Relevance

Demands and requirements for the workforce have been changing rapidly due to digital transformation, and the knowledge and skills acquired today will not be enough in future. At the same time, demand for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) skills is on the rise and expected to grow, and educators should take it into account. In the time when STEM has become one of the most important values in European education, it is particularly important for schoolteachers and trainers working in the informal education to acquire the skills that make them STEM and STE(A)M (including Arts in STEM programmes) – ready.

How to achieve this? How to make teachers and trainers STE(A)M-ready and help them develop and sustain students’ interest in STE(A)M? How to ensure the change when educators are eager to acquire new competences themselves, adopt the cross-disciplinary STE(A)M approaches and implement those in their work? And how to support educator preparation for this change?

The consortium of seven partners from six countries have designed the STEAMonEdu project to address this challenge.  We believe that if the change is carried through collaborative networks of educators, students, researchers, and other stakeholders, it is likely to be more successful.

In this context, the STEAMonEdu project will research how to strengthen STE(A)M education and will provide an online environment to support the eco-system, that will be based on a bottom-up approach, where  different stakeholders work collaboratively to design, develop and implement STE(A)M content, practices, projects, and policies. The project will develop and test the integrated modular training system that can be easily transferred and adapted at local, regional and national level.

 Partners

The partnership was set up considering the required expertise to realise the professional development of educators and includes:

• R&D state institute Computer Technology Institute and Press “Diophantus” (CTI) with its expertise in project management and in ICT solutions for training;
• four non-profit organisations experienced in developing methodologies, community outreach and training: 21st Century Competence Centre in Germany, Stati Generali dell’Innovazione (SGI) in Italy, EOS Foundation in Romania, Colectic in Spain,
• The Regional Directorate of Primary and Secondary Education of Western Greece (PDEDE) bringing expertise in design and evaluation of methodologies, and
• a European network – ALL DIGITAL with its experience in advocacy, dissemination, and exploitation

The two-year project was kicked-off with the partners’ meeting on 21-22 January 2020 in Athens hosted by the lead partner CTI. During the meeting the partners reviewed all aspects of the project implementation. They explored the  plans for the roll-up and promotion of the project, considered carefully how to develop the STE(A)M repository, the learning materials, how to build and grow the community of practice, and carry out the STE(A)M policy evaluation. The pilot partners agreed on a number of following steps, and it was a valuable and productive start to the project.

Follow the project news on social media with the hashtag #STEAMonEdu

STEM education is getting higher on the Italian political agenda.

“The health emergency of these months has made it even clearer: promoting knowledge of STEM and financial subjects from an early age, particularly for young girls and students, is crucial. Inequalities start at an early age, let’s start again with education.”

With these words the Minister for Equal Opportunities and the Family Elena Bonetti announced on her Facebook page the launch of the call “STEM2020“, with which Italy invests 2 million euros from 1 July to 31 December 2020, to create courses for young girls and boys and students from 4 to 19 years of age.

The main objectives of the call are:

• to promote the empowerment of girls, stimulating them from an early age to become passionate about technical-scientific subjects, to study them, so that they can compete in the labour market of the future, taking up all the challenges;
• to overcome the stereotypes and prejudices, according to which the world of STEM subjects is exclusively for men;
• to stimulate the learning of these subjects also through innovative ways of learning the scientific method.

The project proposals are intended for schools of all levels, from pre-school to upper secondary school.

The educational areas are mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, coding, economics, robotics, animation, earth and environmental sciences, just to name a few, obviously chosen according to the age of the students and the type of school. 60% of the beneficiaries will have to be girls in order to guarantee an effective participation. Each project will be granted up to 15,000 euros and it is open to schools, universities and Third Sector organizations.

By SGI

The survey, which is addressed to teachers in primary and secondary education (students aged 3 to 19), aims to collect information on the educational technologies teachers used in the weeks that followed the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the problems they encountered, the solution they adopted as well as the recommendations they may wish to share.

This investigation is part of the Scientix Observatory, which aims to help the development and dissemination of different science education projects and document good practices in various aspects of STEM education.

