Men’s job, women’s job? – Job orientations are often challenging for young people and are carried with self-doubt, good or bad advice from adults, and taster offers, which are offered especially by companies and institutions that have high requirements for young people.

Since 2001, “Girls Day | Boys Day” is breaking typical stereotypes such as “This is only a job for men” or “Only women can do this” and changes the perspective towards a cliché-free job orientation. The day was initiated in 2001 and until 2010 it was for girls who should get the first insight into technical and scientific jobs. Since 2010, boys get the offer to get to know more about health and service jobs where men are underrepresented.

The aim of the day is to make job orientation easier for girls and boys and to get in touch with people who are against the typical stereotypes such as working as a woman in a “men’s job” and as a man in a “women’s job”. You can visit them in their daily work and question them directly and identify them as role models.

The annual Girls’Day has taken place in Germany since 2001. On this day, girls and women should get the motivation to try out technical and scientific jobs. Companies, organizations, and universities throughout Germany invite girls from the 5th grade and upwards to the Girls’Day who want to get to know the occupation. It highlights occupation training and courses of study in IT, crafts, sciences, and technology, in which women have been underrepresented so far so that girls can meet other female role models in leadership positions from business and politics. Through the day, the public becomes aware of the abilities of the girls, which opens new prospects for them and their future.

Boys’ Day has been decided since 2010 and in 2011 the first nationwide Boys’Day took place in Germany. Boys’Day follows the same purposes as Girls’ Day. On this day, boys get the opportunity to get to know jobs where women work in the majority. The aim is to support the cliché-free initiative and to establish a career and study choice free of gender clichés nationwide. There are a lot of job fields where male professionals and caregivers are searched for and are very welcome, for example in the field of social affairs, health, care, and education, especially where men are underrepresented.

Each year, Helliwood media & education participate at Girls Day and inspire girls for creative coding. This year we had the chance to present workshops for about 130 girls on April 22^nd. The TurtleCoder is a programming environment and with the help of a turtle, you get a first impression of programming. Programming plays an important role for the future in almost all professional fields with the use of computers and the Internet. With the motto “Everyone can code”, Helliwood media & education’s vision is that all children can learn to program, regardless of gender or disabilities. A major goal of Helliwood media & education is to spread this vision and to further encourage it in schools, companies, and other organizations.

By Helliwood

The winners of the SteamonEdu Photo Contest show fragments of the creative STEAM learning from the different schools and projects in the project countries.

Technology is changing our society at a dizzying pace and with it, the learning processes of children in education and training. STEAM education, which stands for five subjects: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Arts, helps to promote a series of skills and knowledge that helps them innovate, imagine and solve.

In the first quarter of 2021, STEAMonEdu launched a photography contest through its platform with the aim of collecting the day-to-day STEAM activities of the different schools and partner projects. A total of 67 photographs have been sent.

A jury made up of project professionals have evaluated the pieces and have chosen the three winning images based on the criteria of active participation, aesthetic quality, motivating or effective to explain the phenomenon or concept of STE (A) M education.

Three finalist images

The three finalist images reflect practical training, where students learn and work in a real way through experimentation and STEAM methodology while teachers provide the necessary tools for students to acquire autonomy and use their knowledge profitably and enriching.

The first award: Project STEM “Mr. Science” by Alina Frățilă

The project «Mr. Science» aims to optimize the quality of primary education with the help of more motivating, stimulating and effective learning contexts, based on active learning and problematization, contexts that prepare students to adapt to the requirements of the society of the 21st century, training their digital skills. The educational project aims to promote active learning and problem-based learning (PBL) as strategic educational approaches in primary education. «Active learning has many benefits for education. And it facilitates the formation of basic knowledge, as well as non-technical skills such as analytical and critical thinking, entrepreneurship, the ability to collaborate in multidisciplinary groups, etc.», explains Alina Frățilă.

The second award: STEM Activity with Arduino by Adnan Akyüz

Using the SCAMPER thinking technique, the image reflects how students use the rain sensor in Arduino projects for a very different purpose. At the end of the event, the students examined the designs they created by combining the laws of physics and technology in a single process. They chose designs with the most efficient and ideal cost/benefit ratio. «Going beyond the known, thinking differently and being creative emerged as activities that encouraged creativity. The future belongs to those who make a difference «, explains Adnan Akyüz.

The third award: STEAM in my School by Nectara

The photo reflects a very interesting and creative STEAM activity. The students were able to work with different techniques such as Scape Room, to help find information about different tasks and laboratory techniques, to see how to obtain paper and purify water. Finally, they built a tower of spaghetti.

By Colectic

The Greek Ministry of Education and Religion has officially announced its initiative for collecting STEM and STEAM school projects through a public open call to all the Greek schools of primary and secondary education. The call is addressed to all Greek educators willing to share their prototype educational material in the context of implementing a STEM or STEAM school project.

