The 3rd Scientix Conference 4-6 May 2018: Results

The 3rd Scientix Conference 4-6 May 2018 Results

Publisher: European Schoolnet (EUN Partnership AIBSL), Rue de Treves 61, 1040 Brussels, Belgium Author: RĂłbert Hlynur Baldursson Contributors: NoĂŤlle Billon, Adina Nistor, Agueda Gras-Velazquez Picture credits: All the pictures were taken by Richard Hadley and Victor J. Perez for European Schoolnet Published: October 2018 Print run: 1000 ISBN: 9789492913494

This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction.....................................................4 About the Scientix Conference.....................5 The opening and the closing remarks..........7 Keynote speeches and speakers..................8 Jean-David Malo.............................................8 Professor Svein Sjøberg..................................9

How to make research results more accessible to teachers....................................................18 The importance of supporting primary schools in teaching STEM..........................................19 Getting school leaders from different countries to work together and share expertise............19

Dr Beth Healey..............................................10

STEM education practices: transferring between national and European level............20

Evarist Bartolo...............................................11

Talks...............................................................21

Workshops....................................................12

Research into the classroom.........................21

A collaborative Mars mission using the Thymio educational robot........................12

Curriculum implementation............................22

Developing Students’ 21st-Century Skills with Go-Lab..................................................13

Mobile learning and technologies..................23

Codinc, peer-to-peer coding for inclusion......13 STEM in the classroom: How DIY water quality sensors bring science to our students...........13 Drones at School..........................................14 First Steps in Scratch....................................14 Learning Science Though Theatre: hands on!......................................................14

Tools and schools.........................................23 Contextualisation of STEM teaching..............24 Gaming, robotics and computational thinking.........................................................25 Nano, bio and more......................................26 School projects.............................................26 Earth and the environment............................27 IBSE.............................................................28

Parlour and board games in learning STEM subjects........................................................14

Strengthening teacher & school competences................................................28

Makers: Doping STEM with the Makers’ spirit and practice.........................................15

Science and Inclusion...................................29

Light-interacting materials: Science meets Beauty..........................................................15

Out of school learning...................................30

Supporting gifted students............................30 STEM+A.......................................................31

Aura-virtual reality..........................................15

Remote and digital........................................31

Secret of the mobile phone...........................16

The stands.....................................................32

Mobile phone for lessons..............................16

Posters..........................................................34

Astro party....................................................16

Awards...........................................................38

Round-table discussion...............................17

Statistics........................................................40

Initial Teacher Training...................................17

Conclusions..................................................42

The limited information on STEM careers......18

INTRODUCTION The 352 teachers, researchers and project managers who attended the 3rd Scientix Conference, which was held from 4 to 6 May 2018 in Brussels, Belgium, expressed a very strong appreciation of the Scientix community for science education in Europe. Moreover, during the conference a number of key speakers addressed the need for continuation of the Scientix project.

This message goes hand in hand with the well-documented growing popularity of the Scientix community, which has now brought together more than 600 projects in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. The representatives of all those projects, as

4

well as other initiatives in STEM education, were invited to present their work at this 3rd Scientix Conference. Following a call for papers, published in February 2018, the proposals for 20 exhibition stands, 25 poster sessions, 56 presentations and 14 workshops were selected, in addition to six round table discussions.

This publication gives you an overview of all those activities, as well as the conference’s keynote speeches, awards, public outreach and other relevant information.

It is especially dedicated to those who did not manage to get one of the coveted places of the conference.

ABOUT THE SCIENTIX CONFERENCE Scientix Conferences have built up a reputation that attracts many more wouldbe participants from across Europe and around the world than it is possible to accommodate. This 3rd edition of the conference, held in Brussels, Belgium, from 4 to 6 May 2018, had 20 exhibition stands, 25 poster sessions, 56 presentations, 14 workshops and six round table discussions as part of its weekend programme, in addition to keynote speeches and awards.

Scientix Conferences provide their guests with a space to exchange information and experiences in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. They are ideal forums for everyone who would like to learn more about recent developments in the field, based on research and practical implementation of STEM-related strategies.

Representatives of European, national, local and privately funded initiatives in STEM education also get the chance to present their work to a large multinational group of educators and other stakeholders in STEM education. This helps all practitioners and researchers to get an idea about any shortcomings and benefits of current strategies in STEM education.

