Repubblica Digitale project is a national strategic initiative promoted by the Department for Digital Transformation of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers to “combat the cultural digital in the Italian population, to support digital inclusion and promote education on the technologies of the future, accompanying the process of the digital transformation of the country”.

The aim of Repubblica Digitale is to create an “alliance” of public and private entities, which has as its reference point the Manifesto of Repubblica Digitale and which operates as a community of co-design, sharing and collaboration. In order to adhere to the Manifesto, the proposed initiatives must relate to three areas:

1. basic digital literacy and overcoming the digital cultural divide;
2. development of digital skills for work; and
3. education in emerging technologies and the dissemination of digital culture.

Repubblica Digitale proposes the idea that supporting the digital transformation of the country with educational and cultural actions is a common civic duty for the State, businesses and individuals. For this reason, all members of society, starting from the media, schools and families, can contribute in a decisive way to overcome the gaps that currently divide the country.

STEAMonEdu has been listed among valuable Italian and European initiatives proposed by public and private entities that will help Repubblica Digitale in reaching the objectives foreseen by the Manifesto.

• Adapt skills to the needs of the economy,
• Bring research and business closer together,
• Innovate teaching and training,
• Foster female empowerment in society and the world of work.

There are many objectives that can be achieved thanks to the valorization in schools of the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), an acronym updated with the “A” of Arts, therefore STE(A)M. A is a simple letter that actually completes and strengthens it, highlighting the need and value of an interdisciplinary training, which allows to create connections between science and other disciplines, transversal skills, innovative solutions, fostering creativity and critical spirit, improving learning processes and cognitive development.

The recent report of the “European Committee of the Regions” indicates that strengthening STE(A)M education is one of the areas that can contribute to the development of the economies of the European Union. The report contains 25 political recommendations, and the inclusion of the arts with scientific disciplines is seen as an opportunity, especially for countries like Italy. It can compete as a protagonist especially in sectors involving technologies and historical and cultural heritage, for example in the field of enhancement and protection of cultural (and touristic) heritage.

Let us remember that two great protagonists of Italian art, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, were not only painters and sculptors, but inventors, engineers, and scientists: their genius and experience show that there are no boundaries between science and art.

STEM at the heart of the education and research reform project

 The Covid-19 emergency has called into question economic, health and social systems, relations between countries, and has shown us the weak points of globalization; a revolution that is involving the whole planet and that will have various consequences.

“Innovation” is one of the most used words by Italian politicians and rulers at the moment, as if the pandemic had made the process necessary to relaunch the country and its most creative energies.

Education and research are the two areas from which to start again, as the  Minister of University and Research Gaetano Manfredi explained in a recent interview, “We need more graduates in science subjects, in STEM areas, where women are still under-represented and this is a big problem for the country and its growth. This is an issue that we are putting at the center of our investment and reform plan”.

The theme of the gender difference in Italy is particularly critical, just think that the differential between male and female employment rates is 67.1% for men and 49.2% for women placing Italy in the last place in Europe. The OSCE states that if by 2030 female employment were to reach that of men, Italy’s GDP could grow by one percentage point per year.

The challenge of the future is to qualify and direct women’s work and skills towards the most technological areas, i.e. STEM, to which the economy is shifting.

STEAM national educational initiatives in schools

The enhancement of STE(A)M education is one of the elements on which the National Digital School Plan launched by the Italian Government (PNSD, Law 107/2015) is based. It is a guidance document of the Ministry of Education, University and Research that aims to innovate the Italian education system through digitization, highlighting the opportunities it offers in terms of training, skills and employment. The Plan is organized in 4 fundamental steps – tools, skills, accompaniment, training – to be achieved through a series of objectives and actions divided into specific areas.

The “Digital, Entrepreneurship and Work” area aims to promote and bridge the digital divide in terms of skills and employment, promote careers in STE(A)M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Maths) and enhance the relationship between school and work.

The STEAM Lab project is part of the PNSD and provides classrooms dedicated to the experimentation of competitive paths in STEAM for students of all levels.

“We walk the path of wonderful mechanisms” involves primary school children with workshops, in which “they design, create and program objects able to obtain data from the surrounding reality and process them into information ready to be analyzed”. “Leonardo STEAM Lab” is the path for secondary school students: after studying the great scientist with multiform genius, with elements of robotics and coding, the children build – personalizing it – a Leonardo machine, documenting the work done. The students of the secondary school, with “Photographing Science”, are challenged to study the birth of the Universe using photographic techniques: finally, a Photo Contest is organized and an exhibition with the best photographs taken.