Regional Directorate of Primary and Secondary Education of Western Greece welcomes and supports this initiative in its implementation which is actually bringing Greek Education a step closer to the preparatory actions for forming a concise and well-structured STEM or/and STE(A)M Educational Policy on the National Level.

The promotional material of those projects will be including students’ texts up to 300 words long, photographs (up to 5 photographs per project), videos (up to 2 videos per project with a link from an external channel) and art creations (up to 2 per project).

All the prototype material will be uploaded on the dedicated website in the category “Innovation”. Of course, the content should not be containing direct or indirect advertisements of private companies’ products or services. GDPR rules should be taken into account and of course, parents’ consent forms should be signed and collected in case students’ faces are shown in the photos or videos.

By RDEWG

Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash

How we obtain information, shop, learn, communicate with each other, seek medical advice, or use public administration services – digitization is profoundly changing our everyday and professional lives. Everyone must be enabled to move confidently and securely, self-assuredly and self-determinedly in the digital world.

To this end, Germany’s digital association BITKOM established the annual Digitaltag, taking place on June 18th 2021.

The Digitaltag is a nationwide day of action designed to promote digital participation in society. On Digitaltag, various activities take place in Germany, such as seminars, workshops, open days and discussions on topics related to digitization. This is intended to discuss different aspects of digitization and make digital technologies understandable, tangible, and accessible to as many people in Germany as possible. Individuals, associations, companies, and public institutions can register actions and participate. Digitaltag was launched in 2019 by the “Digital for All” initiative and held for the first time on June 19, 2020, with over 1,400 actions registered. On the occasion of the Digitaltag, the initiative awards the prize for digital togetherness.

According to its own statements, the aim of the “Digital for All” initiative is to promote digital participation for all people and to accompany digitization trends with a cross-society dialogue. The initiative wants to ensure that all people find their way with digital technologies and in the digital space and are taken along with the developments. Therefore, on Digitaltag, people should be able to get in touch with digital solutions locally. In February 2021, the initiative published common guidelines for the promotion of digital participation. Accordingly, the initiative appeals for more participation of all social groups and more promotion of digital competencies and digital engagement.

To mark Digitaltag, the initiative is publishing a commissioned study on the topic of digital participation. The representative survey will map the attitudes toward digitization as well as the skills and use of digital technologies of more than 1,000 people over the age of 16.

Our project partner Helliwood media & education participated in the Digitaltag with digital and hybrid STE(A)M activities for teachers and students. Among other things, the event Einstein macht Schule located in Berlin was a great success. Here, renowned and young STEM scientists gave an insight into their fields of research to more than 300 students from secondary schools: Neurotechnology, textile design, space research and much more.

By Helliwood

Photo: @Helliwood, Christiane Herold

Our Romanian project partner EOS Romania is currently implementing the program EOS DIGITAL ACADEMY, a program that offers a wide range of digital and software skills courses that correspond to the most sought-after jobs on the job market, courses as:

Basic digital skills course (IC3 – internet and basic digital skills)

Microsoft Office Productivity Skills Course (Word, Excel and PowerPoint, intermediate and advanced level)

Microsoft Technical Skills Course (Azure Fundamentals and Azure Ai Fundamentals, intermediate and advanced level).

EOS DIGITAL ACADEMY is a platform for learning, certification, and employment that supports people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to acquire digital skills necessary to enable them to keep their current job or to apply for other jobs.

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Since 2021, EOS Romania Foundation – with the financial support of Microsoft, brings digital training programs closer to people who have lost their jobs due to the COVID pandemic19. Beneficiaries of the program will have access to:

• Initial assessment of skills and interests in order to identify the best career opportunities
• Personalized learning plans that will define the individual training needs as well as the courses that are needed to improve employment opportunities
• Training activities that will largely consist of courses offered by Microsoft and LinkedIn
• Testing and validating user training, skills, and experience through LinkedIn and Microsoft certifications
• Support in the process of identifying and applying for relevant jobs through mentoring and access to an assistance system for every job seeker.

EOS DIGITAL ACADEMY offers access to a number of resources, including the ones from Microsoft and LinkedIn portfolios. The resources provided by Microsoft and LinkedIn reach millions of people worldwide each year. These resources prepare interested people to look for and apply for new jobs. By accessing these tools, they can gain the confidence and the know-how they need to turn new digital skills into opportunities.

In addition to free access to resources, EOS DIGITAL ACADEMY offers to participants in the program a range of mentoring sessions in which the tools will be presented and explained to all those interested. Mentors in the program will ensure that by participating in the program, students will acquire skills and validate them, and they will be 100% ready for the employment process in a digital job (CV creation, LinkedIn profile, search, application, and interview preparation).

