The STEM School Label High Level Event is organised on 25-26 June by STEM School Label with Scientix and STEM Alliance, as part of the STEM Online Days.

This event aims to:

The morning sessions are open to any stakeholder and everyone interested in STEM education, you can join the event via the registration form

The morning session of 25 June will cover the following topics:

• The STEM School Label framework and criteria
• The STEM Discovery Campaign and STEM School Label Competition
• The importance of a STEM strategy at the school level starting in primary schools
• Innovative methodologies for developing curriculum integration between STEM subjects
• STEAM and STEAM experience in Lithuania and influence of the STEM School Label project
• Building the STEM education framework in Serbia

26 June morning session will include presentations on:

• How can schools get a STEM School Label
• The STEM School Label as a starting point for collaborations with industry
• Sharing activities and learning from other schools
• Education initiatives for STEM
• My work as a STEM teacher in collaboration with Ciencia Viva
• Making STEM School Label known in France: toward a more global strategy

Check the full agenda with timing and speakers here

About the STEM School Label

The STEM School Label was initiated as a multi-stakeholder project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme. The objective of the project is to guide European schools in increasing young Europeans’ interest and skills in STEM subjects and to provide the schools with the necessary tools to engage their students, teachers and other actors in related activities by developing an appropriate STEM strategy.

With the STEM School Label, school representatives will be able to evaluate their school via an online self-assessment tool according to the criteria defining a STEM School. This self-assessment tool will identify required areas of development and provide training as well as resources for applicant schools to improve their STEM activities at the school level.

On July 17, at the IISA2020 Conference, Natalia Spyropoulou and Achilles Kameas, members of the STEAMonEdu project team of Computer Technology Institute and Press “Diophantus” (CTI), presented the scientific paper “Investigating the role of STE(A)M Educators: a case study in Greece”.

The IISA (Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications) Conference was the eleventh in a series of international conferences, which offers a forum for the constructive interaction and prolific exchange of ideas among scientists and practitioners from different research fields – such as computers, mathematics, physics, biology, education, chemistry, experimental psychology, social sciences, linguistics, and engineering.

The presented paper summarized a study that compares the outcomes of previous research with the results of a survey of 59 Greek educators, who have implemented STE(A)M-related courses. Based on the responses through the specially designed close-ended questionnaire, the educators’ perceptions were identified and analyzed. Based on these, the authors assessed the importance of different traits and competences that a STE(A)M educator should have. Furthermore, the research showed evidence that there are some differences in educators’ perceptions depending on their academic background, mostly on teaching and professional development aspects.

The presentation led to a fruitful exchange of ideas during the discussion that followed, also causing strong interest of the participants for the activities and future actions of STEAMonEdu project related to the development of the competence framework for STE(A)M educators and the training curriculum to support their professional development.

By CTI

The Panhellenic eTwinning Conference has now become an institution in the consciousness of the educational community and approximately 30,000 eTwinners teachers and educators. The 6th Panhellenic eTwinning Conference was scheduled to be held in Thessaloniki in March 2020, but due to the special circumstances of Covid-19 it took place online on 3-5 July 2020. Teacher enrollments exceeded 1,600.

STEAMonEdu was presented in one of the round tables of the conference entitled ‘Our experience from the Covid-19 era. The next day. Proposals ‘, coordinated by Nikos Tzimopoulos (member of EYY eTwinning) and with participants Panagiotis Anastasiadis (University of Crete), Charitonas Polatoglou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Spyros Papadakis (Regional Directorate of Education of Western Greece RDEWG), Anastasios Barbas (IKY).

Dr Spiros Papadakis, member of our STEAMonEdu researchers and Head Researcher of the RDEWG’s STEAMonEdu team shared with the participants the expected results of the project, the online platform and the multiple benefits of being a member of the STEAMonEdu European Community.

The Conference was honoured by the presence of the General Secretary of Primary Education, Secondary Education and Special Education Ms. Anastasia Gika of the Greek Ministry of Education who in her closing remarks stressed out the high quality and attractiveness of the 57 lectures and scientific presentations, the 13 workshops and the 2 round tables. Also Irene Pateraki, Pedagogical and Monitoring Manager of European SchoolNet, congratulated all presenters and participants for their enthusiasm and devotion in upscaling the educational procedure in Europe.

By RDEWG

On 7-8 October 2020,  our project partner ALL DIGITAL, a pan-European association working in the field of digital inclusion and empowerment, will organise its 13^th annual summit ONLINE. The event is run in collaboration with ALL DIGITAL German members Helliwood – also a STEAMonEdu partner, JOBLINGE, and Digital Opportunities Foundation. It brings together representatives of networks and organisations working to enhance digital skills of European citizens.

ALL DIGITAL Summit 2020 is supported by the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of the Federal Government of Germany, which has the Presidency of the European Union from 1 July to 31 December 2020. The German Government has made digital learning one of the key priorities for education and training during their EU Presidency.