The questionnaire, which is available in 24 languages, has been translated thanks to Scientix and the Amgen Foundation as part of the Amgen Teach project.

The survey is also supported by the STEM Alliance and can be easily accessed by clicking here.

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.

EOS Romania has worked in close collaboration with Microsoft Romania to achieve a support system so that, in terms of technology, teachers receive the support they need! Several guides have been developed in order to support teachers in the online teaching process, and they can be accessed at any time:

• Office 365 distance learning for education
• Microsoft Teams virtual classroom administration
• Homework with Microsoft Teams for Education

 Microsoft solutions for education also allow students to learn remotely for free. Content and homework / topics can be accessed online, and students and teachers can interact using online tools and collaborate individually or in work groups to meet requirements.

Why to use Microsoft Teams for Education? What are the advantages?

You can teach from anywhere, at anytime!

Teams online tool is a collaboration app which helps the team get organised and have conversations, all in one place.

You can learn from anywhere, anytime!

Publish the content of study materials online or deliver interactive courses online. Teachers and students can use a single interface through Teams platform to learn, collaborate and interact online, accessing information from any mobile device or browser. Using Teams, students can view the content of the study material, can collaborate with other students, interact with teachers, and transfer homework online. Teachers can review students homework and provide real-time suggestions.

Online classes

Teachers can take online classes, share presentations, or use the digital whiteboard. Teachers and students can interact using digital whiteboard, communicate via messaging, audio, and video.

The Office 365 plan for education and Teams application ensure a high protection of data and users privacy.

As a result of research and creative techniques that will be instrumental among the members of the community, the STE(A)M education framework will include competences, policies, methodologies, and educational objects.

In line with the STEAMonEdu project, this first version of the guide is also intended to fuel discussion among our community members, providing them with examples, ideas and a baseline for benchmarking their own practices and projects.

The aim is to summarize and evaluate good and not so good STE(A)M education practices, based on local and regional initiatives that support STEM and STE(A)M education.

The online platform

From the beginning of the project, the STEAMonEdu community members could join an online platform where good practices have been collected. Any person interested in joining the community can check it out and register.

The online community will be open during and after the project. It is a very useful tool to share and learn about other’s educational experiences.

25 evaluation criteria and principles that characterize a STE(A)M practice

The STEAMonEdu project refers to a “Good practice” such training and education initiatives that are built and implemented by schools, NGOs, and any education provider, incorporating some principles, including inclusive STEAM education, problem-based learning or integrated learning system.

Also, at the beginning of the project, partners agreed on 25 evaluation criteria based upon the principles listed in the previous section. Each criterium has been scored from 0 (not valuable) to 3 (good), the maximum score attainable by a  practice being then 75. Practices scoring over 65 are considered best practices.

Moreover, to be considered a STE(A)M practice, the practice should include Arts among the disciplines involved.

A list of educational and policies practices

Up to this moment, the platform has collected around 65 educational practices and 18 policies and any kind of implementations in the context of STE(A)M education.

The educational practice was split in five parts, to facilitate information input:

1. General Info, which includes the basic data of the practice, namely, title, language, abstract, STE(A)M area/topic of use in the practice, key terms, license information and any related source.
2. Author, presenting the leading author’s name, capacity and affiliation, together with names of any co-authors.
3. Audience and Educational Framework, where the characteristics of the targeting audience are provided (capacity, age range, competence) as well as the educational framework where this practice was designed and/or used for.
4. Educational Details, where the specific data of the practice are provided, i.e. the teaching topic where the practice was applied, its duration, difficulty, learning outcomes and specific use, the orientation/focus, the delivery mode, the pedagogical theory/mode/strategy followed, the necessary resources to be applied, and a full textual description that can be accompanied by any resources (documents or URLs).
5. Implementation, that is used to record data regarding the application of the practice, such as the country and organization, the type of education and audience size as well as details about the evaluation (if any) and the lessons learned by the application.