For more information, please visit the project website.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

By EOS

Girls Go Circular is a European project, promoted by EIT RawMaterials, that aims to equip 50.000 schoolgirls aged 14-18 across Europe with digital and entrepreneurial skills by 2027 through an online learning program about the circular economy.

According to the European Commission’s Women in Digital Scoreboard 2019, women represent only 34% of STEM graduates (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and 17% of ICT specialists. Current researches are depicting a scenario where the increase of diversity in leadership means generating revenues and foster problem-solving innovative processes and improve team performance. This is the reason why it is estimated that an increase in the number of women entering the digital skills market would generate an additional annual EUR 16 billion for the European economy.

The aim of the forum is to empathise the link between transversal – digital and entrepreneurial – skills, STEM disciplines, and the green and digital transitions in the European Union facilitating the inclusion of underestimated actors such as women and underrepresented groups that are equally able to introduce innovation and develop creative solutions for a valuable and sustainable future.

The Women and Girls in STEM Forum contribute to the discussion on achieving a carbon-neutral, circular economy and addressing the gender gap in education and training. The younger generation will be the one to embrace this challenge and push it forward. Through the Women and Girls in STEM Forum, we connect students, policymakers, and representatives from science and industry, giving them a chance to gain inspiration and learn from each other.

For more details and register refer to the Women and Girls in STEM Forum website.

Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash

By ALL DIGITAL

STEAMonEdu MOOC started on the 10^th of May and lasted for 6 creative, learning, challenging, fascinating weeks.

The MOOC’s participants had the chance to meet their peers and tutors and familiarise themselves with the platform during the introductory week. Moreover, they acquired deep knowledge in the STE(A)M education approach, in teaching and learning techniques that promote STE(A)M education, in content, tools, content creation and educational activities design for STE(A)M education. Furthermore, other topics developed within the MOOC have covered the relevant methodologies within STE(A)M related to teaching organization, classroom management, educational resource management, lab management, human resource management, communities of educators, research and business communities, policies to promote STE(A)M education, research activities, lifelong learning, professional development, digital and transferable skills, frameworks and tools for STE(A)M educators.

Our STEAMonEdu researchers made great efforts towards the creation of a MOOC providing the maximum support to learners and the learning process by adopting and adjusting a student-centred learning approach in order to cover the needs of all different learner audiences. Also from the early stage of the design to the actual creation and operation, special attention was given to the effective communication among participants to support student learning complemented by high levels of engagement as well as the monitoring and assessment of students’ activities in order to ensure a qualitative effective MOOC performance. Some first input referring to the satisfaction of the participants can only reinforce our partnership’s endeavours for the Blended MOOC to come in early September!

Dear STE(A)M educators and members of the STEAMonEdu community thank you for your trust and your commitment!!

Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

By RDEWG

The fifth edition of the Social Hackathon Umbria (SHU) took place in the green heart of Italy, the Umbria region, by the beautiful marshland of Colfiorito. The small village, known for its rich production of cereals, legumes, and dairy products, back to life after the hit of several earthquakes, today is putting at the center of its economic, cultural and social development the concept of sustainability. For this reason, Colfiorito has been chosen as the location for SHU2021, this year funded by the Erasmus+ project #HackAD, bringing the Social Hackathon Umbria format to many European countries.

The social hackathon is a digital co-creation event that each year focuses on a different socially relevant topic. This year the core was the 17 UN goals for Sustainable Development and the initiative was organized by EGInA in collaboration with Fertitecnica Colfiorito (a legume and cereals production company) and FAO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

4 full days of events and 48 hours of the digital marathon, SHU2021 between the 1^st and 4^th of July has welcomed 300 people. The hackathon jury was composed by: Erik Van Ingen, FAO Digital Innovation Consultant; Michele Santilocchi, Marketing Manager of Fertitecnica Colfiorito; Enrico Fontana, from the national secretariat of Legambiente Onlus; Valentino Bobbio, general secretary NeXt-New Economy for all; Emma Pietrafesa, a researcher in the field of new technologies and member of the Stati Generali dell’Innovazione (General States of Innovation); Arjana Blazic, Member of the steering committee of DigiEduHack of the European Commission; Simona Grande, a researcher at the management department of the University of Turin; Jan Rehak, National Director of the Entrepreneurship Program at Technológico of Monterrey.

The 7 competing teams, composed of digital and social experts, amateur or enthusiasts, produced excellent projects under the guidance of professional team managers, experts in the field of digital technology. All the proposed web platforms, apps, games were dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of good practices for sustainable development, in particular in the 4 selected areas #zeroimpact, #zerowaste, #zerohungher, #zeroignorance.

To widen the impact on the youth local community, SHU2021 also involved students from schools of the surroundings, by including the activity as part of the transversal skills and orientation in the job market of the Ministry of Education’s curriculum.