The theme of the Summit is “Competences for the Future”, and keynotes, panels, lightning talks and workshops will be organised around these four topics:

• Towards a version 2.2 of DigComp > DIGCOMP
• The future of digital competence centres > FUTURE
• Recognition of digital competence certificates in Europe > CERTIFICATION
• Lessons learned during Covid-19 > LESSONS

Check the PROGRAMME to learn more about the sessions.

STEAMonEdu Project at the Summit

Our STEAMonEdu partnership will run a workshop «STE(A)M Education practices and competences» on 8 October. The aim of the workshop is to discuss the characteristics of STE(A)M Education good practices and the competences of STE(A)M educators. During the workshop,

• STEAMonEdu partners will give an overview of STE(A)M education and introduce characteristics of a STE(A)M education good practice;
• STE(A)M educators will share good practices that they have developed and used in the classroom; and
• for the first time the consortium will present the STE(A)M education competence framework.
• Participants will have the opportunity to discuss the presented STE(A)M education practice evaluation framework and the STE(A)M education competence framework.

How to participate?

Registration for the event is mandatory, please fill in the REGISTRATION FORM by 1 October 2020.

Summit website: summit.all-digital.org

Are you an Educator? A school principal? A VET provider? An educational policy maker? Or are you just curious, eh?

This workshop is for YOU!

Here is why:

STE(A)M education grew out of STEM education, where the “A” is a term that represents fields such as liberal arts, language arts, social studies, physical arts, fine arts etc. and its aim is to apply creative thinking to STEM projects, igniting students’ imagination and creativity through the arts. Although it is commonly accepted that basic STEM competences are critical for succeeding in most of the technical, engineering and even managerial jobs, several studies have shown that the without the “Αrts” it is impossible for students to reach their full potential!

The workshop «STE(A)M Education practices and competences» will be organised by the STEAMonEdu project consortium on 8 October at 10:00-11:30 CET as part of the ALL DIGITAL Summit.You need to register for the Summit to be able to join the workshop.

The ErasmusDays Celebration was launched back in 2017 for the 30th anniversary of the programme. It has become in

three editions an unmissable European celebration for citizens and stakeholders of European projects.

In 2019, more than 53 countries participated in this astonishing international fest with more than 3,995 events! International players from school education, higher education, adult education, vocational training, youth and sport held different type of events around the world to to celebrate locally the tangible benefits of Europe.  The success of the #ErasmusDays has demonstrated the need to communicate European values, mobility’s benefits and Erasmus+ projects results at a large scale in order to be visible by citizens, professionals, media and policy makers.

ErasmusDays 2020 will be celebrated on the 15, 16 & 17 October 2020. Numerous exhibitions, concerts, contests, seminars, partner networking, open days, distribution of Europass Mobility documents, digital events are organized worldwide at the moment.

In Greece, this year a fascinating mixed digital and on-site event will be organized by Regional Directorate of Education of Western Greece on 15 October 2020  with multiple Greek Erasmus+ beneficiaries communicating their projects results, and of course….. STEAMonEdu will be there to stand out for the Competences of STE(A)M Educators in the Educational World!

By RDEWG

On the occasion of the ALL DIGITAL Summit 2020, on 8 October the STEAMonEdu project team organised a workshop within the thematic stream CERTIFICATION. The workshop STE(A)M Education Practices and Competences was mainly targeting teachers, trainers, educators, researchers in educational methods and techniques, educational authorities, policy-makers and institutions, to enhance knowledge and understanding of the project’s ambition and expected outreach.

The workshop was moderated by Prof. Achilles Kameas, in his twofold role of the Chair of the ALL DIGITAL Board and Scientific Coordinator of the STEAMonEdu project, with support from Katrin Schuberth of Helliwood and Tiziana Parretti of ALL DIGITAL. Representatives of all project partners contributed to the delivery of the workshop and spoke about different aspects of the project:

• Overview of the STEAMonEdu project – Achilles Kameas, HOU (Presentation)
• Basics of STE(A)M education – Spyros Papadakis, RDEWG (Presentation)
• Characteristics of a STE(A)M education good practice – Paolo Russo, SGI (Presentation)
• Towards a common understanding of a STE(A)M education practice evaluation framework (interactive session) – Gabriela Ford, EOS Romania (Presentation)
• STE(A)M education best practices – Paolo Russo, SGI & Esther Subias, COLECTIC (Presentation)
• STE(A)M education competence framework – Natalia Spyropoulou, HOU (Presentation)
• Towards a common understanding of a STE(A)M education  competence framework (interactive session) – Natalia Spyropoulou, HOU
• The STEAMonEdu community of STE(A)M educators – Esther Subias, COLECTIC (Presentation I and Presentation II)

The workshop alternated a series of front presentations delivered by scientific experts with successful video stories and best practices. The entire consortium was involved, delivering key information  ranging from the basic aspects of STE(A)M education to exploring competence-based tools, the STE(A)M education competence framework, principles and criteria to evaluate practices, policy instruments and key features to enhance transferability.