Moreover, experience shows that Scientix Conferences are forums in which stakeholders construct networks and collaboration in direct relation to their main areas of interest.

Looking at the bigger perspective, the conferences are events that bring together stakeholders who all benefit from the existence of the Scientix community in one way or another. They are all committed to raising awareness of Scientix as a platform that can help spread knowledge about successful pilot initiatives and practices in STEM education, in which anyone can also seek necessary support and training.

Stakeholders’ engagement in the Scientix project increases significantly prior to and after Scientix Conferences. Following a call for papers for the 3rd Scientix Conference, which was published in February 2018, there were 324 proposals submitted for presentations, exhibition stands, workshops and posters. Additionally, almost 300 people expressed their interest in observing the conference without a specific contribution to its official programme. The organisers of the conference reviewed all those submitted proposals and expressions of interest in 5

April 2018 and confirmed the participation of 358 teachers, policymakers, researchers and project managers. Of those who were confirmed, six were not able to attend.

“This conference was a great opportunity to meet great teachers from everywhere. It’s really motivating to see that some people are doing amazing things with their students and are willing to share it. It’s an amazing opportunity to create new partnerships and to get inspiration and a boost of motivation,” said a conference participant.

According to a survey that was circulated among the participants after the conference ended, when asked about different elements about the conference logistics, programme and networking opportunities, 96 to 100% of the respondents thought they were either good or very good. This extremely high level of satisfaction among participants is an enormous endorsement of the conference as a well-organised event that is relevant for key stakeholders in STEM education.

KEY STATISTICS

324

283

proposals submitted for the conference

39

expressions of interest to attend the conference

32

countries represented

policy makers

92

representatives of STEM organisations

6

352

participants attended the conference

13

representatives of Teacher Training Institutions

49

researchers

12

industry representatives

160 teachers

THE OPENING AND THE CLOSING REMARKS

Marc Durando, Executive Director of European Schoolnet, opened the 3rd Scientix conference.

After a keynote speech from Jean-David Malo, European Commission, Director - Directorate B - Open Innovation and Open Science, DG Research and Innovation, François Taddei, Director of Centre de Recherche Interdisciplinaire (CRI) also welcomed our participants via a video message. Two Scientix Ambassadors – Carlos Cunha and Svetla Medieva – introduced the teacher community of Scientix and the impact of the project on teachers.

During the opening of the second day,

Scientix project manager Dr Agueda GrasVelazquez described the development of Scientix from its beginnings to the day of the conference, which served to set the scene for the two keynote speakers from the research area.

During the closing on Sunday, after the intervention of Mr Evarist Bartolo, Karen Slavin, Project Officer of Scientix from DG Research and Innovation took the stage to present the European Commission’s efforts to popularise STEM education within the frame of Horizon 2020 and other frameworks.

Dr Gras-Velazquez closed the conference with the wishes of Scientix for the future.

7

KEYNOTE SPEECHES AND SPEAKERS Jean-David Malo

One of the most important elements of the “Science with and for Society (SwafS)” programme of the Horizon 2020 framework of the European Union for research and innovation is to support initiatives that encourage and attract young people to studies and careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Scientix, which is funded as part of SwafS, had the pleasure of welcoming Mr JeanDavid Malo, Director of Open Innovation and Open Science at the Directorate General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission. In his welcoming speech, Mr Malo explained how SwafS financially supports many initiatives in formal and informal education to achieve this.

Mr Malo said that Scientix had an important role to play in supporting the link between education and three priorities of the European Commission for research and innovation, referred to as the three O’s, namely Open Science, Open Innovation and Open to the World. In fact, it was thanks to teachers that the European Union had excellent scientists.

According to Mr Malo, the aim of these initiatives is to synchronise STEM education with scientific progress. To mention an example, the European Commission has published calls for initiatives facilitating Open Schooling.

Another example is the annual European Competition for Young Scientists (EUCYS), which offers young students the opportunity to showcase their work and be recognised by international panels of experts.

More investments are necessary in order to support good initiatives in STEM education and currently there are discussions about a new framework for research and innovation beyond Horizon 2020, for the period from 2021 to 2027.

