What is ARTIFEX? ARTIFEX is an ERASMUS+ project designed to establish a practical European framework for STEM education in innovative out-of-the-classroom learning environments. The project focuses on student-centered and problem-based active learning using multi- and interdisciplinary tools offered by community spaces such as FabLabs and Makerspaces with an open access to high-tech manufacturing equipment. ARTIFEX aims to • Provide transparent and easily accessible information on contemporary competences required from engaged STEM workers in the current and future European labor market and society. • Provide and disseminate new contents, tools and pedagogical approaches (access to new learning resources) in the context of FabLabs and encourage the transfer of these approaches to other similar open community spaces (Maker Spaces, Hackerspaces, Techshops ….), specifically open access online professional development tool. • Provide and disseminate a self-assessment tool structured around key areas of teachers’ and educators’ teaching for STEM competencies. • Identify and promote examples of European good practices (transferability) which are embedded in national curricula. Questions addressed by ARTIFEX • Which competences are needed by teachers or educators to teach STEM in the context of open and high tech community spaces like FabLabs? • How can teachers and educators support student’s creativity, problem-solving, collaborations, communication and other 2st century skills related to STEM competences? • How can high tech open community spaces contribute to link formal, non-formal and informal learning? • How can teachers and educators identify priorities to their own professional development for supporting student learning of STEM competences in the context of FabLabs? • Which competences are required from STEM workers in the contemporary and future labor markets and how does that relate to the teaching of such competences in the context of FabLabs? ARTIFEX will produce • An ARTIFEX Book with a listing of STEM professions and the competences required by the labour market and a vision on the teaching and learning process to develop STEM literacy of learners. • An online self-assessment tool structured around key areas of teachers’ and educators’ educational competences. • An eSCAN to provide transparent and easily accessible information on contemporary educational competences required from teachers and STEM educators. • An eCourse: an open access online professional development tool for teachers and teacher trainers. • An online repository with educational good practices that provide and disseminate new contents, tools and pedagogical approaches (access to new learning resources) in the context of FabLabs and encourage the transfer of these approaches to other similar open community spaces (Maker Spaces, Hackerspaces, Techshops ….). • An interactive open e-learning platform for teachers, teacher trainers and STEM educators giving them access to the outputs of the project and a platform to interact with each other. For whom? • Policy-makers as multiplication drivers. • Teachers from primary and secondary education, professionals in high tech open community spaces, students and trainees as the final end-beneficiaries.
Short summary www.teachstem.eu is an initiative developed under the ARTIFEX project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the EU. Its aim is to provide support and resources for STEM teachers to improve their practices and methodologies, further the specific STEM partnerships at schools and communities, and provide insights to policy makers with regard to the existing models and the challenges we all face in re-shaping our education and training systems and strengthening them with STEM-competences. Description. STEM is a very large field of work and exploration. With the ARTIFEX project and through the learning platform (see link above), the project attempts to help educators identify their personal strengths and weaknesses with regard to teaching STEM, and to assist them in improving their skills and competences by providing ready-to-use practical workshops. The learning platform offers the following components. Self-assessment tool for teachers and educators Our ARTIFEX SAT was built and tested by university researchers of Antwerp University and Karlstad University and it helps teachers and practitioners who wish to integrate STEM in their classes and workshops better understand their strengths and weaknesses with regard to teaching STEM in relation to the 21st Century Skills. Based on a short questionnaire, the tool will recommend personalized workshop scripts and instructions tailored to the specific competences and activity areas which an educator chooses to improve. This tool is available in different languages. Workshops Developers in Belgium (Stedelijk Onderwijs Antwerpen and Artevelde Hogeschool), Italy (H-Farm), Sweden (Karlstad University, teacher learning department), Greece (Ellinogermanika Agogi) have designed and tested a collection of STEM workshops. Each workshop comes with a set of instructions - difficulty level, group size, materials, activities, timing. All workshops were peer reviewed and tested on their impact by several dozen European schools. Their comments and additions have been included in the workshops as inspiring practices for their colleague teachers. STEM is a fun way for students to learn an important set of skills and be better prepared for their future workplace. With the help of the Assessment Tool and workshops, teachers can improve their competences. Best practices, some ideas for policy makers Successful STEM education typically requires cooperation between schools, teachers, students, local authorities and communities, and the business. The University of Antwerp has collected on www.teachstem.eu interesting cooperation models from different EU countries to help policy makers understand the variety of possibilities when designing STEM policies on a local or a regional level. Insights Read what people who currently hold STEM-related occupations say about their work, their vision for the future of their jobs and sectors, and the challenges ahead for education. Or go to www.teachstem.eu to read about the ARTIFEX research. In a collaboration between the University of Antwerp and the University of Karlstad, Belgian and Swedish teachers were asked about their feelings of competence, and their concerns regarding working in a high-tech informal learning environment. Reach All elements of the tool and project are freely available on the learning platform www.teachstem.eu