training activities that contribute to promote STEAM values and competencies in different educational contexts.
Target groups: adult trainers and educators.
Objective: to provide them with concrete references on successful practices at the EU level that can inspire them with ideas for activities implementation in adult education.

The “WebAPP for the development of STEAM competences and values” (IO2)
Target groups: adult learners.
Secondary target group: adult trainers and educators.
Objective: based on andragogy pedagogical approaches, the WEBAPP offers concrete activities that learners can develop on their own or supported by a trainer. Built around a set of thematic areas and linked to daily life situations and environments, the WEBAPP challenges the adult learners to implement certain activities. This challenge-based gamified approach contributes to increase motivation and engagement and to additionally improve another key competence: digital skills.

The project achieved the following main objectives:
– To spread the model of STEAM education in adult education practices in Europe.
– To promote a culture of scientific thinking for decision-making, problem solving, analysis, innovation and creative and critical thinking in adult learners.
– To improve the perception of adult students towards the STEAM areas, developing their mathematical competence, competence in scientific and technological culture, competencies in the treatment of information and digital competence, social and civic competences, competence in humanistic and artistic culture, competence in learning to learn, competence in communication in the own language (and, in its case, in others), and competence for autonomy and personal initiative.
– To prepare adult learners for lifelong and autonomous learning, developing critical thinking and promoting equity, social cohesion, and active citizenship.
– To promote the professional development of adult trainers for the integration of STEAM models in their training programmes and activities.

The partnership was one of the main strengths of this project. On the one hand, it was a multidisciplinary team with a diversity of profiles: NGOs, adult training entities, university specialists and public entities. On the other hand, it counted with the participation of experts in pedagogy (including andragogy), in designing educational resources based on ICTs and in gamification approaches, highly motivating for the target group. Another factor of interest is that the partners are specialists in STEAM training (in diversity of educational levels, also in adults and young adults). And last, but not least, the wide geographic coverage of the partnership allowed the inclusion of multiple national contexts, bringing a diversity of realities, experiences, and practices that contributed to EU wide impact.

Project Website

http://www.steampeople.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 113550 Eur

Project Coordinator

Asociación Moviéndote por la Integración y la Participación Ciudadana & Country: ES

Project Partners

• PANEPISTIMIO THESSALIAS
• ISTANBUL VALILIGI
• Föreningen WiTEC SWEDEN
• NPO Robootika
• VIRTUAL CAMPUS LDA