General Info
STEM 4 future, presented during the fifth edition of "Maker Faire - The European Edition" in Rome and promoted by Boeing Italia with Sant'Anna High School and, in particular, with the Institute of BioRobotics", is an educational project and the spinoff GREAT Robotics, educational partner of the program, which is formally part of the compulsory school-work alternation path thanks to the agreement stipulated between the Institute and the participating schools. It stimulate the knowledge and interest of new generations in scientific subjects. "STEM 4 future" was born looking at the Italian reality in which Boeing operates, keeping faith with a commitment of social responsibility that the company has been carrying on for years in the field of training.
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Details
The Sant'Anna High School joins to the project 'STEM for Future' to spread the opportunities of scientific and technological university studies thanks to an innovative alternating work school project, with a strong value also for orientation.
The Institute of BioRobotics was one of the pioneers in the use of 'educational robotics', first by organizing robotics competitions to increase interest in science and technology, and now by promoting articulated programs that reach hundreds of students, especially in Tuscany.
The 'educational robotics' brings benefits, facilitating the learning of technical and scientific disciplines and in the humanities, increasing motivation to study, facilitating cognitive processes, such as the ability to solve problems that will be fundamental during university studies. This alternating work school project effectively responds to a need of guidance and confirms the ability of Sant'Anna High School to activate collaborations with leading companies in high technology, just like Boeing Italia.
"STEM 4 Future" aims to support schools with an educational campaign where science and gender equality are the priorities. In this sense, the project will organize 'Career days' for participating schools during 'STEM month', an initiative launched by the MIUR, in collaboration with the Department of Equal Opportunities of the Presidency of the Council. In its year of launch, "STEM 4 future" will involve the cities of Rome and Pisa, involving 600 secondary school students and 150 secondary school students. The project finds its strength in the virtuous circuit of collaboration between three levels of education: an educational campaign that brings tutoring and orientation to STEM in middle schools and practical activities, workshops, "coding" and robotics seminars in high schools (Classical, Scientific and Linguistic), all coordinated and supervised by researchers from the Institute of Biorobotics of Sant'Anna High School.
The final event of the project, with the award ceremony for the winners of the competition, was held in June 2018, at the Sant'Anna High School.
In the last five months the 150 students selected for STEM 4 future, supported by the researchers of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa, have carried out a path School-work alternation of more than 80 hours, to develop skills on the programming of a robot, Thymio, writing algorithms and using different programming languages.
The students, during this path, have personally managed the theoretical-practical workshops "Discovering robots" during the fifth edition of "Maker Faire - The European Edition", involving over 400 children between 6 and 10 years old. During the last two months, the classes, divided into teams of five students from each school, have matured a 'coding' experience by designing an ideal travel route through
places that represent world excellence in the field of eco-sustainable technologies, and robotic innovations.
The winners, a team for Rome and a team for Pisa, challenged the other four finalists in a pitch (launch) motivational, convincing the jury to decide the two winners absolute.
The Institute of BioRobotics was one of the pioneers in the use of 'educational robotics', by organizing robotics competitions to increase the interest in science and technology, promoting articulated programs aimed at hundreds of students, especially in Tuscany. Robotics is a discipline that increases motivation to study and facilitates cognitive processes, such as the ability to solve problems, which is fundamental during university studies and this project has confirmed it once again.
On May 18, 2018 in Pisa, during the great closing event, hosted by the campus of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, the students of the six participating classes who met at the end of an educational path that lasted almost a year were awarded.
The future STEM 4 project has a strong significance also in terms of orientation, for the choice of university studies: acquire the elements in time to choose, confronting their personal and professional aspirations is one of the reasons for their success.
https://www.santannapisa.it/sites/default/files/cs_stem4.pdf
Educational Material/Resources
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