Similarly, educational policies are uploaded by the project partners that we can can organized in three parts:

1. General Info, which includes all the primary fields of interest that provide the identity of the practice, namely, the title, language, purpose, the key terms, the country and authority that issued the policy and a source (text or URL) that points to the original policy.
2. Applicability and audience, which includes specific information of the target audience, the coverage (applicability area) and the educational framework that the policy was created for.
3. Details, which allows a brief or extensive description of the policy (reason, implementation procedures, implementation structures, definitions) as well as monitoring and evaluation that is applied, related policies and the help desk (cognizant office) that can provide further details, if necessary.

We invite you to view it and delve into the contents of the guide, to participate in the forums discussion and to upload your contents! Let’s make the community!

By Colectic

The conference aspires to be a step of academic dialogue of the members of the scientific and educational community of the country and Europe, as well as other stakeholders, on modern scientific approaches and policies in the field of STE(A)M education, so that through the presentations of expert and distinguished scientists from Greece and abroad, to provoke a fruitful dialogue on the developments and implementation of the STE(A)M educational approach in Greek and European Education.

STE(A)M education proposes the introduction of Art in STEM education – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – and includes learning experiences that enhance interdisciplinarity, creativity and innovation among learners through an attractive way of teaching and training, with application to real problems.

The Conference is coordinated by Dr. Achilleas Kameas, Professor of HOU and Dr. Spyridon Papadakis, Organizational Coordinator of PEKES Western Greece. The conference is supported by the project “STEAMonEdu: Competence development of STE (A) M educators through online tools and communities” (https://steamonedu.eu/).

The conference is also supported by the PDE of Western Greece, the international teacher community Scientix (http://www.scientix.eu/) and projects “STEAM-IT” (http://steamit.eun.org/), “CHOICE” (https://www.euchoice.eu/) & “GEMIN” (https://gem-in.eu/en/), which are funded by the European Framework Erasmus+ / KA3 / Forward Looking Cooperation Projects in the fields of Education and Training.

The conference is addressed to scientists, teachers and educators of all levels engaged or interested in applying STE(A)M education, researchers and postgraduate students, education executives, providers of vocational education and training but also to any individual interested in being informed of the latest scientific developments, experiences and the results of the implementation of the STE(A)M educational approach. Certificates of participation will be awarded to the conference attendees.

The conference will take place by physical presence (to the extent that the health conditions allow it) and at the same time online from Friday 07/05/21 until Sunday 09/05/21.

Structure

The program of the conference includes invited lectures, presentations of scientific papers, thematic sessions, round-table sessions, tutorials and workshops.

(thematic areas)

Submissions

Each submitted paper and practice, except for the invited ones, will be peer reviewed by at least two reviewers. The acceptance of the papers and practices that will be presented at the Conference will be based on their originality and quality. All papers and practices that will be accepted for presentation will be published in the Proceedings of the Conference.

Information

More information on the websites:

Conference Website: https://steamonedu.eu/STEAM2021Conference

PE.K.ES. Patras Website: https://blogs.sch.gr/pekesde/

HOU Website: http://daissy.eap.gr/

STEAMOnEdu Project Website: https://steamonedu.eu/

Important dates

• March 21, 2021: Submission of proposals for special sessions
• March 25, 2021: Submission of papers (full texts) and STEAM educational practices for review
• March 31, 2021: Announcement of acceptance of special sessions
• April 11, 2021: Announcement of acceptance of papers and STEAM educational practices
• April 19, 2021: Submission of final versions of the papers that have been approved
• May 07 – 09, 2021: Conference

The conference aspires to be a step of academic dialogue of the members of the scientific and educational community of the country and Europe, as well as other stakeholders, on modern scientific approaches and policies in the field of STE(A)M education, so that through the presentations of expert and distinguished scientists from Greece and abroad, to provoke a fruitful dialogue on the developments and implementation of the STE(A)M educational approach in Greek and European Education.

STE(A)M education proposes the introduction of Art in STEM education – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – and includes learning experiences that enhance interdisciplinarity, creativity and innovation among learners through an attractive way of teaching and training, with application to real problems.

