Automata are Mechanical Toys, small Kinetic Art sculptures with high significance. An Automata might be seen as a syncretism between engineering, cultural awareness and artistic expression. As other manual artifacts, Automata are child tailored communication device and can be defined as “story telling mechanical sculptures”. Automata‘s motion can be created in various ways: by batteries, solar energy but more simply and commonly through mechanical & manual tools. The lower part, their base, being constituted by a set of mechanical elements (cams, cranks, gears, ratchets, levers etc.) and the upper part being a totally “off the top of the soul” product, a little fantasy work. Automata are thus a good introduction to engineering, mechanics and science, through syncretism between game and technical principles. Furthermore Automata’s history is very ancient and going into the latter means to deepen into cultural awareness. The steps occurring to realize an Automata enact several pedagogical implications for learning at all ages. In this project, A STEM partners (Portugal, Italy, UK, Norway, Bulgaria) have decided to focus on the value of Arts in all fields of learning and, specifically, on the connubial between Arts and Science, narration and empiric experience, using Automata as a vehicle for curiosity and motivation towards STEM at a very early stage of education ( children aged 4- 7 years old). These children are the final beneficiaries of this proposal. The latter, on the other hand is directly addressed to teachers of pre-school and primary school, in order to equip them with tools and stimuli to render STEM subject appealing and , at the same time , promoting cooperative learning and a greater inclusion of young learners with special needs. The project approach is based on the combination of narratives and mechanical movement toys (Automata), creating “science fiction stories” suitable for children of that age, represented by means of tools and toys creating movement. Automata stories can introduce elementary engineering and physics , geology and other Science contents while enhancing other abilities and attitudes with very affordable equipment made solely of recycled materials. Project is aimed at providing pre-school and primary school teachers, educators and in general all the stakeholders of a series of tools/ materials that will enable them to use automata for STEM in an autonomous way, making use of Automata Toys construction. A STEM project foresees the creation of NR 3 Intellectual Outputs that include a complete set (Toolkit ) of didactic materials (guidelines ,activities, evaluation grids) (IO1); pedagogic guidelines and methodological guidelines (IO2) and an online and offline training programme for teachers (IO3). During project life, more than 200 teachers will be trained and guided through the piloting process and the products will be disseminated online and offline to more than 20.000 contacts. Considerable impact is expected by the exchange of knowledge and practices among a partnership covering a very extended geographical range, implying considerable difference at cultural level and in the domain of the education. All the products will be accessible from the website of the project linked to the website of partners and to the facebook page and the other social network spaces. The project's products will be at the use of : 1 Child school and Primary school teachers, educators, educators of special needs students 2. Child school and Primary school pupils 3. Stakeholders of child school and primary school education (social cooperatives, associations participating to extracurricular activities, children community centres, municipalities, parents associations, special needs pupils associations etc.)
Welcome to Automata for STEM in early ages Erasmus+ project! Automata are mechanical toys, small kinetic art sculptures. Each automaton is constituted by a set of mechanical elements and a figure or figures with a narrative, totally “off the top of the soul” product, a creative work. Automata can thus be a good introduction to engineering, mechanics and science, through syncretism between game and technical principles. Furthermore, Automata’s history is very ancient and going into the latter means to deepen into cultural awareness. The steps occurring to realize an Automata enact several pedagogical implications for learning at all ages. In AutoSTEM project, partners (Portugal, Italy, UK, Norway, Bulgaria) used Automata as a vehicle for curiosity and motivation towards STEM at a very early stage of education (children aged 4 - 7 years old). These children are the final beneficiaries, but the project also directly addressed teachers of pre-school and primary school, in order to equip them with tools to render STEM subject appealing and, at the same time, promoting cooperative learning and inclusion of all learners. AutoSTEM main results focused then on capacity building of teachers and educators to use automata to promote motivation for STEM and transversal competences. In this scope 3 tangible outputs were also developed: • IO1 Automata School Piloting Toolbox – Activities and Materials • IO2 Guidance and Case Studies book • IO3 Online Course IO1 Automata School Piloting Toolbox includes a complete set of didactic materials: Teacher step by step guide presents the pedagogical framework to use automata to implement an interdisciplinary approach, considering that when planning and constructing an automaton, children can explore STEM areas, discover relationships and connections between the different disciplines and develop different competencies, including problem-solving, group work or creativity. The pedagogical framework developed for the project also considered the crucial role of play for children development, that it can be an opportunity to create new meanings and understandings. The Toolbox includes Pedagogical guidelines and construction instructions for 17 automata implemented during the project as well as Reporting and Evaluation templates and examples of scenarios and narratives. IO2 Guidbook and Case Studies include a guide for teachers and educators, organized with QR codes directed to all the important documents, videos or pages and a case studies booklet that report on some of the findings from workshops and teacher training by the project partners in their countries. The AutoSTEM Online Teachers’ Course (IO3) is designed as a modular course that teachers and educators can use to understand the project better and learn how to use the project’s resources autonomously. During project life, approx. 400 teachers were trained and guided through the piloting process and 800 children participated in activities of the project. Results from evaluation pointed that the project made a very positive impact on teachers, they were curious and enthusiastic about the pedagogical proposals and wanted to learn more about how to implement automata in their classes. They also expressed willingness to continue implement the project and recommended it to other teachers. Benefits for the children are a core result of AutoSTEM, which include the development of interest towards Science and STEM, in general, but also the development of transversal competences as communication, creativity, problem solving, cooperation, positive emotions, wellbeing. The piloting brought evidences that making and playing with automata can help children to understand mathematics and science concepts in a better and deeper way and of the value of the project to promote intrinsic motivation, engagement and transversal competences referred above. From the dissemination point of view, the project reached also important results in terms of networking and promotion, with 11 campaigns, the videos available on 5 channels with 76,860 views, five webinars and four online workshops, 20 presentations in national and international conferences, 6 papers published in international journals, 2 book chapters and several abstracts and papers in proceedings. Interest about AutoSTEM project and resources are also evident taking in account its implementation foreseen in a near future. Together with the resources and benefits, this guarantees that the project will continue contributing to the development and wellbeing of children and teachers! AutoSTEM website https://www.autostem.info/