The 4th Scientix International Conference is one of the major science education networking events in Europe and will take place online 18 to 19 November 2022.

With only 2,000 places available, the goal of the conference is to provide an overview of the challenges and opportunities in science education in Europe and highlight the potential and possibilities that the Scientix community can bring about. Participation in the conference is free of charge and by registration only. Registration will be opened early September 2022. For more information about the conference please you visit this page: http://www.scientix.eu/conference

The Call for Contributions is now open to four different types of contributions:

• Plenary online presentations for STEM education projects
• Parallel online presentations on different topics related to STEM Education
• Digital Posters on different topics related to STEM education
• Hands-on online workshops

The submission deadline for the call for papers is 17 August 2022.

You can find more information on how to submit your contribution here: http://www.scientix.eu/conference/scx4/call-for-contributions

That was the 7th Patras Innovation Quest (Patras IQ) 2021 version of the Exhibition, for the promotion of Innovation on a national and European scale and the aim to highlight mature and innovative research ideas for their further development for the benefit of society and the economy and returns dynamically. It is co-organized by the Greek Ministry of Development and Investments, the Greek Ministry of Education, the University of Patras, the Achaia Chamber of Commerce, the Region of Western Greece and the Hellenic Open University.

During Patras IQ 2021 participants could have access to the Auditorium and watch Numerous important Live Events, of special and general interest, addressed to professionals and the general public, visit Virtual Halls with Subjects such as Science – Research, Support Agencies & Businesses, visit the virtual expo and discuss in each booth live with representatives of each exhibitor (online) in which new & mature companies, research projects & mature research ideas, research laboratories, institutes and their support bodies are presented and benefit by the networking opportunities to collaborate with researchers, companies, start-ups, academia & research community and policy centers.

During the virtual exhibition, Regional Directorate of Education of Western Greece team interacted with numerous national and European researchers, with government representatives, with teachers of primary and secondary education,  School Education, VET  and Higher Education students and with the general public and received very positive feedback on the results of STEAMonEdu as well as the rest of its EU educational-research projects.

Dr Giannopoulos Konstantinos, the Regional Director of RDEWG who is also one of the head members of the Organizing Committee of Patras Innovation Quest underlined the importance of collaboration among all levels of education and the real world for the promotion of Technology, Innovation, Cooperation, Research, Education, Entrepreneurship and Growth. Moreover, he expressed his complete satisfaction for the extra effort and accomplishments of the RDEWG team involved in its EU Projects being a Greek Public Regional School Education Organization and the developed results including the prototype and innovative results of STEAMonEdu on a global basis. Finally, he expressed his deep appreciation and gratitude to the EU members of the STEAMonEdu partnership for the extraordinary cooperation as well as its entire EU partnering organizations of the projects CHOICE, GEM-IN and DANsCE for All.

By RDEWG

The event took place in Rome at the headquarters of the Regione Lazio in the Sala Tirreno.

In perfect STE(A)M style, several actors who can influence in various ways the new educational policies in the field of school and non-formal adult education were present. The event was attended by innovators, start-up creators, students from participating schools, and innovation professionals, all working in social impact sectors.

Two competitions were held during the event, one for start-ups and one for schools that have developed STE(A)M projects in the last year.

Two proposals from two different Italian schools were selected for the award ceremony. The jury decided to evaluate an ex-aequo between the artistic high school in Cagliari Foiso Fois, which proposed a solution very relevant to the objectives of the UN 2030 Agenda, and the scientific high school Enzo Rossi in Rome, which produced a more advanced and creative STE(A)M solution.

The jury recognised the innovative value and social impact of the “EnjoyYourWC” project presented by the Foiso Fois Art School in Cagliari, which falls under the theme of clean water and sanitation, one of the goals of the 2030 Agenda. The students developed a website, virtual tours, augmented reality and 3D virtual projects, which can also be viewed with 3D visors. The Roman scientific high school Enzo Rossi presented the project “TDC Tessuto Digitale Connettivo” (Digital Connective Fabric) to enhance young talents projected towards a future in the fashion world, making them protagonists through the use of technologies for the digital production of a dress or an accessory, the use of design and programming software for interactive garments, the research of new wearable, bio or “smart” materials, a physical and functional realisation of the designed dress or accessory”.

During the conference preceding the award ceremony, the results of the SteamOnEdu course, the training materials produced by the project partners and the framework for the construction of training paths and materials for the creation of educational policies to be used in schools were presented.