Other STE(A)M experiences in Italy

 There are several initiatives in Italy that are increasingly aiming to promote the STE(A)M approach to education.

These include the “STEAM International High School“, an innovative experience on the Italian scene that aims to train the skills of students by adopting “active and experiential teaching”, which poses continuous challenges that stimulate their ability to find creative and innovative solutions. In order to do this, the classic “linear” didactic model has been revolutionized – which involves the teacher in the classroom and the frontal lesson – in a way in which study and experience intersect and are equally central. Therefore, ample space has been given to intensive courses on case analysis and advanced applications in various fields, the realization of three projects per year aimed at the creation of products related to specific areas: mechanical/engineering; digital; bio-engineering; sustainable services.

“STEM 4 Future” is a project that was created to promote the knowledge and interest of new generations in STEM subjects. Supported by Boeing and Sant’Anna University of Pisa, conceived by ScuolAttiva Onlus, it involves classical and scientific high schools and represents a successful synergy between universities, companies and schools, where advanced research and secondary education meet to experiment new forms of teaching.

STEAMonEdu and Stati Generali dell’Innovazione

To date, STEAMonEdu project partner Stati Generali dell’Innovazione – SGI has collected various best practices activated by Italian high schools, among these we mention the first proposals arrived: the IC “Capozzi-Galilei” of Valenzano (Bari) with “Gamification during COVID-19 lockdown”, “Back to school: new approach to environmental education”, “One day at the market” and “Inside matter”; IC “Taverna” of Montalto Uffugo (Cosenza) with “A message from the past”, “Goodnews not FakeNews”, “Olympics problem solving. .. No problem!”, “Marzo delle STEAM” and Foiso Fois di Cagliari with three STE(A)M good practices within the project Hostel and Officine DigitalArch. These and other practices can be viewed on our platform.

But we are only at the beginning of a project that will certainly give a great contribution of ideas and experiences to the promotion of STE(A)M subjects in Italy and Europe.

by Stati Generali dell’Innovazione – SGI

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

By 2030, from 40 to 160 million women will have to think about a new job or retrain their technological skills in order not to be excluded from work. Until today, though, only 20% of workers in science and technology and 35% of STEM students are women.

“The future of women at work” report by McKinsey Global Institute shows that jobs held by women are 1.8 times more vulnerable to the current health emergency than those held by men: such gender gap could reduce the global GDP growth more than one trillion dollars in 2030.

It is therefore necessary to fill a gender gap, for which Italy holds the 76th position out of 153 countries, and to increase the number of women  active in the scientific and technological fields, in order to overcome stereotypes and biases that also affect the new generation.

The success of Coding Girls initiative, now in its sixth edition, stems from this need: it aims to bring young Italian women closer to the technological and scientific professions, supporting and promoting gender equality in these work areas.

Coding Girls is an educational and training programme created by Fondazione Mondo Digitale, with the support of the US Embassy in Italy and Microsoft Italy, to which over the years other partners joined, including the Netherlands Embassy in Italy, Compagnia di San Paolo, and Enie, a network of 32 partners.

A project that has grown over the years, involving more and more schools in 24 cities and about 15 000 female students, trained by young women programmers of the same age whose mission is to fascinate secondary school students with computer programming.

The project includes coding competitions between schools, but also orientation and training sessions with university tutors and experts in the field, who can be an example and inspiration.

“Our challenge is to create a vertical educational chain that makes young women aware of the crucial role that each of them can play in the development of the country”, explains Mirta Michilli, co-founder of Coding Girls association and general director of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale. “We are increasingly convinced that the winning strategy to accelerate the achievement of gender equality is school, as an effective defence against all forms of inequality. We help the new generations to free themselves from clichés and stereotypes to plan their future in freedom”.

Barbara Cominelli, Marketing and Operations Director Microsoft Italy stressed, “The digital revolution, accelerated by the health emergency and engine of growth, is deeply changing the world of work that requires more and more professionals with STEM skills. The theme of human capital is fundamental. Coding Girls is linked to our training program Ambition Italy, that is an investment plan to support the growth of the country that also provides training courses to give digital skills to students and professionals already established”.

By SGI

In Italy, the educational project “ESERO” – European Space Education Resource Office, promoted by European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ISA), aims to freely train primary and secondary school teachers of scientific subjects with dedicated insights on space conquest and exploration.

This call is open to public entities and research organizations, both public and private; small, medium and big companies; profit and non-profit foundations, associations and organizations. The deadline for the selection of the eligible entities is 30 December 2020.

Started in 2006, ESERO uses space as a stimulating context for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education and learning.

