The very dynamic social-economic context that we live in requires active measures to stimulate innovation, which remains tightly coupled with science, Technology, Engineering and Math, subjects that most of the students nowadays are not interested in or they are afraid of, considering them too heavy, bringing no satisfaction, but also with Arts, which can be a valuable asset for entrepreneurs (cultural heritage counts for EU -report, 2015). Making changes in the way of teaching/learning process, in order to change the wrong perception that students manifest for sciences, math and technologies and show them how beneficial are these subjects on a long term. EDINN aims to „embed in schools elements of entrepreneurship behaviour„ considering that movement to integrate art and design in the equation of sciences is a condition to innovation, a chance for economic growth in the poor areas all over the world. If we are talking about global businesses and open society we must develop tolerance, overcome prejudice and accept cultural diversity and these can be achieved through the experience of living and studying in a multicultural and intercultural environment. Partners, by their shared experience and best practices, bring added value, results of the European dimension. The specific objectives of this project are: O1. to improve knowledge, abilities and competencies of working in the formal/ non-formal frame for 50 teachers (different subjects) from Romania, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Finland and the Czech Republic, to share good practices on entrepreneurial mindset through STEAM. O2. to improve the attractiveness of Math and sciences for 300 students of 9th and 10th degree, from the partner countries by promoting collaborative learning and critical thinking and by increasing self-esteem and reduce early school leaving with 2% in the next two years. O3. to increase the capacity of the schools to offer a quality education to all students, including those coming from disadvantaged groups or minorities and to develop a behaviour based on the understanding of values, respect and tolerance towards other cultures, by consolidating the European dimension of the education and training process to 2020. At the end of the project, we expect to increase the motivation of the students from school partners to study Math and Sciences, as well as to consider Art and Cultural heritage through Math and Sciences and Math and Sciences through Art, both perspectives for future development as entrepreneurs, widening the palette of choices for students to the labour marketplace. In order to achieve the objectives will be run: 1 staff training event aims to develop professional skills of 18 teachers of a different subject from partner countries. Results:18 teachers with increased competences in the STEAM framework, 18 lesson plans. Indicators: no. of teachers, lesson plans, the level of satisfaction of the trainees. 4 students exchange: in PT (STEAM - an innovative approach), IT (The science behind the Art), PO (The Art through Engineering), CZ (Festival of innovation). aim to develop entrepreneurial skills of 18x4 students from partner schools (15-16 years old) with less economic and social possibilities which will be exposed to new and inspired perspectives they can approach personal development (STEAM lessons in school, visit local companies that combine Art and Sciences to reach original products and get profit, meet cultural entrepreneurs and create a dialogue in order to get insights about the future businesses. Each team will create during each STEP a story of creativity and innovation in which they will describe the local perspective seen by a different cultural background-part of the final book (Neverland of innovation).Indicators (no. of the participants, increased marks of the students in Math, Sciences and Technology). Dissemination for teachers - aims to develop professional skills of 50 teachers of a different subject from partner countries, AFTER the TRAINING in FI, in order to multiplicate the results in using the STEAM framework and lesson plans. Indicators: no. of the teachers integrating STEAM lessons in their classroom. D. for students - sharing experience.6 entrepreneurial clubs (1 in each country) aim to create a prototype/ product/ concept/ wich combine Art, Math, Science and Engineering in a very original way helping students to develop entrepreneurial skills in terms of the design project, time-management, management of the resources, team-work. The impact of the project reaches beyond the beneficiary institution, to spread entrepreneurship mindset and foster the improvement of the ability of students to turn ideas into actions, as well as to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem in partner countries.Transfer of best practices aim is to empower teachers, change agents, by offering them a set of lesson plans that invites entrepreneurial learning and facilitates the change trajectory.
When we wrote the application, we took into account, on the one hand, the very dynamic socio-economic context in which we live, which requires active measures to stimulate innovation and which is closely associated with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects most of which students are not interested today or they are afraid of, considering them too heavy and unsatisfactory. We also considered Art, which can be a valuable asset for entrepreneurs. Then we set out, on the one hand, to train some teachers to be able to adapt their teaching/learning process so as to change the misperception that students have for Science, Math, and Technology and that can show students what wonderful benefits these disciplines bring in the long run. We also considered the global movement to integrate art and design into the innovation equation, as a necessary condition for economic growth, a movement to which the EDINN project partners also joined. In addition, all aspects of communication, tolerance, overcoming prejudices, and acceptance of cultural diversity are ingredients of success in companies of the future, therefore, we aimed to develop these skills to students and teachers who were directly involved in the project and who could live the experience of living and studying (even for a short time) in a multicultural and intercultural environment. At the start of the project, the Polish partner withdrew, because of their school organizational reasons. The specific objectives of this project were: O1. to improve knowledge, abilities, and competencies of working in the formal/ non-formal frame for 50 teachers (different subjects) from Romania, Portugal, Italy, Finland, and the Czech Republic, to share good practices on entrepreneurial mindset through STEAM. O2. to improve the attractiveness of Math and sciences for 300 students of 9th and 10th degree, from the partner countries by promoting collaborative learning and critical thinking and by increasing self-esteem and reduce early school leaving by 2% in the next two years. O3. to increase the capacity of the schools to offer quality education to all students, including those coming from disadvantaged groups or minorities, and to develop behavior based on the understanding of values, respect, and tolerance towards other cultures. The activities that have taken place; Project activities: - Project management activities - Informative, promotional, and advertising activities - Staff training event for teachers of a different subject from partner countries. - Short-term exchange of groups of pupils, a course on STEAM - an innovative approach, in Portugal - Short-term exchange of groups of pupils, a course on The science behind the Art - in Italy and relating activities - Virtual short-term mobility organized by the Czech partner in accordance with the other partners (evaluating, monitoring, adjusting) - Festival of innovation Dissemination activities Sustainability activities Implementation Methodology: teamwork, peer-to-peer education, brainstorming, workshop-sites, documentation, practical activities, visits, discussions, role play, team building Results, and impact - Potential long term benefits: Project's results and its expected longer-term benefits. Pupils: - increase motivation to study Math and Sciences as well Art widening the palette of choices for students to the labor marketplace. - develop entrepreneurial skills - improved school results - increase of self-confidence/motivation to perform, learn and think critically/independently Teacher -Development of: - professional skills/competences - linguistic abilities - new approach and good practices to be implemented in the school - pedagogical competencies by comparing the system, practices, politics, educational systems with those in partner countries Schools: - an open-minded attitude towards Europe - diminishing school failures of students, through increased motivation and perfecting relationships between students, and between students and teachers The impact of the project reaches beyond the beneficiary institution, to spread the entrepreneurship mindset and foster the improvement of the ability of students to turn ideas into actions, as well as to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem in partner countries. Transfer of best practices empowers teachers as change agents, by offering them a set of lesson plans that invites entrepreneurial learning and facilitates the change trajectory. Families/other stakeholders: - educating pupils to be aware and responsible citizens, and to build positive relations - favoring school integration with territory/local community Regional, national and European impact: - promotion of national/international common values, such as respect for cultural and linguistic diversity, inclusive education - creating a European area of education/training for attainment of the Lisbon strategy's objectives.