At the end of its two-year duration, the SteamOnEdu project offers the world of formal and non-formal education something that was missing: an organic system of materials on which to base the discussion, design and implementation of initiatives based on the innovative STE(A)M educational approach, whose philosophy involves confronting pupils with the solution of real problems through the integrated use of scientific, technical and humanistic disciplines. STEAMonEdu has already gathered a community of practice of more than 700 teachers from all over Europe who are active in the creation of STE(A)M learning pathways.

The event was very important for the participants as a SteamOnEdu community was presented where teachers who want to innovate traditional school didactics by introducing STE(A)M activities can count on colleagues and experts in the field with whom they can share STE(A)M activities.

By SGI

In the session entitled “STE(A)M education framework, understanding and developing STE(A)M education in Romania”, the Romanian STEAMonEdu team from EOS Romania, spoke about the achievements of the STEAMonEdu project and also about the importance of implementing STE(A)M education as a teaching method in the education system.

During the session, the participants learned about STEAMonEdu project objectives, results and outputs and the developed MOOC and blended training. Participants were very enthusiastic about the content of the event, and they have shown a special interest in the MOOC training and STE(A)M education framework.

The highlights of the event were related to the big number of participants that responded to the invitation and the interest manifested by them towards the topics presented during the event sessions. Networks of schools, training centres from universities and private ICT training centres are constantly interested in using new resources and training approaches in their training activities. These kinds of resources are very few in Romania, and representatives of schools and educational training centres emphasized the importance of STE(A)M resources for the education sector, whether they are formal or non-formal training providers.

By EOS

MIN(K)T education in Europe at #KonfBD21

More than 1.400 educators and networkers from the German education landscape met online over three days from 10 to 12 November 2021 to take a close look at the current developments of digitisation within the German education system, to network and to discuss innovation. Especially the aspect of digital transformation occupied the stakeholders during the three-day event and so innovative topics such as attitude, activation of experiential spaces, change management and deeper learning in schools as well as the aspects for change in school education could be discussed in numerous sessions and in the livestream.

Equally the STEAMonEdu project also aims to qualify and empower educators for the digital transformation. This is what the results of the STEAMonEdu project stand for, which has produced numerous results in its two-year term (2020-2021) that promote the STE(A)M approach in (non)school education. The numerous results of the European project support policy makers and educators. In a workshop, the representatives of the German project partner Helliwood media & education worked out together with the participants the wealth of competences that STE(A)M educators should develop and train in order to successfully create contemporary educational offers.

4th Future Conference – STE(A)M Qualification of Educators

A further event, called the 4th Future Conference on the topic of STE(A)M qualification of pedagogues was held at a regional level as part of the German MINT Action Week on 25 November. The Helliwood media & education team welcomed networkers and teachers from the Berlin area who organise educational programmes in the STEM field and are actively involved in STEM networks. Dr. Anke Renger from the initiative junior1stein emphasised the STE(A)M approach, which needs to be expanded to reach more target groups and make science more interesting. The STEAMonEdu competence framework presented at the event supports the strategic approach to grant STE(A)M education attention also in the political context.

Learn more about the STE(A)M community and the next round of qualifications and MOOCs in spring 2022.

A wide variety of topics and speakers were included in the event’s program, which was moderated by Prof. I. Zaharakis, the STEAMonEdu project manager.

Prof. A. Kameas, the scientific coordinator of STEAMonEdu project, opened the event with an overview of the project approach, tasks and outputs. He emphasized that, in order to achieve widespread adoption of STE(A)M education, the project focused on the professional development of teachers, educators and trainers, firstly by developing a dedicated international community of practice that was supported by a user-friendly online platform. With the aid of CoP members, project researchers adopted a holistic approach to competence development and produced significant outputs, including frameworks, tools, practices, policies and of course, dedicated high-quality training.

N. Spyropoulou described STEAMComp, the first-ever STE(A)M Educators’ Competence Framework and the STEAM Readiness Self-Assessment online tool that is based on it. Prof. A. Iosifidis familiarized the participants with the full educational program of STEAMonEdu. Also, researcher I. Kalemis demonstrated the STE(A)M Educators Community via our online platform, which will remain active and refreshed with new STE(A)M practices due to the enthusiasm and interaction of its members.

