Estonia

Solaride is a project for students who want to contribute hands-on to solving our dependence on fossil fuels. To do so, the students are building a working solar car and taking it to the ultimate test run in Australia in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. The ultimate objective of Solaride is to promote engineering and its career options in Estonia.

The project gathers ambitious students from different fields, such as engineers, electronics, mechanics, software etc. from all over Estonia. The project has grown continuously into the size of an average company. Currently there are almost 70 team members. The team also has various prominent mentors from universities and companies to share their know-how with the students. Besides that, Solaride has strong support from cooperation with several Estonian universities and gives participating students the opportunity to gain practical knowledge and compete in an international competition. With this, the project promotes engineering and technology among the pupils and students.

The ultimate objective of Solaride is to promote engineering and its career options in Estonia. As a country Estonia faces a serious shortage of engineers and specialists, now and in the future. The overall aim of the project is to promote STEM career paths through hands-on experiences early on. The promotion of technology and engineering is therefore important to bring people to engineering and have the necessary workforce in the future. The programme also contributes to the development of innovation and science-based economy in Estonia. According to the analysis on the workforce needed in Estonia, in 10 to 15 years, 60% of the occupations are the kind of which we do not have today. Therefore, adapting with new and novel technology is critical.

The Merkuur programme has developed mobile workshops to introduce various trades, techniques and tools in the metal and wood industries to young people and to offer them hands-on opportunities to test the tasks associated with these trades in order to raise their career awareness and competitiveness in the fields of technology and engineering.

Merkuur has two mobile workshops and more than sixty different learning solutions to provide young people with hands-on opportunities to carry out tasks in metal and woodwork, electronics, bionics and many other engineering fields. The Mobile Workshops are self-built mobile classrooms and therefore workshop activities can take place all over Estonia. Schools, vocational school and other interested organizations can request the mobile classroom service at their premises.

In the beginning, the Mobile Workshop service and its activities were provided as a form of non-formal learning. Since 2018, the team has consistently worked on developing partnerships with various educational schools, vocational schools and colleges. Teachers and mentors of mobile workshops organise technology lessons, project days and hobby groups in schools. In addition to daily activities, the team has developed a modern methodological material used to introduce CNC equipment to young people and to implement their new knowledge both individually and in teams, while carrying out product development tasks, testing various material treatment methods and preparing metal and wood products with a real purpose.

The objective is to give young people practical knowledge about engineering and technology, which is measured by the number of kids participating in the activities of Mobile Workshop.

The objectives of the workshops are related to a broader government strategy to raise the popularity of engineering as a career choice due to the fact that Estonia is facing a shortage of engineers, failing to meet the current labour market demand as well as the expected demand in the future. In addition, the programme is associated with the aim to develop a research-intensive economy. By educating young people and giving them early access to hands-on engineering possibilities, it increases the interest of students in starting a career in engineering.

According to Eurostat (see 'data' page) only 22.8% of employed ICT specialists in Estonia are women. In addition, girls are strongly underrepresented in extracurricular STEM courses among children aged 7-12 (for every ten boys, there is only one girl). The HK Unicorn Squad girls-only hobby groups aim to increase the number of girls that show an interest in STEM in this age-group (lower secondary education level) as well as maintaining that interest over time.

The founders of the movement are Kerstin and Taavi Kotka, a married couple, who started a “girls-only” technology hobby-group for their daughter Helena in September 2018, as she was kicked out from the technology hobby group at school given the explanation that the field is more suitable for boys.

Unicorn Squad hobby group is a “ready-to-use” solution. Teaching materials are fully prepared for the lessons along with video tutorials for the supervisor. Also, equipment for certain courses is provided by the programme. Course modules take place once a week. Teaching materials and equipment (e.g. robots and other teaching materials) for certain lessons are sent to mentors in a big plastic box weekly using a parcel machine. After using them, the mentor returns them or sends them to next group according to instructions from the HK Unicorn Squad project manager.

The interest and demand for girls-only technology hobby groups was so big that within two years the movement has engaged 1200 girls (age 7-14) all over Estonia. Active hobby groups are available in almost  every county of the country. The interest keeps on growing and additional hobby groups are constantly opened.

"Rocket 69“ is an educational scientific entertaining TV contest for young people with the purpose to show that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) can be fun and show that everyone could perform the tasks that are given during the contest, while offering excitement and new knowledge. The name of the show comes from the fact that on 1969 the first man stepped on the Moon. All students starting from age 15 can apply for the show (until university students from 1st or 2nd year of studies). 15 contestants are chosen through casting and the casting process makes up the 1st episode of the show. From 2nd to 9th episode contestants solve the assignments in 3 competitive groups and from 10th episode individually. In the end of each episode one contestant has to leave after 1:1 scientific duel. All assignments require creativity, theoretical scientific knowledge and ability to use it in practices.

In the Grand Finale 2 finalists have to solve complex assignment that will show all their abilities. In the past 3 years the assignment has been to create and build Rube Goldberg machine. There is 1 personal winner who wins a EUR 10.000 scholarship to support his/her studies. The panel of judges consists of host of the show (young scientist) and 3 main judges who are also researchers. The first 9 episodes are shot in a studio specifically built for the show. Starting from 10th episode the locations vary and include science labs and research organizations, STEM companies etc.

All assignments and solutions of the contest are explained with a voice-over, by graphical illustrations during the show and also commented by judges. In addition, the Science Editor offers deeper explanations online for each assignment that can be used as STEM teaching material at school. The show is supported by cross-media approach combining radio, newspapers, internet, Facebook and other social media channels.

Rocket 69 is initiated by the Estonian Research Council in co-operation with Estonian National Broadcasting. The TV contest has been runnning for 10 seasons and will continue its course at least 2 more seasons (until 2022). The ultimate objective of the TV contest is to raise young people's interest in STEM education, professions and career in these fields. The aim of the show is also to engage parents, teachers and public in general (secondary target groups). There are no direct means for measuring the achievement of the objectives though indirect indication is evaluated based on the statistics of popularity of STEM specialties among the students enrolling universities, vocational schools and hobby education. Additionally, feedback from career specialists and consultants is gathered regarding the of (young) people’s interest towards STEM specialties.

The TV contest is produced within the science communication program “TeaMe+” that is developed based on the Estonian Research and Development and Innovation Strategy 2014-2020 “Knowledge-based Estonia”.