Jean-David Malo profile Mr Malo joined the European Commission in January 2001. At the Directorate General for Research, he participated actively in a number of developments on the design of funding instruments, rules for participation, funding schemes and others, during both the 6th and 7th Framework Programmes. In February 2017, he was appointed Director of Open Innovation and Open Science at the Directorate General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission.

8

Professor Svein Sjøberg

With a provocative presentation of current and past strategies in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, Professor Svein Sjøberg addressed several hotly debated topics in relation to assessment, motivation and standardisation.

He provided a critical argument against standardisation in STEM education, saying it can cause significant damage to many aspects of education. PISA test outcomes have become a driving force for national reforms, ignoring many crucial elements of quality education, such as inquiry-based pedagogy, experimentation and teachers’ development. In fact, good test scores in standardised assessments such as PISA do not necessarily correspond to national priorities or reflect students’ motivation for STEM studies and careers. On the

contrary, standardisation can kill learners’ joy for learning.

Professor Sjøberg went on to explain how standardised tests like PISA create an environment that is based on economic competition among nations, schools, teachers and pupils, rather than feasible learning outcomes. This can lead to educational reforms that further this sort of competition and stress measurable elements, but ignore desired educational components, namely, a context-based and relevant science education and active learning through inquiry-based methods.

Noticeably, the audience expressed its appreciation of the presentation and the need to rethink the purpose and outcomes of educational strategies based on standardisation. This claim is also supported by the messages shared by the conference participants on social media and the feedback survey that was sent to them after the conference, in which staggering 98% thought the presentation was good or very good.

“I really enjoyed Svein Sjøberg’s speech. It was really interesting and shed a light on a very important point.

Being able to meet him afterwards to exchange was a great opportunity,” said a conference participant.

Professor Svein Sjøberg profile Professor Sjøberg’s current research interests are the social, ethical and cultural aspects of science education, in particular the impacts and influence of largescale assessment studies like PISA and TIMSS. He has worked extensively with international and comparative aspects of science education through, e.g., UNESCO, OECD, ICSU and the EU. He has won several prizes and awards for his research, teaching and promotion of science literacy and public understanding of science. He is an elected member of the two Norwegian academies: the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the Norwegian Technical Science Academy. He has also been on the expert committees of the EU FP6 Science in Society programme and the Eurobarometer studies.

9

Dr Beth Healey

As a scientist with substantial experience of medical fieldwork in the Antarctic, Dr Beth Healey delivered a compelling presentation that captured the audience’s attention. Dr Healey walked the participants through the process behind onsite research at the Concordia station in the Antarctic and how the experiences from such extreme environments are used to support ongoing space missions. One of the experiments, for example, tracked the activity levels of people stationed at the base and collected information about various changes in their physical conditions.

While supporting the work of astronauts and space scientists, Dr Healey’s research has also contributed to raising awareness of the effect of extreme conditions

on physical health in general. This is something Dr Healey experienced firsthand, by living in the Antarctic where access to resources is scarce, sunlight limited and weather conditions difficult.

This can affect both people’s bodies and minds. Besides physical conditions, the group of researchers has to get used to living together in a confined space over a long period of time.

This colourful presentation gave the audience a good overview of the work of an on-field scientist. Thus, making a direct link between science studies and possible future careers. Dr Healey’s case is also important for role-modelling, tackling stereotypes in the field of science and increasing female engagement in science subjects and careers.

Finally, Dr Healey explained how scientists in the Antarctic, and other environments, are engaged in various public outreach activities that schools can take part in, including online calls where dialogues among scientists, learners and teachers can be organised.

“Soooo inspiring and motivating for both students and teachers ” - Milena Vojinovic on Twitter @voj_milena

Dr Beth Healey profile Dr Healey’s interest in extreme and remote environments has led her to work as part of medical and logistical support teams for ski mountaineering expeditions and endurance races from Greenland to the North Pole. She has also overwintered as research Medical Doctor for the European Space Agency at spaceflight analogue Concordia ‘White Mars’. Now based in Chamonix, France, she is learning medical French and furthering her experience of mountain trauma while on placement at Sallanches A&E department.

10

Evarist Bartolo

It is important that the European Commission continues its support for the Scientix project well beyond its current funding period, according to Evarist Bartolo, the Minister of Education and Employment in Malta, who gave a speech at the conference closing session.

