CONTEXT Recent research has shown that gender inequality in STEM education has revealed the presence of a “leaky pipeline” (Yatskiv, 2017), meaning that women systemically drop out of STEM-related tracks at various levels of their education. The European Commission believes that without true gender equality and mainstreaming in science fields, scientific excellence would never be truly achieved. As a matter of fact, women are more likely to have a higher education degree but remain under-represented in STEM and related fields. At the same time, in an increasingly multidisciplinary world, young students have lost their interest in traditional subjects, such as physics, chemistry, biology, etc. are already considered obsolete (Briggs, 2016). However, science subjects should never be considered out-of-fashion since our world rotates around science. The issue is identified in teaching methods. Therefore, the need for stimulating, engaging and gender-appealing teaching methods in STEM subjects is now more important than ever, a fact that should be initiated in secondary education where young students start to share their interests and inclines for their future education and careers. OBJECTIVE PhysicsKIT4STEM has as primary objective to strengthen the teaching skills of STEM educators by offering a hands-on approach to teach physics through DIY kits, electronics and programming, powered by a Raspberry Pi computer, while at the same time advocating gender-balanced STEM classrooms and encouraging young girls to science and engineering subjects. PARTICIPANTS A school, an ICT training centre, a University, a non-profit training organisation, a company specialising in training solutions and knowledge dissemination and a technical consultancy designing and building hands-on training tools. Several associate partners from the area of ICT-enabled E&T and schools. ACTIVITIES The main objective will be achieved through the following activities: -Design and develop a curriculum for using the PhysicsKIT to teach pupils physics concepts (e.g., motion and forces, gravity, vibration and electricity) through the creation of hands-on constructions, simple programming and physical computing; -Elaborate a Glossary, explaining terms used in physics, programming, electronics and physical computing; -Design and develop the PhysicsKIT powered by a Raspberry Pi single-board computer, complemented by sensors and electronics to simulate and experiment on physics phenomena along with a guide to build it; -Design lesson plans in support of the curriculum to build kits and use peripherals in an educational hands-on play approach; -Prepare a Learning Motivation Environment for the delivery of the curriculum to teachers/educators and for skills retention purposes; -Testing, validation and finalisation of the PhysicsKIT Back-pack and Educators Handbook and Resources; -Support the final outcomes through a dedicated virtual space (PhysicKIT Club) 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 -The PhysicsKIT comprising DIY kits, sensors, electronics and peripherals -PhysicsKIT Curriculum and Glossary -PhysicsKIT Guide for assembly and configuration to be used with the provided content -PhysicsKIT Educators Handbook with lesson plans -Learning Motivation Environment in all partners' languages delivering the PhysicsKIT content in the form of engaging online multimedia resources -PhysicsKIT Club virtual space with supporting infrastructure TARGET GROUP Teachers of Physics, STEM professionals, teachers, trainers and counsellors not directly involved in STEM, all categories of school education staff, pupils, parents. In the life of the project: professionals working with children of mainly 10-15 years. Apart from direct target groups, the beneficiaries comprise also indirect target groups such as schools, children's/parents associations and organisations, policymakers working on gender equality and gender mainstreaming, and educational stakeholders deciding about subjects covered by school curricula, parents, 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 physics/pedagogical/engineering departments, STEM toys manufacturers. BENEFITS -Elucidate findings regarding ways of introducing children to physics and STEM through hands-on play. -Create evidence-based policy and research recommendations for using educational play to teach STEM-related subjects. -Act as a node of knowledge dissemination on how to engage young girls to physics and STEM in general.
We wanted to develop specific and innovative tools that could be implemented in the formal and non-formal sector, to increase the interest of teenage girls into sciences, by making these tools accessible to teachers, educators, and all organisations working in the different areas impacted by the project. The aim is to combine hands-on teaching with blended teaching methodologies to make STEM-related education attractive and essential for any interested educator dealing with young students, regardless of gender. The PhysicsKIT4STEM method has the potential to advance the skills of educators and help them transform monotonous subjects, attracting young students, regardless of age or gender, to engage in STEM subjects. Considering the above, the PhysicsKIT4STEM project has two clear objectives: 1. Strengthen the teaching skills of physics and STEM educators in general by providing a hands-on approach to teaching physics through DIY kits, electronics, and programming, all powered by a Raspberry Pi computer. 2. Promote gender-balanced STEM classrooms and encourage young female students to engage in science, technology, engineering, and/or math and learn skills and competencies that will use them in their future career.
The project was created in order to address gender inequality in STEM education, which resulted from the systematic dropout of female students in STEM-related fields at different levels of their education. As a matter of fact, during the preparation of the project, we identified a series of needs that were confirmed along the development and piloting of PhysicsKit4STEM : there is a low number of girls interested in STEM during their teenage years, which has a very important consequence.The problem has been identified in our current teaching methods and it has been suggested that steps need to be taken to increase stimulation, engagement and gender balance in this area. To achieve these goals, PhysicsKIT4STEM aims to improve the teaching skills of STEM teachers through an alternative hands-on approach to physics. This is exactly what this project is about. PhysicsKIT4STEM is a project that aims to stimulate the interest of young people aged 11 to 15 in science, especially among young girls, who are few in this field of study. Through the development of tools and training kits. The long-term goal is to increase the number of girls who will become scientists.