"The ICT road to STEM through TCC" is a project aiming to develop skills in STEM and ICT because these skills are becoming an increasingly important part of basic literacy for everybody nowadays. New technologies are engineered and emerge every day, and those people who can use their knowledge in STEM to solve new problems will be the ones to produce marketable products and services. Concepts at the heart of STEM, curiosity, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking, happen to be innate in young children and are skills in demand in the society and the European labor market. These demands call for a fundamental change in the education systems and our approach to teaching and learning.Six European primary schools decided to take part in a STEM project initiated by our common needs to adopt new and creative learning strategies and teaching methods in order to prepare our pupils for the 21st century skills, adjust our curricula and create high-quality learning environment for our pupils building upon their natural inclination to explore, create, and question. The partnership will be led by Årum skole, Norway, which has experience from two previous Comenius projects together with the Belgian partner who was the main coordinator in the last one. Poland has also participated in a Comenius project but Slovakia, Latvia and Finland are new to this kind of international projects.All partners are enthusiastic about the project and all will bring specific and complementary expertise and competence needed to obtain the objectives of the project. The main methods used in the project are:- The three lane ICT road to STEM; one lane for learning, development and innovation which will be tested, evaluated and adjusted in the second lane, before dissemination of results, teaching plans and tasks/challenges to the target groups and other stakeholders in the third lane - Transnational collaboration and communication between teachers and pupils by means of ICT- The teachers attending transnational meetings will share new ideas, knowledge and skills with their colleagues in workshops after each meetingThe project objectives:- promote innovative and motivating methods in the organisations that will lead to high-quality teaching and learning in STEM- improve the teachers` and the pupils` skills for transnational collaboration and communication by ICT.- develop a program for teaching and learning coding, a plan for persistent transnational collaboration in STEM education- improved digital judgment and awareness of e-safety issues- increased the girls`motivation for STEM- disseminate results to target groups and stakeholdersActivitiesThere will be four project meetings to monitor and evaluate each step in the project. Two LTT meetings are planned to: exchange good practice, learn new methods, develop and invent teaching strategies in STEM education. The pupils share their outcomes of STEM challenges and tasks by using their new and/or improved skills. They also collaborate and communicate on tasks, results and outcomes using Office 365. The outcomes will be available on the websites as well for dissemination. The host school for every meeting invites the local press and stakeholders.Expected results- content curriculum of STEM topics comprising a number of documents concerning Internet safety, coding, description of innovative scientific methods and manuals for pupils- a portfolio of electronic resources composed of applications and software for teaching and learning coding, making stop motion animation, trailers and educational games, audio and video documents and real-time digital collaboration.- improved methods for teaching and learning STEM, by exchange of good practice and inventing new strategies through transnational collaboration and communication- increased motivation for STEM education, and especially a change in the girls` attitude towards STEM subjects.- teachers and pupils have an increased awareness of being a European citizen and of Europe as a lifelong learning area- developed a plan for persistent transnational collaboration in STEM educationOverall impactThe schools have moved a few steps further towards meeting our common challenges as described in E. We observe changes in our approach to educational challenges, increased competences in learning and teaching STEM and the use of ICT tools and transnational level. All the schools will have improved or gained new competence in using Office 365. The teachers have improved their knowledge and skills related to teaching and learning methods in STEM making the pupils better prepared for the demands of the future society. The pupils have increased experience regarding the 21st century skills used in tasks through the project period. Impact in the long term- the expansion of the number of students who ultimately pursue advanced degrees and careers in STEM fields and particulary women- increased STEM literacy for most students
Our project was a project aiming to develop skills in STEM (Science, Technology, Engeenering, Math) and ICT for pupils, teachers in 6 primary schools: Belgium, Finland, Norway, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia. Some met at a Contact Seminar in the STEM field. Norway and Belgium had been partners in two Comenius projects. Poland was experienced as well, but not the 3 others. The beneficiary School was "Årum skole", Norway. We started this project with common needs to adapt new learning strategies and teaching methods in order to prepare our pupils for the 21st century skills, adjust our curricula and create high-quality learning environment for our pupils. We also paid attention to girls` motivation for STEM. The overall objectives; Promote innovative, motivating methods that will lead to high-quality teaching and learning in STEM. Improve the teachers` and pupils` skills for transnational collaboration, communication. Improved skills for teachers and pupils in ICT related to STEM activities. Develop a program for teaching, learning coding. Improved digital judgment on e-safety issues. Increase girls` motivation for STEM. Making a plan for persistent transnational collaboration in STEM education between partners Disseminate results to target groups, stakeholders. Methods, activities: The document called “The three lanes road” was the main guideline. Lane 1 for learning, development and innovation of organizations, which was tested, evaluated, adjusted in lane 2 for Transnational Collaboration and Communication between teachers and pupils by means of ICT. Lane 3 was for dissemination of the results during/after the project period. Another key document was an assessment plan with an overall view of the project`s objectives, expected results and the assessment tools that we planned to use, and did use, to measure our achievements. We created a common platform in Office 365 for sharing documents, collaboration and monitoring of the project. The teachers and the pupils took part in 3 inquiries (in English) during the project period, created in Office 365 using Forms. There were 2 learning meetings for teachers (Finland, Poland), where teachers gained new skills in coding, created manuals for teaching coding to different grades, learned “The Scientific Research Method”, “Nysgjerrigper”, learned different movie making applications, and created ideas for “The Big Challenge" (STEM challenges) on different levels for all pupils and all grades. Participants exchanged their good methods, shared new ideas, knowledge and skills and took it back home, sharing it with their colleagues in workshops. There were 4 project meetings (Belgium, Latvia, Slovakia, Norway). During these meetings we learned to use Skype for Business, Office 365 as a common platform for communication and collaboration. We increased our knowledge about e-safety issues and developed a plan to teach pupils at all grades about safety on internet and preparing parents` meetings on the same topic. The project was evaluated; the process, management, communication, making sure that the planned activities were consistent with the objectives and the impact on participants so far. We discussed project reports and analyzed the 3 inquiries. Partners and participants communicated using Skype, e-mail and some of the oldest pupils tried to cooperate in joint documents. We also monitored and evaluated our project in 2 Skype meetings with all coordinators. Results, impact achieved: All activities have been carried out as planned and the objectives have, in our opinion, been met in a successful way. The participants, participating organisations have: - improved competences in transnational cooperation, communication - Improved motivation for STEM - improved knowledge, skills in teaching STEM; The Science Research Method - learned how to teach coding on different age levels - improved skills in using ICT - increased awareness on E-safety for teachers, pupils and parents - created a plan for further transnational cooperation,communication between partners - improved professional development by learning from each other`s expertise on certain domains - improved skills in using a foreign language, increased awareness of being European citizens Sustainability The project outcome has been disseminated by a link from each school`s website to our common platform in Office 365. A revised overview of useful information, documents and other materials is published on https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/ We will integrate the new teaching methods for STEM education through TCC in the school`s curricula and strategic documents. The working methods, learning strategies used by pupils and teachers in the project have given us valuable experience in deep learning strategies that we will develop further. Our plan for future collaboration with the partners will ensure that we maintain and further improve our new skills as to ICT and STEM education.