In a series of in-depth interviews we (Asturias4Steam - the STEM strategy of the Asturias region, Spain) have showcased the work of STEM teachers in the region and more importantly their wishes and different points of view about the purpose and nature of STEM education.

So far we have published 10 interviews mostly undertaken during COVID-19 lockdown. We’re particularly proud of the diversity of profiles. So far we had conversations with a mix of teachers and headteachers from primary, secondary and VET schools. Professionals with different backgrounds, years of experience and roles. Some of them teach Maths, science, technology, engineering but we’ve also collected interesting insights from a philosophy teacher and a primary school headteacher.

Quite interestingly this was also an opportunity to spot some recurrent patterns and demands in all the conversations we had so far. Teachers are mainly interested in knowing and learning from what other teachers do. So this has led us to start thinking about shaping a school visits programme to promote and facilitate this cross-pollination of ideas and expertise. Maybe some members of the EU Stem Coalition could give us some pointers?

Another interesting insight is the call for more flexible arrangement of the school timetable and curriculum, particularly to facilitate team-teaching in STEM. All the interviews are published in Asturias4STEAM blog (see link above) and disseminated through our twitter account (@asturias4steam) but we are seriously considering compiling them in a publication as it provides a real insight into the STEM action that’s going on in our schools and classrooms. We’ll keep you posted.

In addition, we've also interviewed some researchers (eg. Louise Archer, Science Capital) and people behind interesting STEM initiatives in neighbouring countries eg. Ange Ansour from Savanturiers, France. Last but not least, we've been regularly producing summaries in spanish of STEM education research articles published in peer-reviewed journals in order to make them accessible to our teachers.

The first two taskforces aimed at a possible Jet-Net-inspired programme in the region of Bretagne, France have been scheduled. Due to COVID-19 measures, the first meeting will take place completely digitally on June 12, 2020. Several EU STEM Coalition partners prepared virtual presentations about their Jet-Net programmes and experience. At the meeting a wide range of key-stakeholders from the region of will participate.

If successful, a follow-up meeting (in person) will take place on August 27-28, 2020 to continue the development of a pilot programme. 

A full meeting report will be posted in this taskforce dossier directly after each meeting. 

The different regional networks in the zdi-community in the German region of North Rhine-Westphalia have responded to the COVID-19 crises by developing several online offers for students (see previous article).

A ZDI Network – also referred to as a ZDI Centre – is a regional partnership of players from politics, schools, universities, enterprises and other partners involved in education who wish to foster young people’s skills in STEM fields. Each ZDI Network is different and tailored to the specific requirements of its region.

Students who would like to learn about programming their own games can now register for online webinars “Learning about online programming with scratch!”. The course covers in total four hours, distributed at two succeeding afternoons. The target group includes boys and girls starting from the seventh grade.

Other online webinars cover topics like “how to design and program a website”, a basic class about CAD 3D Design and “STEM-very close – how to save the world with mathematics!”. To promote the webcourses, the organisers rely on the cooperation with STEM teachers in the region who are informing their students about these possibilities. The online courses are highly sought-after.

Further information is available at the zdi-network’s website (German only - see link above)

In addition to the digitalisation of specific programmes (see other articles in this series) the Norwegian National Centre for Science Recruitment organised special inspiration sessions with Microsoft. In this session Microsoft presented how Norway developed a special app to track the spread of COVID-19 in Norway, with specific focus on the use of AI. Over 300 students (age 15-18) participated via Zoom in the interactive sessions.

In addition to the technical dimensions of the project, the ethical questions surrounding the location-tracking of individuals were discussed during the session. 

LUMA Centre Finland, the network of Finnish universities has gone fully digital in an extensive quantum leap. Due to the lockdown of the country including its educational sectors that has been in place since March, the LUMA community was forced to shift to virtual platforms and activities almost overnight. LUMA activities have been supported by online resources for years which facilitated the quick adaptation of interactive virtual events, camps, workshops and scientific and educational meetings. Currently, thirteen virtual courses are offered for teachers, educators and teacher students through the LUMA network. Some of these courses are included as teacher training courses for teachers in training in different fields of sciences.

One of the biggest challenges has been to take the StarT Science Festivals (one of LUMA's largest activities) online by introducing StarT Go Edu! This is a virtual science club in which anyone can participate anywhere at any time. Accessed through the LUMA website (see below) it allows one to join in and indulge various aspects of scientific research: Just watch the videos, see the instructions and carry out your own investigations - and observe the environment!

New activities, training materials, adaptations of various scientific topic are currently being developed by researchers and teachers in collaboration and co-operation. simultaneously research projects are launched to support the development projects and the assessment of the impact of the activities. Recent findings and results will be shared via the LUMAT virtual conference on science education in the beginning of June.

To learn more about LUMA's response to COVID-19 measures and other activities, please see the links below:

• LUMA Centre Finland:  link 

• LUMA News:  link 

• International LUMAT research symposium: link

• StarT national and international science festivals online: link

• Information on Climate Change Webcourse:  link

Zukunft Durch Innovation (ZDI) is the regional STEM platform in the North Rhine-Westfalia, a state in the west of Germany with a total population of 18 million people backed at regional level by three ministries. ZDI focuses on inspiring young people to choose STEM careers, ensuring the availability of sufficient STEM teachers and introduce young people to socially relevant topcis related to technology at a young age.

ZDI's objectives implemented through ZDI networks. A ZDI Network – also referred to as a ZDI Centre – is a regional partnership of players from politics, schools, universities, enterprises and other partners involved in education who wish to foster young people’s skills in STEM fields. Each ZDI Network is different and tailored to the specific requirements of its region.

Equipped with a camera and microphone, young people can continue to take part in a wide range of extra-curricular vocational and study-oriented measures offered by the ZDI-networks. These include new initiatives launched in response to the pandemic. For example, the ZDI Network based in Cologne offers introductory webcourses tailored to young people focused on app development, the programming language scratch and webdesign (see link above).

For more information about the activities of individual ZDI Networks please visit the ZDI website or contact us directly.

The University of Turin (Italy), in partnership with Joh Hopkins University (US), University of Ontario Institute of Technology (Canada), Alfred University (US) and the University of Catania (Italy) organised a weekly series of webinars on STEM remote learning in higher education. 

The webinars are freely available via the youtube channel of the initiative. The first webinar focused on the topic of online STEM assessment and evaluation in tertiary level. Each webinar starts with an hour-long presentation on the topic followed by an hour long tructured Q&A-session.

Immediately after the lockdown, Technopolis (Flemish science / do centre) launched the #LockdownLab, a series of do-it-yourself experiments that transform your kitchen (or garage or garden) into an instant test lab. Every day of the week, Technopolis posts new experiments and challenges on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. In this way, Technopolis tries to fascinate children and young people with science and to experiment during the lockdown. In addition, extra attention is paid to the extensive test database on the Technopolis website. Up-to-date information about the coronavirus is provided via weekly blog posts distributed via Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Because young people are an important target group, Technopolis recently joined forces with the popular online youth platform TAGMAG. Through a series of challenges performed by TAGMAG influencers, Technopolis is taking important steps to significantly expand its reach among young people.

In addition, during the pre-teaching period, Technopolis also encourages teachers to experiment. A new series of experiments was visualized especially for them under the heading Science @ sool. Teachers will now regularly find new experiments on the Facebook page "Technopolis for Teachers" that they can show to their students or - better yet - perform live (in front of the camera or soon in front of the class). Based on this brand new experiment series, Technopolis wants to help teachers fascinate students with STEM so that as many students as possible (continue to) choose a STEM study.