The Conference is coordinated by Dr. Achilles Kameas, Professor of HOU and Dr. Spyridon Papadakis, Organizational Coordinator of PEKES Western Greece. The conference is supported by the project “STEAMonEdu: Competence development of STE(A)M educators through online tools and communities”.

The conference is also supported by the PDE of Western Greece, the international teacher community Scientix (http://www.scientix.eu/) and projects “STEAM-IT” (http://steamit.eun.org/), “CHOICE” (https://www.euchoice.eu/) & “GEMIN” (https://gem-in.eu/en/), which are funded by the European Framework Erasmus+ / KA3 / Forward Looking Cooperation Projects in the fields of Education and Training.

The conference is addressed to scientists, teachers and educators of all levels engaged or interested in applying STE(A)M education, researchers and postgraduate students, education executives, providers of vocational education and training but also to any individual interested in being informed of the latest scientific developments, experiences and the results of the implementation of the STE(A)M educational approach. Certificates of participation will be awarded to the conference attendees.

The conference will take place by physical presence (to the extent that the health conditions allow it) and at the same time online from Friday 07/05/21 until Sunday 09/05/21.

Conference structure

The conference program will include:

• Invited Speakers
• Presentations of Scientific Papers
• Symposiums *
• Round Tables *
• Training sessions (Tutorials) *
• Workshops *
• Posters

* Sessions of special form

Topics

• Evolution, Epistemology and Theoretical Approaches to STE(A)M education
• STE(A)M educational practices
• Challenges and training opportunities for STE(A)M education policy development
• Impact of STE(A)M education on society
• Professional development of STE(A)M educators
• Tools for developing STE(A)M training content in the 21st century
• Special-Anniversary Theme: Learning about the Greek Revolution of 1821 using STE(A)M education

Scientific Papers – STE(A)M education practices

Submission of scientific papers (at easychair), STE(A)M practices (at the STEAMonEdu Minutes Repository ), special sessions (by e-mail at: steam2021conference@gmail.com ).

Additional information can be found on the conference website.

Each submitted paper and practice, except for the invited ones, will be peer reviewed by at least two reviewers. The acceptance of the papers and practices that will be presented at the Conference will be based on their originality and quality. All papers and practices that will be accepted for presentation will be published in the Proceedings of the Conference.

Information

More information on the websites:

Conference website: https://steamonedu.eu/STEAM2021Conference

PE.K.ES. Western Greece website: https://blogs.sch.gr/pekesde/archives/2216

R.D.E.W.G. website: rb.gy/rubshk

CTI website: http://www.cti.gr

HOU website: http://daissy.eap.gr/

STEAMOnEdu Project Website: https://steamonedu.eu/

Important dates

• March 21, 2021: Submission of proposals for special sessions
• March 25, 2021: Submission of papers (full texts) and STEAM educational practices for review
• March 31, 2021: Announcement of acceptance of special sessions
• April 11, 2021: Announcement of acceptance of papers and STEAM educational practices
• April 19, 2021: Submission of final versions of the papers that have been approved
• May 07 – 09, 2021: Conference

The conference aspires to be a step for academic dialogue of the members of the scientific and educational community of the hosting country and Europe, as well as other stakeholders, on contemporary scientific approaches and policies in the field of STE(A)M education, so that through the presentations of expert and distinguished scientists from Greece and abroad, to provoke a fruitful dialogue on the developments of the  implementation of the STE(A)M educational approach in Greek and European Education.

STE(A)M education proposes the introduction of Art in STEM education and of all disciplines in STEM education as well – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – and includes learning experiences that boost interdisciplinarity, creativity and innovation among learners, through an attractive way of teaching and training, with application to real life problems.

The Conference is coordinated by Dr. Achilleas Kameas, Professor of H.O.U. and Dr. Spyridon Papadakis, Organizational Coordinator of PEKES Western Greece. The conference is supported by the project “STEAMonEdu: Competence development of STE(A)M educators through online tools and communities”.