Furthermore, Mr Bartolo underlined how important it is to support inquiry-based science education and warned against the standardisation of formal education, echoing general concerns expressed by the participants about policies that are based on standardisation.

“The aim of education should be ‘learning to know, to do, to be and learning to live together,” said Mr Bartolo, who stressed how important it is to talk about values and ethics in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. The ultimate goal should be to make the planet better and more habitable.

“I think today as the planet becomes even smaller and smaller and our education is becoming more globalised, that this will not become a top-down exercise. Because all our realities are different. All our realities are quite complex. And for education to make sense and to be meaningful, it must rise out of its own ecosystem according to the different realities in which we live. I think that the marvellous thing about Scientix is that it is exactly not top-down. It is getting people together and showing what they are doing,” he said.

Mr Bartolo said there was a vacuum between children’s reality and education that needed to be improved, avoiding the traps of standardisation and formal learning that could kill the joy of learning. In fact, some of the best things in STEM education happened outside the classroom, inspired by curiosity and questioning. In this respect, STEM education could benefit from incorporating “Arts” and “Humanities”, speaking in favour of the concept generally referred to as STE(A)M education.

“Teaching values and ethics should be a priority also for #STEM. Very inspiring speech by Evarist Bartolo,” said Stela Shiroka on Twitter @stela_shiroka.

Evarist Bartolo profile Evarist Bartolo took office as the Minister for Education and Employment in Malta in March 2013. A Member of Parliament since 1992, Mr Bartolo worked mostly on subjects in relation to Education, European affairs and Tourism, as well as serving as Minister of Education and National Culture under a Labour government in Malta between 1996 and 1998.

11

WORKSHOPS All the participants at the 3rd Scientix Conference could join any of the 14 hands-on workshops organised over the weekend, according to their interest. Due to the large number of proposals submitted for this conference, it was possible to select workshops that were very different from one another in scope.

Nevertheless, the use of technology in the classroom was a cross-cutting feature of those workshops, which highlighted a number of initiatives where teaching and learning was enriched by technology.

They ranged from a live demonstration on the use of drones at schools, in which the participants observed and controlled groups of drones, to how applications on mobile devices, such as Animal 4D and Space 4D, can be used to analyse planets, natural satellites and sun systems.

Then, there were two workshops that made the most of the participants’ creativity, in which they could express their understanding of science through theatrical performances or join an Astro Party dedicated to discoveries in the fields of physics and astronomy.

12

This section describes the activities that were carried out at each of these workshops.

A collaborative Mars mission using the Thymio educational robot This exciting workshop by Paolo Rossetti, Christian Giang, Evgeniia Bonnet and Morgane Chevalier brought the participants directly on board a virtual important space mission to rescue a damaged power station on planet Mars. As part of this exercise, the participants had to programme Thymio robots with remote access to work on the repair. For this simulation, the participants used an opensource software called Aseba on their computers.

The participants had to think about many things before programming the robots to make the space mission successful, as they were not able to see the outcome until later. This meant that they had to carefully select algorithms and design their programme to achieve the expected outcome. Of course, this workshop produced some very interesting space missions. https://www.thymio.org/en:start

Developing Students’ 21stCentury Skills with Go-Lab Go-Lab is an amazing community that aggregates innovative solutions and helps educators to prepare their own inquirybased learning scenarios, enriched with online laboratories and modern apps. Ms Rosa Doran, a well-known astrophysics expert and educator, demonstrated to the participants during this workshop how Inquiry-based Learning Spaces (ILS) are created within the Go-Lab community and how they could navigate and use its online laboratories. Ms Doran also explained how different apps could be integrated in lessons.

More than 200,000 users over 190 countries are exploring the Go-Lab online portal, which was among finalists for the .eu Web Award in 2018. Of those users, over 19,000 have created Inquiry Learning Scenarios (ILSs). Go-Lab is, therefore, an important tool, which facilitates the integration of inquiry-based methodologies in education across Europe. During this workshop, the participants experienced first-hand the benefits of inquiry-based education from both students’ and teachers’ point of view. https://www.golabz.eu/ Codinc, peer-to-peer coding for inclusion Veronique de Leener and Yannick Michaux are teaching coding to young people in Molenbeek, a neighbourhood in Brussels, Belgium, that is vulnerable due to very high youth unemployment. As part of the Capital Digital project, they organise workshops for those young people in which they acquire essential technical and pedagogical skills. Those young people then use their knowledge to teach their

even younger peers the same skills, thus enhancing everyone’s technical skills and employability.

