Green education can act as a vehicle in order to inspire the next generation of students to peruse a science career. Furthermore empowering youth to create a sustainable future is critical in the process of preserving the planet and in education future responsible citizens. With green education curriculum a science subject which may be considered abstract is put into a familiar context, relevant to everyday life of the students. Green education connects abstract science concepts to real world technologies that are solving environmental challenges. Novel fields such as green chemistry, sustainable engineering and robotics and green biotechnology can be implemented into classroom teaching under the umbrella of green education. Furthermore schools around Europe have school labs full of hazardous chemicals. This is a serious challenge for educators and administrators. It is crucial to educate teachers and students in the field of green chemistry in order to create safer school labs. Our project will aim to support teachers around Europe to integrate green education principles in STEM curriculum. An online platform will be developed that will act as a repository of STEM green education resources, focusing on novel fields of green chemistry, green biotechnology and sustainable engineering and robotics. The platform will integrate micro-MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses/Content) – an innovative approach for developing STEM laboratories that will motivate teachers in the creation of flexible personalized teaching/learning paths and to increase students’ interest and involvement, due to the innovative methodology; of their learning. Project objectives : 1. Support teachers to integrate green education principles in STEM curriculum. 2. Inspire and improve competence of teachers in order to bring into the classroom novel topics, such as green chemistry, green engineering and robotics and green biotechnology. 3. Embed green education principles in school laboratories. 4. Disseminate green education and create a community of green education in Europe Partners of this project are 3 Universities and 4 Schools Universities : WSBINOZ from Poland will be the coordinator of this project. UOWM from Greece. UNIPA from Italy. Schools : Ahiler Secondary School - Turkey Școala Gimnazială nr.16 Take Ionescu School - Romania Stedelijk Gymnasium Haarlem - Netherlands Results A. Online platform and repository of activities for each topic (Green chemistry , biotechnology, robotics) B. Activities for each topic that will be validated in classroom settings C. Three educational kits, one for each topic, with materials and worksheets in English and in the language of each participant. D. One MOOC for teacher training E. Establishment of European Green week challenge. F. Guidelines and support network for high school green centers Results impact In stage one activities and educational kits will be developed and tested in the three participating schools. In stage 2 teachers form 10 participating schools will be trained and then apply activities in the classroom. In stage 3 the project will invite all teachers to the MOOC and develop a network from schools all around Europe. Long term benefits of project. The online platform that will be developed will become a reference point for green education in Europe. Educators and students will be able to find materials relevant to novel green education topics such as green chemistry, green engineering -robotics and green biotechnology. A green education network will be developed where educators will be able to exchange ideas and good practices. Τwo educational kits will be available to educators to readily use into the classroom. European green STEM week will be established where students will take part in a green education challenge. Finally school centers of green education will act as multipliers of the project.
1. To support teachers in integrating environmental education principles into the STEM curriculum. 2. To inspire, enhance teachers' competence in innovative topics: green chemistry, green engineering and robotics, green biotechnology. 3. Embedding green education principles in school laboratories. 4 To disseminate green education and create a green education community in Europe. 5 To develop guidelines and instructions for implementing the principles of green education in school laboratories 6 To enhance professional development, skills and digital competence. 7. To exchange experience and establish contacts with other educators in Europe 8. To develop lesson plans in national languages covering scientific fields such as green biotechnology, green chemistry, green engineering and robotics. 9. To develop the competence to use innovative methodology and content to design creative lesson plans. 10. Inspiring students, including girls, to pursue careers in STEM fields. 11. To support students in combining scientific concepts with real world technologies to solve environmental problems. 12. promote responsible citizenship
The project aimed to support teachers across Europe to integrate green education principles into the STEM curriculum. The online platform developed, acts as a repository of STEM green education resources, focusing on the cutting-edge fields of green chemistry, green biotechnology and sustainable engineering and robotics. The platform integrates micro-MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses/Content), an innovative approach to STEM lab development that is designed to motivate teachers to create flexible personalised teaching/learning pathways and to increase student interest and engagement through innovative methodologies; their learning. The essence of the project was to: support teachers in integrating the principles of environmental education into the STEM curriculum; iInspire and enhance teachers' competences to bring innovative topics such as green chemistry, green engineering and robotics and green biotechnology into the classroom; embed the principles of environmental education in school laboratories; disseminate green education and create a green education community in Europe