Primary Education

“The Education test” is a research-based test that aims to inform young people or pupils about educations and professions within STEM.  The test was created by psychologist Helge Brovold (NTNU) and takes 10-15 minutes to complete. Based on four different factors – personality, preferred learning method, personal and professional interests, the test presents occupations within STEM that might be suitable. The test result provides the pupil with information about his or her personality traits, how he or she learns best, and suggest some STEM occupations that fits their personality. After taking the test, the pupils may discuss the result with their parents or friends, and further evaluate different studies, careers and job opportunities. The main target group are pupils in junior high school and students in high school, but the test is also used in some universities to examine the students preferred learning methods and further to adjust the teaching methods.

NCSR (the Norwegian national STEM platform) has done focus groups to learn more about how young people make their choice of education. Its findings show that most youths have little knowledge about careers within STEM and what kind of occupations are eligible after studying STEM.
The education test aims to address this by providing the pupils with new ideas about what one can study and work with within STEM. In tandem to the test, the NCSR runs campaigns in social media throughout the year to inform the target audience about the test and the importance of educational choices.

The main goal of the programme is to make the pupils reflect on their interest, personality and their learning preferences in relation to STEM. Furthermore, the goal is to make the target audience aware of the different educations and jobs within STEM. The programme aims to:

• Inspire youths to choose STEM subjects and careers
• Provide the student with ideas about education choices and occupations within STEM
• Expand their horizon when it comes to their choice of education

These objectives are aligned with the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training’s STEM strategy – “Close to STEM” (see background documents).

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

Inspira STEAM is a pioneering project for the promotion of scientific-technological professions among girls. The programme is focused on awareness-raising and orientation actions through lectures ; mentoring by female professionals from the world of research, science and technology. At the heart of Inspira STEAM project are the mentors, who voluntarily bring their day-to-day lives closer to girls and boys (who are 11 years old) through six work sessions during school hours. Through the meetings between the mentor and the girls the project aims to help dispel doubts and objections about the professions in science and technology, clarify their motivations and strengthen their self-esteem to start this professional path.

It's the first time that the group-mentoring technique has been used in a project to promote STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) among elementary school students. The Inspira STEAM-project was developed in response to the need to promote scientific and technological vocations among students and the urgency to do so among girls who are underrepresented in these fields. The number of students who opt for technology training decreases every year. Among female, the figures are even worse: Despite the fact that 54.3% of all students in the Spanish university system are women, their presence in technical degrees such as Engineering and Architecture falls to 26.4%.

The core of the project are the mentoring-sessions. All of the mentors are scientists and technologists active in various fields: academic, business, research, management, etc. During the work sessions, topics such as gender stereotypes and the important role of women and science throughout History are addressed. With these meetings between the mentor and the girls, the aim is to help dispel doubts and objections about the professions in science and technology, clarify their motivations and strengthen their self-esteem to start this professional path. The main objectives of the project are:

• to facilitate new references of nearby female technologists
• to allow boys and girls discover STEAM professions
• to raise awareness of the need for the development of the country to occur between men and women
• career guidance in technology fields
• to make women technologists visible and valuing
• To make known the existing stereotypes so that they do not condition the choice of studies

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.

‘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).

#STEMhelden ('STEM heroes') is a media campaign consisting of short films for 10-14 year olds, their parents and their teachers.  The videos show that different STEM-profiles in companies solving a problem that effect the society, with a lot of attention for gender-sensitive language and images.

The objective of the initiative is to encourage more young people, and specifically girls, to enroll in STEM education and STEM oriented VET. Flanders, like so many countries, suffers from a shortage of STEM-profiles. The shortage of girls in STEM-jobs in particular is certainly remarkable. The shortage of girls is very clearly visible in more practically-oriented STEM-education in secondary schools (15-18 years of age). In Flanders, young people aged 15 and over can choose a study program. That is why it is important to provide them with an inspiring picture of what a job as a #STEMhero could look like before the age of 15.

During the Corona crisis, the health and care-professions were rightly praised, but it was less visible that the STEM professionals ensured that the country kept going. Think for example about the supply of electricity, the availability of the internet, etc. These are stories that the #STEM heroes series tries to tell.

The concept is always the same: a theoretically trained STEM professional and a practically trained STEM professional show how, together, they ensure that their company can solve a socially relevant problem. Examples include recycled plastic, safer and more environmental friendly cars, safety of money in the bank, easy access to job vacancies on the labour market,...

In Flanders, there are many STEM-initiatives, mostly independent of each other. The project of the STEM heroes links all the initiatives through a HUB operation. STEM is already embedded in their own regular functioning and the #STEMheroes helps strengthening the reach and impact of existing initiatives. The project is currently being organized by the Flemish STEM-platform and Technopolis.

The national program 'Building a School STEM Environment' aims to create new school centers - an integrated set of specially created and equipped learning spaces with a focus on the study and application of competencies in the field of natural sciences and mathematics in state and municipal schools in the country. Each school center will include the following elements:

• physical environment (improvement of the interior architecture and furnishing of existing spaces)
• technology (equipment)
• learning content,
• teaching methods
• management of the educational process.

The main objective of the programme is to create an integrated learning environment for a new generation in Bulgarian schools, which will encourage and support educational innovations in teaching and learning in the field of STEM, creativity and research. The investments will support the introduction of new teaching methods, raising the qualification of pedagogical specialists and creating new educational content in the direction of integrating the subject areas of STEM. The Program is in line with Bulgaria's Digital transformation Policy and National Science Strategy 2017-2030.

To achieve this, the programme is aimed at schools with (already) innovative practices and those with the potential to develop innovations in science, digital technology, engineering thinking and mathematics (STEM). The national program will create "models" in some Bulgarian schools for successfully investing in a comprehensive idea, including learning environment, technology, management, integrated content, qualifications and teaching methods. The 'Education of Bulgarians Abroad and School Network'-directorate is responsible for the implementation of the programmme.

As students and teachers continue to navigate the challenges presented by COVID 19, the collaborative platform Together 4 STEM, coordinated by CSR Europe, has launched STEM@Home: a digital learning platform with a rich collection of free, multi-lingual courses on STEM. The platform’s partners Amgen, IBM, and Johnson & Johnson, currently offer resources in English, French, Italian and Spanish, and cover age groups from 6 to early 20s.

The materials will support students and teachers with easily accessible world-class resources.  From “Elephant Toothpaste”, a course that helps explain chemical reactions to kids between the ages of 11 and 14 all the way through to  “Gene editing with CRISPR-Cas9”, or  “Cybersecurity Fundamentals”, teachers and students are one click away from building, developing and sharpening their STEM skills (see programme website for more information about the activities mentioned).

STEM@Home will continue to add new resources and expand beyond the pandemic to become a long-term reference point for digital education and effective remote learning.