During this workshop, Ms de Leener and Mr Michaux demonstrated how this project has had a visible impact, not only on the participants themselves, but on the community in Molenbeek as a whole, as the students’ parents are also actively involved and informed about their children’s work. This can strengthen the students’ self-esteem and performance at school. http://www.capitaldigital.org/ STEM in the classroom: How DIY water quality sensors bring science to our students Mr Paulo Lourenço and Mr Gonçalo Azenha showed participants in this interesting workshop how to make use of existing educational resources in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEM). They demonstrated how water, air and soil quality sensors could stimulate students’ curiosity and engagement through real, hands-on challenges that address tangible issues in their own environments.

These sensors, made from easily obtainable materials, were adopted from the international projects “Smart Kids Lab” and “Fresh Water Watch” and adapted to the community culture of the workshop organisers, providing a medium through which students learned about the impact of mankind on nature and how it can affect climate change. https://freshwaterwatch. thewaterhub.org/

13

Drones at School Look out! Ms Liliana Fernandes and Mr Jorge Reis sent off a flock of drones into the air, hovering above and buzzing around the conference participants! This exciting live demonstration of drones illustrated how they could be used for educational purposes. In fact, drones could be powerful resources for helping teachers to lead students to discover and acquire complex concepts through simple programming activities, as the participants discovered.

The participants learned how to operate and use drones in classrooms, by programming them with language blocks, using Tynker APP and Free Flight Mini APP. They also examined mathematical concepts, such as angles, distances and speed, and how those are directly connected to the drones’ operation. Those methodologies could help students to develop an interest in research, testing and proposing solutions to everyday problems in their surrounding communities. https://www.tynker.com/ First Steps in Scratch This hands-on workshop by Mr Mihai Agape, an experienced teacher of electronics and an organiser of robotics and programming contests, introduced its participants to the basics of the programming language called Scratch 2.0. Mr Agape also presented the various courses about programming available through the Scientix online portal, based on the Moodle online learning platform.

Mr Agape explained how, while learning at their own pace, the participants could use the Moodle courses in their professional development.

14

As part of this workshop, the participants learned how they could create animations, simulations and games with Scratch about their own preferred topics. This experience could, therefore, inspire people to take the first step and introduce Scratch programming into teaching practices and curricula. https://scratch.mit.edu/ Learning Science Though Theatre: hands on!

Mr Alexandros Koukovinis and Mr Menelaos Sotiriou got their workshop’s participants up on their feet, by inviting them to take part in a short theatre performance. Inspired by a Greek initiative called Learning Science Through Theatre, the workshop’s organisers demonstrated how theatre and the dramatisation of scientific knowledge can lead to a deeper understanding of relevant concepts and an engagement with both scientific and artistic lines of thinking.

Following the imperatives of a culture that strives towards the spread of scientific literature, Learning Science through Theatre approaches subjects in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in an innovative way that embraces the “A” element – whether it stands for “Arts” or “All disciplines” – in the process. http://lstt.weebly.com/ Parlour and board games in learning STEM subjects Ms Cristina Nicolaita and Cornelia Melcu introduced participants of their workshop to various parlour and board games that can support learning processes and team collaboration. By joining simulations of

those games, the participants discovered first-hand how they could support desired learning outcomes.

To name a few examples, students could be asked to form rows based on certain criteria, like numbers, or to use scotch tape to make numbers. Existing games, such as snake and ladders, could also be modified and adjusted to the desired learning outcomes. Through gaming, children learn how to interact, express ideas, feelings and different opinions, how to ask for information and live in a community with rules and roles.

Makers: Doping STEM with the Makers’ spirit and practice Using rulers, hot glue, cardboard and wires, the participants in this workshop

by Mr David Rossenberg learned how to measure and complete a sketch of a chair, copy it and make a 3D model of it at the scale of 1:10. By joining this workshop, the participants developed skills for measuring, reading and writing a scaled sketch, as part of an introduction to a course by ORT Makers for fifth-grade students.