Space itself is not a school subject, but it can be a suitable environment to provide real models of contemporary scientific methodology application, interdisciplinary collaboration, access to state-of-the-art scientific data, structure and professional roles in the field of STEM.

Under the coordination of ESA and ISA in Italy,  and with the support of a wide range of national organizations active in the educational and space sectors, the project aims to stimulate and form a community of educators, who are the main bridge to reach the students.

The project’s main goal is to create an impact in young students to contribute to attracting them to technology and science studies and carriers, in particular in the space sector, and educate new generations in critical and autonomous thinking as an important social value.

ESERO offers an annual series of national or regional training sessions for both primary and secondary school teachers. These are offered in collaboration with national partners who are already active in STEM education. Teacher training events are, wherever possible, officially accredited as part of continual professional development qualifications.

Currently ESA has established sixteen ESERO national offices which cover eighteen countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and UK.

By SGI

The initiative STEM School Label stems from Scientix, the community that since 2009 has promoted in Europe the collaboration between teachers and professionals in the STEM field. Coordinated by European Schoolnet, the project’s objective is to spread at the international level innovative practices in science education.

INDIRE is the organization in charge of disseminating the project’s results in Italy where, according to the international surveys, the situation is particularly negative. In fact, the tests ran by Pisa Ocse on mathematical skills shows that Italian 15 year-old teenagers have a delay compared to their peers in other industrialized countries.

The steps to follow to register a school are very simple: accessing the online platform www.stemschoollabel.eu, European schools can measure their results in the education of science subjects.

The self-assessment of STEM School Label is based on seven key elements that help teachers to evaluate areas of strength and weakness of their schools’ STEM programs, and that highlights the aspects that needs to be developed and improved.

The areas to focus on for an effective STEM education strategy are the following: education, curricula implementation, evaluation, staff professionalization, leadership, link between territory and local enterprises, school infrastructures.

Once the self-evaluation form is submitted, the school/teacher will receive a customized plan of action, based on the self-assessment results. Useful suggestions and resources will be provided to improve the schools’ educational offer on STEM subjects by identifying the lacking areas, so to provide the students with a better engagement and technical-scientific skills.

The project involves both teachers and students with various activities that include case studies analysis, participation to open and collaborative on-line forums, the study of good practices and exchanges between the participating European schools.

For more information: stemschoollabel@eun.org

By SGI

The Italian organizations Italia Nostra and our partner Stati Genrali dell’Innovazione (SGI) have started a collaboration in the implementation of Pathways for transversal skills and orientation for school in Italy.

The Association Italia Nostra implements educational initiatives for teachers and students working closely with schools in the development of National Operational Programmes. The objective is to design campaigns and projects aiming to promote education on active citizenship and to organize Pathways for Transversal Skills and Orientation in collaboration with school institutions.

In this sensitive and difficult moment for both students and school staff, the Association has decided to adapt its programmes to the new needs emerged by proposing to school institutions distance learning projects.

There is a will of being present and supportive in the school ecosystem to use this change to create a strong link between education, training and civil society for the realization of an “education to citizenship”. Now more than ever this is understood as a structured observation of the reality and the identification of its fragilities to transform them into strength points.

The Pathways for Transversal Skills and Orientation proposed to the schools are designed to be aligned with the Ministry’s guidelines for the Civic Education.

Growing up, learning, discovering and communicating what has been learned through the language of technology, intended as collective participation and fruition, is indeed a citizenship skills exercise.

The link and intersection of these initiatives is with Crowddreaming: Youth Co-Create Digital Culture (CDDC) , an Erasmus+ project, led by STEAMonEdu partner ALL DIGITAL and where Stati Genrali dell’Innovazione is also a partner along with three more organisations, including Daissy Reseach Group of Hellenic Open University. CDDC project aims to promote the use of new immersive technologies in education and to grow new European Citizens among youth. The activities’ results are shared and disseminated on the platform Europa Square, which is one of the main outputs of the project.

By SGI

The first laboratory on collaborative robotics for students comes to life in the primary and secondary schools to enhance STEM education based on theoretical knowledge and applicable skills. It is called “Robo Lab” and was created by Assolombarda, Fondazioni Brigatti, Camerani, Pintaldi and Politecnico, together with the science partners Abb and iMage.

“Youth are our future and it is fundamental to invest in training paths which can develop the competencies necessary in the employment world and required by the enterprises”, states Assolombarda’s President Alessandro Spada. “The industrial automation sector in particular needs continuous update of training”.

The collaborative robotics E-Learning Centre is located in Monza: a unique laboratory in Italy, where students are taught about the collaborative robots, their potentials, how to programme and use them, in order to learn in a direct way the great digital transformation which is taking place all over the world.