Good STE(A)M practices were also presented by Greek members of the Regional Directorate of Education of Western Greece. In particular, Professor P. Papadouris and educators G. Pagania, K. Gasteratou presented “FairyTale Mathematics”, Dr A. Nikolakopoulou and educator A. Nastou presented “Germs I am not afraid of you…I always keep in mind the health precautions rules”, Dr A. Mpalomenou and educators V. Riga, S. Soulioti, P. Poulou, L. Voutsina presented “When the sun is higher… it measures earth’s perimeter”.

Finally, Professor S. Papadakis, scientifically responsible for the Regional Directorate of Education of Western Greece on STEAMonEdu, gave an explanatory presentation of step by step designing STE(A)M educational scenarios by using LAMS Template.

Towards the end of the event, Prof. Kameas, in response to questions posed by participants regarding the next steps of STEAMonEdu, mentioned that the project team will now focus on the sustainability of the project results. In particular, the consortium considers offering again the MOOC and Blended Course in 2022, as well as designing more versatile training offers based on their digital content. Moreover, adaptation of the STE(A)M educators’ competence framework, profile and self-assessment tools in different education contexts will be pursued.

The STEAMonEdu Greek National Event is available online on Youtube.

By RDEWG

The event, in hybrid format, is within the 2021 social internet day #Jdis21, where Esther Subias from Colectic, Claudia Matera from ALL DIGITAL, Achilles Kameas from Hellenic Open University, Cornelia Popescu from Fundatia EOS Romania, Katrin Schuberth from Helliwood media & education and Paolo Russo from Stati Generali dell’Innovazione will present the European framework and approaches to STE(A)M education in the session “STEAMonEdu for digital inclusion: project results”.

The Government of the Generalitat of Catalonia (Spain), through the Xarxa Punt TIC and the Secretariat of Digital Policies, are pleased to invite you to be an active part of the conference.

During the conference, will be presented the most relevant results of the project and how STEAMonEdu works to strengthen a network of people interested in the field and offers the opportunity to share their experiences.

Time for interactive workshops will take place from 12:15 pm to 13:45 pm.

Additionally, the workshop “Free software tools and resources: the Punt TIC experience” will be focused on free software and tools helpful to work and share results, with open standards to facilitate cooperation. These opportunities can allow wider control over the computer, data and privacy.

From the Punt TIC experience, we’ll explore how it can be implemented in telecenters.

A second workshop on “SteamOnEdu and the telecenters: exploring the intersections” will be focused on how the professional profile of digital trainers and facilitators influences and matters. And to which extent sharing ideas, experiences, activities, resources, networks and dialogue is an element that makes a difference.

The STEAMonEdu project has explored all these avenues as ICT Point Network. Now is time to share, analyze the results, see how we can improve our impact on the citizens we interact with and answer some questions such as: Is the STEAM profile essential in a telecentre?

Registration for the final event session at #JdIS21.

For any questions, feel free to contact steamonedu@colectic.coop.

By Colectic

Assessment of Transversal Skills in STEM is an innovative policy experimentation project conducted across 8 EU countries and involving 12 educational institutions. It aims to enhance digital assessment of students’ transversal skills in STEM. Drawing on key ideas and theories of STEM educational policy, formative assessment, use of digital learning tools, and integrated STEM education the project developed an overarching conceptual framework that underpinned a training and development programme for teachers. Teachers in 107 schools in seven European countries worked with teacher mentors to help teachers reflect on and develop their teaching practices to teach students key STEM skills via learning projects aiming to have a real-work impact and address the UN’s sustainable development goals.

EDEN, European Distance E-learning Network, has organised the webinar ‘Assessment of STEM transversal skills from conceptual framework to real- world problems’ on Wednesday, 1 December 2021, at 17:00 CET.

The session will consist of presentations followed by a discussion

This presentation will feature tales spun from theoretical frameworks to classroom practices. Dr. Eamon Costello will first give an overview of the project and discuss the topic of real-world skills, a concept of contestation in the STEM educational discourse. Following the overview, Dr Eva Hartell will present the project implementation in Sweden where the research team worked in partnership with schools and parents on projects that allowed students to explore and affect their real world. Lastly, teacher Alberto Sacido will share an inspirational story of the ATS STEM pilot implementation undertaken in Rosalía de Castro High School, Spain, with his enterprising students in a project about Covid-19.

Register to take part in the webinar.

By AD