General Info
The Erasmus+ EuroSTEAM project looked into the deficit of STEAM skills in young students throughout Europe. The aim of the project was to identify how we can use more interactive and creative teaching methodologies in our classrooms in order to excite and engage students in STEAM subjects.
The seven EuroSTEAM partners from across Europe bring to you exciting lesson resource which are open source and free to use on your classroom to excite young students about the opportunities in STEAM careers.
The project produced 3 main outcomes:
- STEAM comparative analysis report which has identified shortcomings within the STEAM subjects and highlighted how we can introduce different learning methods into our classrooms to reduce these skills gaps in the future.
- STEAM Camps: In order to give educators a starting block for introducing these subjects in the classroom, we have created 3 camps with different themes and focuses. These camps have been fully explained through resources and guides in different languages (English, Dutch, Italian Portuguese and Spanish) and are openly available to Educators.
- Online Toolkit: We have produced this online toolkit which will act as a library for educators throughout Europe to access if they need to run a STEAM based lesson or workshop within their classroom. This is open sources a freely available to use for students and teachers.
Project website: http://www.eurosteamproject.eu/
Project duration: 01/09/2016 – 31/08/2019
Partners: The coordinator is South West College (UK), the partners are Explora the Children’s Museum of Rome (IT), Escola de Tecnologias Inovação e Criação (PT), The Instituut het Heilig Graf (BE), Tknika (ES), Thomas More (BE), Istituto Comprensivo mar dei Caraibi (IT).
Audience and Educational Framework
Educational Details
The EuroSTEAM Camps are designed as a series of mixed activities where students working in small groups face different problems. This choice, as for all the 3 Camps, triggers a conceptualisation process, stimulated by the challenge, where students organise information in a structured knowledge system. The challenge’s aim is to solve a given problem and compare the results achieved among workgroups; during each session, it’s important to create the correct team dynamics by dividing tasks among single members and planning effectively the time available.
- Coding & Technology (Camp 1): Coding and Technology camp is based on computer activities using a platform and a widely known interface such as Scratch. The choice of an activity such as programming came from the need to engage young students in a playful and exciting educational experience which could at the same time stir their interest in enhancing knowledge such as maths, reading comprehension and science, transversally and using one language.
- Creativity and Logic (Camp 2): Creativity and Logic camp introduces students to concepts and principles related to the world that surrounds us (learning binary numbers upon which the digital world is based, ability to comprehend and summarise a text, learning new math aspects, spurring problem-solving through experimentation). In our contemporary society, where learners do not take information out of the real world, but use conceptual structures to interpret it and understand it, science, technology, engineering, art and maths are currently considered as access points to guide students to search, communicate and think critically.
- Contest and Challenges (Camp 3): Contest and Challenges camp is designed as a series of mixed activities where students working in small groups face different problems. Each module features a challenge to be faced as a team; each challenge has a subject emphasising logic, text analysis, maths and engineering. This choice, as for all the 3 Camps, triggers a conceptualisation process, stimulated by the challenge, where students organise information in a structured knowledge system. The challenge’s aim is to solve a given problem and compare the results achieved among workgroups; during each session, it’s important to create the correct team dynamics by dividing tasks among single members and planning effectively the time available. During this camp, teachers drop their “boss-like” role and become facilitators.
The EuroSTEAM lesson resources are open source and free to use on your classroom to excite young students about the opportunities in STEAM careers.
Resources are available in different different languages (English, Dutch, Italian Portuguese and Spanish) on the project website: http://www.eurosteamproject.eu/
Implementation
(where and how the practice was implemented)
Educational material/resources (file/URL) accompanying the practice
Inglese
Portuguese, Portugal
Spagnolo
Italian
Dutch