CONTEXT Children today are born into technology and using it comes natural them. However, there is a need for them to acquire technological skills, such as programming. STEM skilled labour force is in high-demand in Europe and demand will continue to increase due to the advent of Industry 4.0 and Advanced Manufacturing Technologies. It is estimated that the EU will have up to 825.000 ICT job vacancies by 2020 due to shortage of skilled labour force. Basic coding skills are needed, as more than 90% of today’s professional occupations do require digital competences, including programming. New ways of engaging children into programming and STEM are needed but more screen time is not the best approach. Hands-on play is more fun and many times more educational. The bridging of the online and the offline worlds may offer a more engaging and healthy environment for children to learn how to program and develop STEM skills. OBJECTIVE RETROSTEM has as primary objective to produce approaches and tools to help those working with children reach out to them with a view to help them engage with programming and develop STEM related skills. It aims to achieve this not by increasing screen time but by encouraging hands-on play through the creation of games playable on a retro design console in combination with electronics gadgets relating to STEM subjects. PARTICIPANTS Three schools, an engineering department of a university, a company offering bespoke software development services to governmental agencies and a company specialising in corporate training solutions and knowledge dissemination. ACTIVITIES The main objective will be achieved through the following activities: - Elaborate and validate a guide for building, configuring and using the retro console in the classroom - Design and develop a curriculum and unit plans for using the console, based on Raspberry Pi edition, to teach children programming through the creation of Minecraft Pi games to be played on the console also in combination with electronics gadgets the children will build and which will enhance understanding of programming concepts (e.g. traffic lights units for experimenting with loops) or STEM (e.g. ambulance with siren controlled by the console to demonstrate the Doppler effect) - Design electronics kits to be used in support of the curriculum and to be built by children to use with the console as an educational hands-on play approach - Prepare a social learning environment utilising motivational workflows such as the recognition of achievements through the awarding of badges, for the delivery of the curriculum to teachers/educators and for skills retention purposes - Test and pilot the outcomes under real conditions with the teachers and deliver a final release - Support the final outcomes through a dedicated virtual space (RETROSTEM Academy) providing access to all project results and infrastructure for supporting the growth of a community of adopters/practitioners/enthusiasts. METHODOLOGY An iterative methodology: three versions of the results are produced, one in each iteration. After each iteration the results are tested/validated and based on the conclusions the next iteration is planned. RESULTS - RETROSTEM Raspberry Pi Consoles running Minecraft Pi - RETROSTEM Curriculum - Learning Motivation Environment in all project languages with the skills and achievements recognition framework - DIY kits to complement and enhance the teaching experience - RETROSTEM Academy virtual space with supporting infrastructure TARGET GROUP The target groups in the life of the project comprise professionals (teachers, social workers) working with children of 8 – 17 years. Apart from these direct target groups, the beneficiaries comprise also indirect target groups such as schools, children's/parents associations and organisations, policy makers and educational stakeholders deciding about subjects covered by school curricula, parents, children’s curriculum developers, etc. After the life of the project and subject to the delivery of concrete results, more target groups become relevant, such as commercial organisations producing serious games for educational purposes, universities with pedagogical/engineering departments, educational bodies, STEM toys manufacturers. BENEFITS - Elucidate findings regarding to ways of introducing children to programming and STEM through hands-on play. - Create evidence-based policy and research recommendations for the use of games in the teaching of coding and the re-enforcement of educational hands-on play, especially for STEM related subjects - Act as node of knowledge dissemination on how to engage children with programming and STEM - Devise strategies for the adoption of educational hands-on play in the classroom - Provide a pool of expertise and technical assistance to start-up awareness nodes (new nodes could be ‘adopted’ by a more experienced node, such as Code Dojo).
Documents in this report are in the repository: - http://repository.erasmusplus.website/RETROSTEM/final/ - Username: evaluator - Password: Evaluator101! CONTEXT The facts surrounding young people and the importance of STEM knowledge and skills have not dissipated during RETROSTEM's life. If anything, STEM is more important, and its role has intensified during this period. The importance of STEM would likely have grown anyway, but the onset of COVID in 2020 has acted as a catalyst. The impracticality of gatherings has led to a rapid digitisation, meaning that coding, electronics, and other STEM skills that RETROSTEM aims to promote are likely to be more in demand than ever. OBJECTIVES RETROSTEM’s main objective, which the consortium believe we have fulfilled, was to produce approaches and tools to help teachers and others working with children to engage their interest in programming and STEM-related skills. It aimed to do this not by increasing screen time but by encouraging hands-on play through the creation of games playable on a retro design console in combination with electronics gadgets relating to STEM subjects. PARTICIPANTS The RETROSTEM partners, unchanged since the project’s outset, include three schools, a university engineering department, a company offering bespoke software development services to governmental agencies, and a company specialising in corporate training solutions and knowledge dissemination. ACTIVITIES RETROSTEM achieved its aims through activities two intellectual outputs (IOs). IO1 consisted of activities necessary to produce a console and documents to support its use: • Created the Console Guide to help users build, configure, and use the console in the classroom • Developed a curriculum and unit plans for use with the console, based on Raspberry Pi edition, to teach children programming. This includes lessons such as using Minecraft Pi games, played on the console, with electronics (e.g. circuits with lights, buzzers, buttons alongside the game) that children build and that enhance understanding of STEM concepts IO2 was the next stage, covering supplementary resources: • Designed electronics kits that support the curriculum, to be built by children for use with the console as an educational hands-on play approach • Prepared an online social learning environment to deliver the curriculum to teachers or other users and for skills retention • Piloted the outcomes with teachers and delivered a final version • Created a dedicated virtual space (the RETROSTEM Academy) to support users and grow a community of adopters, practitioners, and other interested parties RESULTS AND IMPACT The RETROSTEM Project produced the proposed results: - RETROSTEM Raspberry Pi Consoles running Minecraft Pi - RETROSTEM Curriculum - Learning Motivation Environment in all project languages with a skills recognition framework - DIY kits to enhance teaching experience - RETROSTEM Academy virtual space with supporting infrastructure Their impact is best quantified through project dissemination as well as multiplier and pilot events, with details in the project dissemination report available in the document repository (http://repository.erasmusplus.website/RETROSTEM/final/). In brief, the project used newsletters, infographics, press releases, and social media to reach an estimated 64000 people in the project’s life. Pilot and multiplier events were also impactful for the project, allowing deliverables to be tested and promoted in, as well as boosting key dissemination opportunities with, the target audience and beyond. TARGET GROUPS RETROSTEM’s target groups remain those proposed at the project’s inception. The main target group is professionals (teachers, social workers) working with children of 8 – 17 years. Otherwise, beneficiaries such as schools, children/parents’ associations and organisations, policymakers and educational stakeholders deciding curricula, parents, and children’s curriculum developers comprise more indirect target groups. After the end of the project, target groups could expand to include commercial organisations producing serious games for educational purposes, universities with pedagogical or engineering departments, educational bodies, and STEM toy manufacturers. LONG TERM BENEFITS There are several long-term benefits from RETROSTEM: - Elucidation of findings on ways to introduce children to programming and STEM through hands-on play. - Creation of evidence-based policy and research recommendations for the use of games to teach coding and to promote educational hands-on play, especially for STEM-related subjects - Setting the project up as a node of knowledge on how to engage children with programming and STEM - Devising strategies for the adoption of educational hands-on play in the classroom - Providing a pool of expertise and technical assistance to start-up awareness nodes (new nodes could be ‘adopted’ by a more experienced node, such as Code Dojo).