The project “Robo Lab” is part of the Steam Spaces, a project by Confindustria, the objective of which is to promote laboratory based multidisciplinary education to attract students to the study of mathematics and science. This innovative project aims to contribute to the National reform of students’ orientation in school and of teachers 4.0 education.

In this project’s first phase, six schools in Lombardia Region are involved, involving a total of 1,200 students and teachers who have already started practicing at Robo Lab from 10 March March 2021. The project’s objective is to spread at a national level.

The lab provides three collaborative robots of the Yumi family, a state-of-the-art series that focuses in integrating and ease the work following instructions through software.

Their programming simplicity allows to teach easily movements and positions as well as the basics of off-line robot programming.

By SGI

The National Museum of Science and Technology, founded in Milan in 1953 by the engineer Guido Ucelli, was created with the purpose of promoting scientific communication, scientific and technical literacy and culture among young people in a country in transformation.

Combining the identity of the museum with the characteristics and needs of the contemporary era, aiming to be a leader in Italy and a centre of excellence in Europe for STEM education, have been the institution’s goal for almost 70 years. This effort was structured on a two-folded strategy: promoting education within the museum, including a variety of fields, such as sciences, science education, pedagogy, informal education, humanities and educational research, which is responsible for the conception, design, development and the direct delivery of all programs and activities that the museum offers to its public; on the other hand developing educational methodological research, which is the Research Center for Informal Education’s main task. Founded in 2008, this research hub keeps the institution up to date and open to change, ready to grasp stimuli and trends.

The museum offers spaces for learning and active experimentation, methodological research and contexts result of the harmonious integration of contents, methods, resources and space. Aiming to nurture a new generation of innovators through 21st century with skills development and a positive relationship with STEM, the museum works in building scientific citizenship and in making the museum live as a place that belongs to everyone, a place for personal growth and community well-being.

Maria Xanthoudaki,  Education & CREI Director tells Artribune.it that the museums has an audience of over half a million people (in 2018), to 4,500 school groups per year, or to a community of 3,000 teachers who follow the training work or special projects.

An important part of its education programs is the “Tinkering” methodology, a frontier educational approach that the Italian museum first imported from the United States to Europe through the collaboration with the Exploratorium in San Francisco. The second main focus of the educational activities is Public Engagement, which includes creating a dynamic dialogue between the research community and the citizens, and the numerous collaborations with other museums and educational and research institutions at a national and international level.

Devised by the Tinkering Studio of the Exploratorium of San Francisco USA, Tinkering has become a worldwide philosophy and practice. The Tinkering Studio programme follows six main strands of work – research and development, the Tinkering Studio itself, collaborations, public events, publications, professional development. The process aims to inform and inspire the design of all activities in order to fuel creativity, generate new ideas and solutions, and the mothodology is designed to inspire youth, parents and educators to be easily applied to home activities or in other institutions.

The uniqueness of this pedagogical approach lies in its innovativeness. It addresses people of all backgrounds and paths of life, focusing on the active engagement with materials, the intentionality of action and the conscious desire to learn how to learn. From simple to complex, the activities start with putting objects together or apart, to making machines moving, flying. Moreover, the learners are engaged in designing, exploring materials, mechanical elements or electricity to create original artefacts, sewing circuits together to make jewels, constructing ever lasting chain reactions or interacting with digital platforms like Tinkercard, which allows creating 3D models by choosing shapes, or Lego or Minecraft blocks.

“It’s fooling around directly with phenomena, with tools and materials. It’s thinking with your hands and learning through doing. It’s slowing down and getting curious about the mechanics and mysteries of everyday stuff around you. It’s whimsical, enjoyable, fraught with dead ends, frustrating, and, ultimately, about inquiry. ” (Wilkinson & Petrich, The Art of Tinkering, 2014)

Milan National Museum of Science and Technology has now gained quality expertise and a high level of experience in this practice and in the research of innovative methods for science education. Among the projects directly inspired by the “Tinkering” methodology, in which the institution has taken part, there are:

• Tinkering EU: Building Science Capital for all, a project funded by the EU Erasmus+ Programme, uses Tinkering pedagogy to develop scientific capital of young people in difficult situations and to improve science education in schools.
• Future Inventors, a pioneering project developed with the support of the Rocca Foundation, with the aim of developing a new approach that contributes to the transformation of STEM education at school through the creation of programmes and resources on the theme of digital culture.
• STEM * Lab, a national project supported by the Conibambini Foundation, aiming to reduce educational poverty by helping to overcome personal, cultural, social and behavioral vulnerabilities through the creation of an open school environment that uses innovative methodologies and resources for STEM education.

By SGI

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