Particularly relevant was the opportunity to see the applicability of STE(A)M education. Project partners presented six best practices gathered from different Member States, showing the adoption of STE(A)M initiatives, to enable workshop participants to observe practical outcomes and shiny examples. The digital dimension of the workshop allowed the delivery of an extensive module, which was deemed crucial to maintain the attention high and on the spot, on STE(A)M Education and its potential in transnational integrated training programmes. As STE(A)M Education is practical, omni-comprehensive and based on a problem-oriented approach, it endeavours a social change, transferability of results and sustainable development, encouraging collaboration and a holistic approach to learning. The key message is to foster the coexistence and integration of different disciplines and contribute to the education of highly skilled professionals, able to tackle the growing challenges of continuously evolving business needs.

Among the successful stories, the Turtle Coding Box created by Aktion Mensch and implemented by our project partner Helliwood in Germany, was also presented. The product is a shiny example of the possible initiatives combining STE(A)M disciplines in educational projects addressing young target groups. The Turtle Coding Box received the ALL DIGITAL Award 2020 in the Best Digital Resource Category.

Would you like to be involved in the project activities? Join our STEAMonEdu Community!

The recordings of the Summit plenary sessions and other workshops are available on ALL DIGITAL YouTube Channel.

By ALL DIGITAL

Did you miss our workshop on 8 October at the ALL DIGITAL Summit? We repeated it on 2 December!

No transition to STEM or STE(A)M education will ever be possible without the active and full involvement of educators. As teaching strategies are changing, educators need to update their competence profiles in order to face STE(A)M education challenges. That is why the STEAMonEdu project partners have nominated educators as pillars of STE(A)M education and are committed to supporting their professional development. How are they doing it? Watch the workshop to learn!

PROGRAMME

00:00:00 Welcome and presentation of the agenda. Scope and overview of the STEAMonEdu project. Achilles Kameas, HOU
00:11:48 Basics of STE(A)M education. Spyros Papadakis, RDEWG
00:25:37 Characteristics of a STE(A)M education good practice. Paolo Russo, SGI
00:32:20 Towards a common understanding of a STE(A)M education practice evaluation framework. Cornelia Popescu, EOS Romania
00:40:35 STE(A)M education best practices. Paolo Russo, SGI

• Practice 1. Makers in the classroom at Raval district. Pep Oliveras, Spain
• Practice 2. Visions of the future / Science fiction (STEΑM oriented). Evaggelia Kounavi, Greece
• Practice 3. GoodNews not FakeNews. Silvia Mazzeo, Italy
• Practice 4. Scratch și….. Gool. Gabriela Crisan, Romania
• Practice 5. Turtle Coding Box. Benjamin Beuster, Germany

01:07:35 STE(A)M IT Project. Eleni Myrtsioti, European SchoolNet
01:17:05 STE(A)M education competence framework. Natalia Spyropoulou, HOU
01:26:17 Join the STEAMonEdu community of STE(A)M educators. Esther Subias, Colectic
01:30:30 Closing. Achilles Kameas, HOU

Watch the workshop:

A large webinar was organized in Greece by our STEAMonEdu partners, DAISSy Reasearch Group – CTI and the Regional Center of Educational Design of Western Greece with the support of Regional Directorate of Education of Western Greece on 4 December 2020 entitled “A Competence Framework for STE(A)M Educators”. More than 1,900 participants attended the webinar from all over Greece: 850 through Webex and 1050 through YouTube livestreaming. It was addressed to teachers and trainers of all levels who are already involved or are willing to get involved with STE(A)M education, researchers and postgraduate students, school principals, providers of vocational education and training, but also to anyone who is interested in the art of STE(A)M education.

The videos of the presentations of the day are available on YouTube.

The participants were greeted by the Deputy Minister of Education Mrs. Sofia Zacharaki and the Regional Director of Primary & Secondary Education of Western Greece Mr. Konstantinos Giannopoulos.

Amazing presentations focusing on STE(A)M education were conferred as follows:

1. «Introduction to the STE(A)M Education», by Dr. Spyridon Papadakis, Organizing Coordinator of Regional Center of Educational Design of Western Greece
2. «The STEAMonEdu Project», by Dr. Achilleas Kameas, Professor of Hellenic Open University
3. «The STEAMonEdu Community and the STEAMonEdu Platform» by Phd(c) Elena Sarli
4. «The planned training of Teachers STE(A)M Training( MOOC, Blended Learning)», by Athanasios Iosisfidis, Associate Professor of DI.PA.E.
5. «The Competence Framework for STE(A) M Educators and its evaluation», by Natalia Spyropoulou, researcher at DAISSy-CTI
6. «The CHOICE project: a project from students for students», by Dr. Athanasia Balomenou.

In addition, three Good STE(A)M Practices (which are already posted on the STEAMonEdu platform) were presented by teachers Petros Stavropoulos and Evangelia Kounavi.

Finally, the #STEAMonEduPhoto contest was presented to participants with the invitation to join.

Regional Directorate of Education of Western Greece