Lower secondary education

The STEAMcat pedagogical innovation program (from here on: 'STEAMcat') is the first project launched within the STEAMcat plan, focused on (STEM) teacher training and assessing and improving STEM skills among students in primary and secondary education.

The STEAMcat plan is an initiative ('regional STEM strategy') of the Catalan Government that responds to the current shortages / labour market demands in specific sectors related to science and technology. The plan seeks to promote STEM among young people, especially girls, groups at risk of social exclusion and with a low socio-economic background. STEAMcat was developed by a working group made up of representatives of the Department of Education (coordinator) the Department of the Presidency (Secretariat for Telecommunications, Cybersecurity and the Digital Society), the Department of Business and Knowledge and each of the Catalan universities. The plan was officially presented on May 31, 2017 by the heads of the aforementioned ministries.

Each academic year, the STEAMcat programme selects 40 teachers (20 primary and 20 secondary) to participate in te STEAMcat programme. Selected teachers:

1. Carry out a STEAM center project for 3 years
2. Receive the designation of 'driving core' within their institution
3. Develop coordinating measures to coordinate actions between institutions
4. Participate in peer-learning events organised by the STEAMcat community
5. Collect and share activities within the project's community
6. Track progress of their STEAM center annually
7. Present a full evaluation of the outcome of their project

The STEAMcat pedagogical innovation supports participating schools through advice, the creation of the STEAMcat Community and by providing training and resources. Ultimately, the STEAMcat plan aims to raise STEM uptake among students in post-compulsary education by improving the perception of STEM as a career choice.

Aquí STEAM UPC is an initiative of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) to attract female talent to study technology and engineering. The programme is specifically aimed at girls between 9 and 14 years old in Catalonia. The program aims to break the stereotypes and gender roles established in society and make visible new female references in an attractive and close way for girls. The main objective of the e Aquí STEAM UPC is to:

• promote scientific-technological vocations, especially among primary school students
• break the stereotypes and gender roles associated with engineering and technology
• make visible new models and female referents in these fields
• empower girls and improve the knowledge of professionals linked to STEAM.

One of the key components of the project is a training programme aimed at teachers of primary and secondary schools, aimed at introducing a gender perspective in educational action, in accordance with the principles of co-education and equal opportunities. Schools participating in the project obtain:

1. Registration and free participation in the training program “How to incorporate STEAM actions in our schools. Designing action plans for primary and secondary education”, a workshop aimed at primary and secondary education teachers with didactic proposals to encourage scientific and technological vocations in the classroom from a gender perspective.
2. Recognition of schools that promote specific actions for gender equality and the promotion of scientific and technological vocations among their students through the Aquí STEAM UPC badge, which articulates the network of participating schools and institutes. The seal will establish a common framework for deploying pedagogical innovation projects in these areas in schools.
3. The registration and participation of schools in the program of activities to promote scientific and technological vocations organized by the UPC (talks, conferences, informative workshops, visits, etc.) in the framework of the actions of information and guidance of studies.
4. The creation of a space for the generation and experimentation of ideas and proposals that promotes new synergies between primary education and the University in the fields of the promotion of technological vocations and gender equality through a platform with practices , pedagogical resources for teachers, methodologies, activities for students, etc.

the Ministry of Education and Sports has been developing cooperation projects with leading entities in the aerospace industry, such as the European Space Agency (ESA) through the ESERO educational project, based in the Granada Science Park and Airbus Space, based in Seville. This type of collaboration has made it possible to verify the effectiveness of the STEAM methodology in general, and aerospace research in particular, in relation to increasing the capacities and competencies of students. Against this background, the General Directorate of Teacher Training and Educational Innovation has considered it essential to promote aerospace research projects, which favour the development and deepening of the basic competencies of students from the interdisciplinarity offered by a STEAM approach, putting the student in the role of a researcher focused on the advances of the aerospace study, its application to health research, technological advances in our society and advances in the prevention of climate change, in relation to the pillars of the Horizon Europe. In this context the Ministry of Education and Sports has launched the STEAM project «Aerospace Research applied to the classroom» which has as its main objective to bring the teaching staff and students of Andalusian public schools closer to the study and aerospace research applied to the classroom. The specific objectives of the project are:

• Train teachers in the manipulation of aerospace resources and kits provided by the European Space Agency and the Ministry of Education and Sport
• Guide participation in aerospace competitions
• Promote STEAM vocations in students, especially among female students, contributing to equal opportunities
• Guide teachers in planning aerospace visits

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.

‘Technology Understanding’ (Teknologiforstaelse) a.k.a. Informatics is a three-year pilot programme focused on introducing Informatics as a new subject in primary and lower secondary education (age: 6-16). The goal of this new subject is to develop the critical ability of students to (responsibly) use and shape technology, rather than just consuming it. In the pilot-phase the subject is tested both as an independent subject and as a ‘professionalism’ (integrated in multiple existing subjects including social studies, language and visual arts).

The pilot programme and its implementation is coordinated by the Danish ministry for Children and Education. The content of the subject has been prepared by an advisory expert group of around 20 scholars from universities, University Colleges, and ministry learning consultants as well as school teachers. 

The ojectives of the subject itself are to develop the students ability to (responsibly) use and shape technology. To achieve this the work done by students in the context of the subject focuses on four interrelated areas of competence:

• Digital empowerment: the ability to critically examine how technology is imbued with values and intentions, and how it shapes our lives as individuals, groups and as a society.
• Digital design and design processes: the ability to incrementally design digital artefacts with respect to the context of future use
• Computational thinking: the ability to analyse, model and structure data and data processes
• Technological competences: knowledge about principled function of computer systems, networks, security, privacy and programming skills

A short video explaining each of the competence areas and related activities can be found via the link above.

The objective of the three year pilot-phase is to test the new Informatics subject in two configurations (as a stand-alone subject and through integration in other subjects).