Students firstly took part in a preparation training program of 40 hours on digital skills designed by #HackAD’s European partners, then actively participated in the organization and flow of the hackathon, supporting the organization teams, from media communication and audience management to the setup and coordination of the side activities.

Several workshops were held on the themes of the 2030 Agenda including gender equality, and the role of women in work; Education on sustainable development with a focus on STEM engineering and technical science careers; Presentation of the Refugee Card at the CAS (Special Centre of Refugees Reception) of Colfiorito.

CRHACK Lab Foligno 4D also created a mixed reality village for the enhancement of cultural heritage, where the event’s guests could enjoy VR and AR experiences with high-quality tech equipment. A Green Lab and a creative campus on SDGs were also organized for the little ones, to enhance their creativity and bring them closer to digital technology in the context of sustainability.

The experience gave students a real chance to acquire digital and transversal skills, and see, through a STE(A)M approach, how digital technology, co-creation methodology and creativity can be applied to social challenges. Making young people feel they can and need to be an active and indispensable part of change is one of the initiative’s main goals.

By SGI

A recent research by Dr Anesa Hosein, from the University of Surrey, states that girls aged 13-14 years old who played over nine hours of video games a week were 3.3 times more likely to study STEM (physical science, technology, engineering and math) than those who do not play video games. “This was the case even after accounting for their socio-economic background, their ethnicity, past performance and how good at their chosen subject they felt they were.” (ISFE).

In an interview with the Interactive Software Federation of Europe, Dr Anesa Hosein explains that girls from a lower socio-economic background have a lower uptake of girls pursuing STEM careers.

“Without women and girls, we miss out on the innovations and fresh perspectives that people from different backgrounds can bring to the science and engineering field that can not only help solve global societal challenges but create innovations that meet their needs and represent them.”

Playing video games teaches and enhances girls problem-solving, spatial reasoning, creativity, strategy and digital skills, which are all crucial for STEM subjects.

“If teachers can identify girls who like to play video games, then teachers can support and encourage girls to explore and identify whether a STEM career is appropriate for them.”

Furthermore, Dr Anesa Hosein explains that teachers role is much more relavant if we consider the leacky pipeline. At each stage of education, there are more girls dropping STEM subjects than boys, even though their performance is similar to boys, suggesting that girls need more mentoring and encouragement both from parents and teachers.

Photo by Barbara Zandoval on Unsplash

Image by WAQAR AHMAD from Pixabay

By ALL DIGITAL

The handover of the funding certificates by Federal Education Minister Anja Karliczek on May 18 marked the start of the establishment of the central “MINTvernetzt” office. MINTvernetzt is intended to bring together the numerous initiatives and players working to promote STEM education in Germany and to pool research findings. In addition to the MINT clusters, another central project of the MINT action plan is thus entering the implementation phase. The Federal Ministery of Education is providing 12 million euros for a period of up to eight years to finance the STEM-networking-center.

“MINTvernetzt” is being set up by an alliance of the Körber Foundation, the National MINT Forum, the Stifterverband, matrix gGmbH and the Chair of School Education at the University of Regensburg. The associated office will be located in Hamburg.

“MINTvernetzt” for more effectiveness in STEM education

There are numerous initiatives and actors that are implementing projects to strengthen STEM education in Germany with great commitment. “MINT-Vernetzt” offers a common platform to all already active and future actors in STEM education. To share their knowledge, to network with other partners from science, business and politics, but also from school education. The knowledge gained is shared with the general public in the sense of an open innovation project. This results in new impulses, more sustainability and more effectiveness for STEM education.

Gender sensitization

“MINTvernetzt” also aims to support the realization of even better educational opportunities for children and young people, addressing more diverse target groups. One focus of the STEM-networking-center is therefore on gender sensitization, i.e. the targeted sensitization of STEM-activists and -engaged persons for the special needs of girls and young women. To this end, MINTvernetzt continues the networking of partners in the “National Pact for Women in STEM Professions” and develops the work further together with the partners.

Networking with STEM Clusters and STEM Research

The STEM-networking-center will also involve STEM clusters in its networking work. With around 40 STEM clusters, the Federal Ministery of Education is supporting the nationwide expansion of extracurricular STEM education opportunities for children and young people. 22 regional STEM alliances have already started their work. Details can be found at: The STEM Clusters.

MINTvernetzt also aims to promote the transfer between science and practice. With this in mind, the networking center will process findings from STEM research, which the Federal Ministery of Education is intensifying with further funding.

STEM E-Platform

MINTvernetzt will set up a demand-oriented e-platform to enable IT-supported networking of STEM actors and digital forms of collaboration. A STEM-Data-Lab within the e-platform will provide statistical data, studies and research results.

Source: Press Release, 18.05.2021 MINT-Vernetzungsstelle

Picture credits:

@ Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany

@ Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Deutschland

By Helliwood