The conference is also supported by the Regional Directorate of Education (PDE) of Western Greece, the international teacher community Scientix and the projects “STEAM-IT”, “CHOICE“, and “GEMIN“, which are funded by the European Programme Erasmus+ / KA3 / Forward Looking Cooperation Projects in the fields of Education and Training, the Hellenic Education Society for S.T.E.M. (E3STEM), the eTwinning Hellenic National Support Service, the Greek School Network, as well as the 14 Greek Regional Centers for Educational Planning (PEKES): 1st & 2nd Central Macedonia, 1st & 2nd South Aegean, 1st Ionian Islands, 2nd North Aegean, 3rd, 4th & 5th Attica, Central Greece, Crete, Eastern Macedonian & Thrace, Peloponnese and Thessaly.

The conference is addressed to scientists, teachers and educators of all levels engaged or interested in applying STE(A)M education, researchers and postgraduate students, education executives, providers of vocational education and training but also to any individual interested in being informed about the latest scientific developments, experiences and the results of the implementation of the STE(A)M educational approach. Certificates of participation will be awarded to the conference attendees.

The conference will take place by physical presence (to the extent that the pandemic conditions allow) and at the same time online from Friday 07/05/21 until Sunday 09/05/21.

Conference structure

The conference program will include:

• Invited Speakers
• Presentations of Scientific Papers
• Symposiums *
• Round Tables *
• Training sessions (Tutorials) *
• Workshops *
• Posters

* Sessions of special form

Topics

• Evolution, Epistemology and Theoretical Approaches to STE(A)M education
• STE(A)M educational practices
• Challenges and training opportunities for STE(A)M education policy development
• Impact of STE(A)M education on society
• Professional development of STE(A)M educators
• Tools for developing STE(A)M training content in the 21st century
• Special-Anniversary Theme: Learning about the Greek Revolution of 1821 using STE(A)M education

Scientific Papers – STE(A)M education practices

Submission of scientific papers (at easychair), STE(A)M practices (at the STEAMonEdu Minutes Repository), special sessions (by e-mail at: steam2021conference@gmail.com ).

Additional information can be found on the conference website.

Each submitted paper and practice, except for the invited ones, will be peer reviewed by at least two reviewers. The acceptance of the papers and practices that will be presented at the Conference will be based on their originality and quality. All papers and practices that will be accepted for presentation will be published in the Proceedings of the Conference.

Information

More information on the websites:

• Conference website: https://steamonedu.eu/STEAM2021Conference
• PE.K.ES. Western Greece website: https://blogs.sch.gr/pekesde/archives/2216
• R.D.E.W.G. website: rb.gy/rubshk
• CTI website: http://www.cti.gr
• HOU website: http://daissy.eap.gr/
• STEAMOnEdu Project Website: https://steamonedu.eu/

Important dates

Following requests from interested stakeholders to submit proposals and papers to the conference it was decided to give a small extension.

The new dates of interest are as follows:

• March 21, 2021: Submission of proposals for special sessions
• March 25, 2021: Submission of papers (full texts) and STEAM educational practices for review
• March 31, 2021: Announcement of acceptance of special sessions
• April 11, 2021: Announcement of acceptance of papers and STEAM educational practices
• April 19, 2021: Submission of final versions of the papers that have been approved
• May 07 – 09, 2021: Conference

The conference aspires to be a step for academic dialogue of the members of the scientific and educational community of the hosting country and Europe, as well as other stakeholders, on contemporary scientific approaches and policies in the field of STE(A)M education, so that through the presentations of expert and distinguished scientists from Greece and abroad, to provoke a fruitful dialogue on the developments of the  implementation of the STE(A)M educational approach in Greek and European Education.

STE(A)M education proposes the introduction of Art in STEM education and of all disciplines in STEM education as well – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – and includes learning experiences that boost interdisciplinarity, creativity and innovation among learners, through an attractive way of teaching and training, with application to real life problems.

The Conference is coordinated by Dr. Achilleas Kameas, Professor of H.O.U. and Dr. Spyridon Papadakis, Organizational Coordinator of PEKES Western Greece. The conference is supported by the project “STEAMonEdu: Competence development of STE(A)M educators through online tools and communities” (https://steamonedu.eu/).

