According to the Cybersecurity Skills and the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) report from the Parliament’s Joint Committee on National Security Strategy the gap between demand and supply of STEMM skills is a ‘”cause of alarm” for the Government. As per a report by the Open University (The OU), 97% of the organisations working with STEM skills and 96% of the financial organisations have had difficulties in hiring skilled technology employees in the past 12 months (in 2019). As a result, it has been estimated by STEM Learning, which is one of the largest providers of education and career support in the UK, that the major shortage of staff with STEM skills translated in value terms denotes an annual loss of £1.5bn incurred through recruitment, temporary staffing, training and inflated salaries. This has also resulted in a shortage of 173,000 workers, with an average of 10 unfilled positions per business. This STEM skills gap exist worldwide. As a result, we aim to address this STEM skills gap and gender imbalances in STEM through innovative practices as such skills are vital to remain a competitive economy in this technology driven era. The idea of this project was developed based on the urgent need to tackle the STEMM skills gap and also to support the improvement of English language competencies for English as Second Language (ESL) students via the use of the AR app as a digital tool in education. These needs are recognised by all the partner organisations. This project is also innovative in analysing different methods of learning and teaching STEMM and also using English in order to create new ways to develop the key competences in students. The project brings together different schools, NGOs and institutions involved in education, hence allowing for the project outputs to be disseminated to a much wider community and implement effective changes. We will also focus on the transfer of teaching and learning techniques in schools, development of effective teaching materials and methods of innovation. The overall objectives of the project are to promote a passion for STEMM amongst teachers and students, to develop a greater awareness of STEMM related jobs and skills required, to widen teachers' and students' knowledge and experience of STEMM and to enable teachers to gain skills in teaching STEMM in a holistic way. Specific Objectives: #1 Raise interest in and awareness of the range of exciting careers in STEMM (current and future careers) #2 Help to develop students to become lifelong learners of science, technology and mathematics, enabling them to meet the challenges of the 21st century #3 Increase the number of students choosing STEMM subjects in upper primary/secondary schools, those progressing to STEMM pathways in Further or Higher Education and those who take up careers in STEMM #4 Increase participation of females in STEMM education and careers #5 Ensure young people sustain their involvement in STEMM education #6 Ensure that students’ learning in STEMM disciplines significantly improve, including the further development of skills such as problem-solving, inquiry-based learning and team working to address demands from the world of work #7 Create community environments that promote and support STEMM #8 Transfer of innovative teaching methods to numerous teachers, to enable them to explore and share innovative tools and techniques There will be 2 Transnational Meetings, 1 Learning/Training/Teaching activities and 2 exchange of students activities. Intellectual Outputs (IOs): IO1: Augmented reality (AR) future careers guidance app IO2: project website - including STEMM lesson plans Expected impacts for students: • enhanced understanding of future STEMM careers • enhanced understanding of STEMM activities • improved knowledge of STEMM concepts Teachers who will be directly affected by the project activities: • Improved knowledge of STEMM activities and careers, CLIL and English • Improved quality of teaching • Be able to increase students' awareness of the importance of STEMM • Improve the delivery of STEMM and CLIL lessons, teachers' confidence and motivation • Improve digital skills • Improved motivation for professional development One of the examples of the short-term impact would be the knowledge gained about future STEMM careers Some of the examples of the medium impact would be • Girls can see themselves in any STEMM role; increased synergies and links and improved transition between the sectors of education and industry; Promotion of gender-neutral learning environments Some of the examples of the long-term impact would be By 2030, 33% of young people moving into STEMM careers are girls; Time-tabled STEMM-specific CPD for teachers, led by industry, with applied industry experience; Teacher training to include STEM specific focus on gender awareness and removal of stereotypes
The partners wanted to address the above mentioned needs, to carry out research & develop relevant, up-to-date, high-quality content in order to address our target groups' needs. Thus the following objectives were set, which we wanted to achieve by implementing the project: 1 Develop an AR app to raise interest & awareness of the range of exciting STEM careers 2 Encourage students to become lifelong learners of STEM 3 Increase the number of students choosing STEM subjects or take up STEM careers 4 Increase participation of females in STEM education & careers 5 Ensure young people sustain their involvement in STEM education 6 Ensure that students’ learning in STEM disciplines significantly improve, including the further development of skills such as problem-solving, inquiry-based learning and team working to address demands from the world of work 7 Create community environments that promote and support STEM 8 Transfer of innovative teaching methods to enable teachers to explore innovative tools and techniques All project activities were developed and implemented in line with the above objectives. Objectives were set with the SMART technique, so we can measure the success of the activities, outputs and all project related processes.
Partners are passionate about: • High-quality STEMM & English pedagogy • Closing the STEM skills gap & bridging gender imbalance in STEM • Enhancing STEMM careers guidance & digital skills We applied for this project to research students&teachers knowledge about STEMM careers & teachers STEMM & digital skills & competences, so that we can develop high-quality & engaging teaching materials that are not readily available. Most of the partner countries don't have in school career advisors nor bodies assigned to provide careers advice. We addressed the following needs: • Digital Skills & Innovative teaching methodologies • Student engagement & motivation • STEMM careers • STEMM skills gap/gender imbalance • STEMM curricula reform • needs described in the Expert Group on Science Education's report published by the European Commission, stating the urgent need to improve science education in Europe, with a particular focus on increasing students' interest & engagement in science, improving teacher CPD. AR technology has been shown to improve learning outcomes by providing students with engaging content & how digital skills related to AR can help educators enhance learning outcomes, hence improve achievement and engagement in STEMM.