The project “STEMitUP: Instilling interest for STEM entrepreneurship to young people across Europe” emerges from the need to stimulate entrepreneurship and encourage STEM uptake by making STEM-related courses fun and interesting for students of pre-primary, primary and secondary schools aged 4-15 and strategically planting a “seed of interest” that could grow into an exciting and rewarding STEM entrepreneurship career. The project responds to these needs through the fusion of STEM, Entrepreneurship and gender-sensitive Education and the development of a state-of-the-art professional development training programme targeting pre-service, in-service teachers and students of teacher education. To do this, it implements the innovative pedagogy of STEMitUP at European level and builds on the cooperation between universities, science museums, NGOs, SMEs and European networks. “STEMitUP” refers to the idiom “Spice it up” that means “make something more interesting or exciting”. STEMitUP aims at filling STEM teachers’ quiver with innovative and fun pedagogical tools and adding an entrepreneurial layer to STEM education will help youth apply STEM to solve real-world problems, to think creatively and to benefit their communities. STEMitUP activities will give emphasis to innovation and meeting society’s future needs, while stimulating the entrepreneurial mindsets of boys and girls equally so that they start thinking seriously about choosing STEM entrepreneurship as the best possible career. The objectives of the project are to: ▪Improve teacher training in the area of STEM entrepreneurship; ▪Develop students’ skills related to STEM entrepreneurship subjects; ▪Promote the increased participation of girls and other groups of learners at special risk of exclusion from scientific and entrepreneurial studies and careers by adopting an inclusive STEM entrepreneurship education model; ▪Encourage sharing of experiences from all partners across Europe to identify best practices for the incorporation of ideas related to science, technology and entrepreneurship in STEM classrooms and in teacher education; ▪Foster a mutually beneficial relationship between research communities in STEM entrepreneurship subjects, teacher networks and local education systems for the on-going advancement of the disciplines; ▪Facilitate the widespread dissemination and sustainability of resources and innovative pedagogical approaches to the wider EU community and internationally. The main activities of the project are: ▪Mapping of best practices at national, European and international level; ▪Development of STEMitUP activities for teachers and students; ▪Development of pedagogical material related to the STEMitUP activities; ▪Definition of a methodological framework for “fun” as a founding element of work; ▪Organisation of training events for teachers to create the conditions for the implementation of STEMitUP pedagogy and activities; ▪Organisation of multiplier events to widely disseminate the activities; ▪Coordination, management and monitoring of project activities and budget. Partners will work on the basis of a detailed plan of activities, tasks, objectives and deadlines monitored by the project coordinator, the project’s “critical friend” and specific output and task leaders. The proposed activities will go through phases of development, pilot testing, evaluation and finalisation to become sustainable and transferable. The wider impact of the project is guaranteed through a series of multiplier events and the use of partners’ dissemination channels. The results and envisaged impact will be the following: ▪Increased motivation for students towards STEM-related and entrepreneurship subjects; ▪Increased awareness by students of the relevance and functionality of STEM entrepreneurship, which could lead to an increase in the number of students taking up academic studies and careers related to STEM disciplines. ▪Improved problem-solving and critical thinking skills, reasoning, and literacy, both to facilitate science education and to produce scientifically literate citizens; ▪Greater implementation of inquiry-based teaching methods and interdisciplinary approaches by teachers; ▪Engagement of students to STEM entrepreneurship from an early age; ▪Increased interest of parents and the general public in science and technology through social-media interest, stakeholders’ involvement etc. ▪Increased number of women in STEM-related studies; ▪Enhanced STEM entrepreneurship levels, decreasing over the long-term youth unemployment, while boosting job creation and growth; ▪Increased number of STEM startups due to improved innovation capacity.
The project “STEMitUP (Instilling interest for STEM entrepreneurship to young people across Europe) was designed to stimulate entrepreneurship and encourage STEM uptake by making STEM-related courses fun and interesting for students aged 4-15. It was also designed to plant “seeds of interest” that could grow into rewarding STEM entrepreneurship careers. Adding an entrepreneurial layer to STEM education helps young people to apply scientific and mathematical to solve real-world problems, to think creatively and to benefit their communities. STEMitUP developed a range of gender-sensitive activities to promote scientific and entrepreneurial thinking, which are now available for download on the project website: https://www.stemitup.eu The project achieved this through its fusion of STEM, Entrepreneurship and gender-sensitive Education, and the development of a state-of-the-art professional development training programme, targeting pre-service and in-service teachers. It implemented the innovative activities of STEMitUP at European level through cooperation between universities, science museums, NGOs, SMEs and their European networks. The project has also produced state-of-the-art reports on STEM entrepreneurship, which is a neglected, trans-disciplinary area in European education. These are also available from the website. All the objectives of the project were achieved, as follows: 1) STEMitUP improved teacher training in the area of STEM entrepreneurship by providing materials and workshops. 2) STEMitUP developed students’ skills related to STEM entrepreneurship subjects, through workshops and a science fair. 3) STEMitUP promoted the increased participation of girls and other groups of learners at special risk of exclusion from scientific and entrepreneurial studies and careers, by adopting an inclusive STEM entrepreneurship education model. 4) STEMitUP encouraged sharing of experiences from all partners across Europe to identify best practices for the incorporation of ideas related to science, technology and entrepreneurship in STEM classrooms and in teacher education; 5) STEMitUP fostered a mutually beneficial relationship between research communities in STEM entrepreneurship subjects, teacher networks and local education systems for the on-going advancement of the disciplines; 6) STEMitUP facilitated the widespread dissemination and sustainability of resources and innovative pedagogical approaches to the wider EU community and internationally, through its website https://www.stemitup.eu, The main activities of the project included: 1) Mapping of best practices at national, European and international level; 2) Development of STEMitUP activities for teachers and students; 3) Development of pedagogical material related to STEMitUP activities; 4) Definition of a methodological framework for “fun” as a founding element of work; 5) Organisation of training events for teachers to create the conditions for the implementation of STEMitUP activities; 6) Organisation of multiplier events to widely disseminate project activities;. Report Form The potential impact of STEMitUP will depend on long-term trends in entrepreneurship education in general, and the interaction between entrepreneurship and other trends in STEM education, such as inquiry-based learning. We identified some of these trends in two of the main documents resulting from the project: IO1, the national state of the art report and IO2, the consolidated report on STEM entrepreneurship in Europe. In order to provide robust evidence of impact, the project would, however, need to collect data for a considerable length of time after the end of its official funding period, which is not possible under the current arrangements. Areas where the project has achieved potential impact included: • Increased motivation for students towards STEM-related and entrepreneurship subjects; • Increased awareness by students of the relevance and functionality of STEM entrepreneurship, leading to a probable increase in the number of students taking up academic studies and careers related to STEM disciplines. • Improved problem-solving and critical thinking skills, reasoning, and literacy, both to facilitate science education and to increase the scientific literacy of citizens; • Greater implementation of inquiry-based teaching methods and related interdisciplinary approaches by teachers; • Engagement of students in STEM entrepreneurship from an early age; • Increased interest of parents and the general public in science and technology • Increased number of women in STEM-related studies; • Enhanced STEM entrepreneurship levels, leading, in the long term to reduced youth unemployment, while boosting job creation and growth; • Increased number of STEM startups due to improved innovation capacity.