As too often we ignore the creative aspects of STEM in our classroom teaching and focus on routine exercises and the repetition of procedures. In doing so, we are unlikely to spark enthusiastic responses to the subject from the children. Not too many children say that Mathematics is their favorite lesson and yet it could be so easily. Engineering is often described as the study of pattern which might help to explain its strong connections with art, leading to some of the most creative aspects of it.Integrating practical and theoretical knowledge in primary education institutions` curricula can provide opportunities for students to gain the skills needed now and in the future on the labor market, and thus improve their future employability. The local authorities in each participating country have identified a need to improve the quality of education in STEM subjects, particularly on the field of ICT, Numeracy and Business Studies for future employability, therefore the Strategic Partnership will support a project-based collaboration between students and staff, to develop, test and adopt a joint curriculum between participating Primary Schools, based on an exhaustive needs analysis and focusing on a “real-life” transnational approach.The aim of the project is to develop children's STEM (STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skills by introducing them to LEGO Robotics. Project objectives* To increase students’ interest in STEM education and careers and introduced them to all available new trends in technology.* To provide tools and methodologies to facilitate the acquisition of STEM skills.* To develop collaborative partnership between schools and the wider community in formal, non-formal and informal learning.* To tackle the shortfall in women in the STEM sector at European level and increasing drop out rates of girls in STEM.Further to the above objectives we are to improve the quality of education in STEM and business studies and to increase the take-up of these subjects in upper secondary and higher education. The Strategic Partnership will support the development of better progression routes into higher education and graduation, with a specific focus on non-traditional learners, such as students from under-represented groups or with disadvantaged backgrounds, by transferring and testing innovative approaches.Robotics has established itself in recent years as a very useful educational tool, although emerging, especially in scientific and technological education. Educational robotics has been present in University, Polytechnic and professional stimulated by numerous competitions that are promoted as the First Lego League (FLL) and the RoboCup Junior. Our project will include founding LEGO clubs in each school and these LEGO clubs are used as an opportunity to introduce business studies to children at very young age. Our pupils will run these clubs as real businesses and learn how challenging and complex can it be to take part in entrepreneurship. These processes will involve creating business plans, how to set up a business, what legal identity is the best suitable, how to register with authorities. Also to step into the work of marketing which can teach them to repreThe Strategic Partnership will also imply teaching/learning activities, including student mobility. The final result is the adaptation of the model, its implementation by participating Primary Schools and the dissemination to organisations beyond the partnership, aiming in particular at other education providers and key policy-maker.The project activities involve staff exchange between the participating organisations, with the aim of exchanging experiences and good practice. The partners share materials and resources, and develop units of cross-curricular work in STEM and business studies, that are tested in primary schools. At the same time, a research compilation in the field is conducted, and discussed during a transnational meeting where a final handbook is developed and plans the testing and evaluation of the improved methodologyThe contributions made during the project work will be published in English and national languages. It will be presented to the attention of the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education, youth and science and other cultural institutions connected to the topic. The virtual exhibition will popularize the European heritage. The results from all activities will be popularized and published. The schools intend to make use of the results of this project in their educational implementations. To ensure sustainability and dissemination of project results, the Strategic Partnership foresees conferences at local, national and European level, as well as designs jointly a follow-up strategy.
The main purpose of using robots for education is to alleviate the effort and time that students will spend of learning subjects. Robots have the ability to get the attention of students making it easier for them to understand the lessons. Throughout the life span of this project, students have demonstrated an understanding of how to program robots and computers, with an emphasis on the team approach to problem solving utilizing various robotics for education equipment like Ozobot, Sphero, Lego EV3, Parrot Drone, Mbot, etc. Number and profile of participating organisations; The project has had 4 partners working together from UK (2x), ITA and TUR. The project coordinator school was St Brigid`s PS who had put STEM and ICT in particular in the forefront of their school development plan, starting with investing into new IT devices and actively seeking for sponsors to achieve their goals. Description of undertaken main activities; 1. Cooperation between schools took place both at peers and teachers` level, mostly via Skype, but eTwinning (TwinSpace) proved to be a great platform as well as Paddlet and Facebook. Teachers used emails, messanger and Whatsup as well. The regular Skype meetings allowed our pupils to meet, socialise and work efficiently with their european peers and it proved to be a great success in each year with all KS classes we got involved. 2. In school activities: Robotics for Maths, Lego EV3, Sphero and Scratch for visual programming, while BBC Micro:bit for text based coding. Our Robotics to Mars was a great success which combined Maths, ICT, WAU subjects with almost endless material provided by ESA and NASA. Code week and Hour of Code (an EU initiative) made it possible for us to get further recognition for our work by obtaining certificates issued by HoC. 3. Other activities: Lego in School, Robotics Competition, Be an Engineer, Space & Astronomy, Webinars and trainings for teachers, Basic programming. Results and impact attained; A. For the first two years of this project, we have already obtained both the National eTwinning Quality Labels and the Europen eTwinning Quality Label, and for this year (final year) we have already received the National QL while waiting for the European one to be announced in October time. B. All schools participated in the Code Week initiative and received Certificate of Achievement. C. As promised in our application, all partners used different classes each year and aimed for different age-groups as well. Through eTwinning, teachers were asked to host webinars, partially for dissamination purpose, but also to attract more schools to join our project on a voluntary bases.