The conference is also supported by the Regional Directorate of Education (PDE) of Western Greece, the international teacher community Scientix (http://www.scientix.eu/) and the projects “STEAM-IT” (http://steamit.eun.org/), “CHOICE” (https://www.euchoice.eu/) & “GEMIN” (https://gem-in.eu/en/), which are funded by the European Programme Erasmus+ / KA3 / Forward Looking Cooperation Projects in the fields of Education and Training, the Hellenic Education Society for S.T.E.M. (E3STEM) (http://e3stem.edu.gr/), the eTwinning Hellenic National Support Service (http://www.etwinning.gr), the Greek School Network (https://www.sch.gr/), as well as the  14 Greek Regional Centers for Educational Planning (PEKES): 1st & 2nd Central Macedonia, 1st & 2nd South Aegean, 1st Ionian Islands, 2nd North Aegean, 3rd, 4th & 5th Attica, Central Greece, Crete, Eastern Macedonian & Thrace, Peloponnese and Thessaly).

The conference is addressed to scientists, teachers and educators of all levels engaged or interested in applying STE(A)M education, researchers and postgraduate students, education executives, providers of vocational education and training but also to any individual interested in being informed about the latest scientific developments, experiences and the results of the implementation of the STE(A)M educational approach.

For everybody who wish to attend the Conference Works, they need to register by filling out  the Registration form https://bit.ly/3rC95je  (will be available from April 1, 2021).

There is no participation fee. The participants are going to receive a certificate of attendance.

The conference will take place online from Friday 07/05/21 until Sunday 09/05/21. Parts of it will be organized by physical presence (to the extent that the pandemic conditions allow).

Conference structure

The conference program will include:

• Invited Speakers
• Presentations of Scientific Papers
• Symposiums *
• Round Tables *
• Training sessions (Tutorials) *
• Workshops *
• Posters

* Sessions of special form

Topics

• Evolution, Epistemology and Theoretical Approaches to STE(A)M education
• STE(A)M educational practices
• Challenges and training opportunities for STE(A)M education policy development
• Impact of STE(A)M education on society
• Professional development of STE(A)M educators
• Tools for developing STE(A)M training content in the 21st century
• Special-Anniversary Theme: Learning about the Greek Revolution of 1821 using STE(A)M education

 Scientific Papers – STE(A)M education practices

Submission of scientific papers (at easychair), STE(A)M practices (at the STEAMonEdu Minutes Repository), special sessions (by e-mail at: steam2021conference@gmail.com ).

Additional information can be found on the conference website.

Each submitted paper and practice, except for the invited ones, will be peer reviewed by at least two reviewers. The acceptance of the papers and practices that will be presented at the Conference will be based on their originality and quality. All papers and practices that will be accepted for presentation will be published in the Proceedings of the Conference.

Information

More information on the websites:

• Conference website: https://steamonedu.eu/STEAM2021Conference
• PE.K.ES. Western Greece website: https://blogs.sch.gr/pekesde/archives/2216
• R.D.E.W.G. website: rb.gy/rubshk
• CTI website: http://www.cti.gr
• HOU website: http://daissy.eap.gr/
• STEAMOnEdu Project Website: https://steamonedu.eu/

Important dates

The conference accepts proposals for special sessions, papers and practices*, which must be submitted by the following dates:

• April 06, 2021: Submission of proposals for special sessions
• April 11, 2021: Submission of papers (full texts) and STEAM educational practices* for review
• April 18, 2021: Announcement of acceptance of special sessions
• April 18, 2021: Announcement of acceptance of papers and STEAM educational practices
• April 27, 2021: Submission of final versions of the papers that have been approved
• May 07 – 09, 2021: Conference

* Due to the special conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is possible to submit educational scenarios that have not yet been implemented in the classroom, but will be implemented in the near future. These scenarios will be presented in a special session. The scenarios will be evaluated with the same criteria that the educational practices will be evaluated as well.