Makers combine the ever-growing availability of traditional and new means of production and the availability of information on the Internet. Some educators integrate the Makers’ skills into Project-Based Learning (PBL) schemes, while others focus on technologies such as 3D-Printing. Two years ago, the Research and Development Centre at ORT Israel, a secondary school network, articulated its pedagogical approach around this new concept. https://www.ort.org.il/ort_articles/ ofrimakers/

Light-interacting materials: Science meets Beauty It is now possible to build with light, thanks to the aesthetic and functional properties of new materials, such as dichroic sheets, plastic micro-optics, fibre optic textiles and more, as the participants in this workshop by Ms Annamaria Lissotti and Mr Rui Baptista discovered. This was an inspiring workshop that mixed physics, arts and technology and showed its participants how to boost students’ scientific knowledge and experimental skills, while spurring their creative thinking and entrepreneurship.

This hands-on workshop also introduced its participants to Arduino’s use as a data logger with low cost sensors, based on the Erasmus+ funded MoM-Matters of Matter: Future Materials in Science Education project. http://www.mattersofmatter.eu/ Aura-virtual reality Participants in this hands-on workshop

by Ms Marija Gaurina and Ms Ivana Marić Zerdun turned everyday objects, pictures and places into new opportunities. They were introduced to the mobile application Aurasma Studio and augmented realities in chemistry and physics. The participants were able to visualise things like the distillation of the gall bladder, sulphuric acid activities, calculation of the molecular formula of a compound, nuclear fission and carbon dioxide poisoning measures.

The workshop’s organisers demonstrated how digital content, such as videos, could be connected to pictures in books and classrooms. The workshop participants created their own digital materials that overlapped with text and labels on paper, 15

explaining each part of the circulation of water, presented as a wooden 3D model of the hydrological cycle. https://studio.aurasma.com/ Secret of the mobile phone While a vast majority of students over thirteen years of age own a mobile phone, not all them students understand how those devices function. During this workshop, Ms Sladana Jovic and Ms Bojana Mitriceski Andelkovic demonstrated how those devices are constructed and what materials are needed in order to build them. These devices that impact the students’ everyday life could be the basis of a very interesting class discussion about the ecological and social impacts of mobile phones.

The workshop’s organisers introduced a teaching box for this purpose, containing flash cards about the elements and materials that make it possible to produce mobile phones. The workshop’s participants were then divided into groups to simulate discussion about the world’s resource-rich and demanding lifestyle.

Mobile phone for lessons Mobile phones, tablets and other technologies can enhance teaching and learning. While many teachers and school officials are considering limiting or banning students’ use of mobile devices, those technologies are still attractive to students. As part of this workshop, Ms Rigonda Skorulskiene presented cases in which phones and tablets were introduced successfully in lessons.

16

She analysed three different types of mobile applications. First, apps that could be used in everyday lessons, then apps for polls and surveys and, finally, apps based on augmented reality. Those apps were LiveBoard, Science Journal by Google, Rule, Smart Distance, Animal 4D and Space 4D. The last two could be used to analyse animals and planetary systems within an augmented reality. https://www.octagonstudio.com/ Astro party Astro Party has been organised regularly since 2005 on the beautiful banks of the river Danube by the village of Baykal, Dolna Mitropolia Municipality, Bulgaria, under the patronage of the Ministry of Education and Science and the Mayor of Dolna Mitropolia Municipality. This workshop by Mr Ivo Jokin presented hands-on astronomy activities inspired by the event, in which the participants also tested various activities in the field of ecology.

Mr Jokin presented how students developed observational and experimental skills in astronomy, physics and ecology by participating in the Astro Party event.

As an extra-curricular activity, the Astro Party increases general interest in science through hands-on activities, such as the observation of waterfloating and water-loving birds. http://astroparty.simplesite.com/

ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION alliance between higher education and industry that fosters innovation and exchange in initial teacher education, funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. Other initiatives like Next-Lab, which supports the uptake of the Go-Lab ecosystem to bring InquiryBased Learning and remote and virtual laboratories to STEM classes, are also targeting Initial Teacher Training.

Experts on particular themes in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education were invited to join six discussions at the conference in the form of a round table. Led by one moderator, the panellists were asked to present their views on certain questions in relation to their area of specialisation and to exchange opinions with the rest of their respective panels. After this exchange of information, the audience was invited to put questions to the panellists.

As a result, there were great discussions on the subjects of initial teacher education and training, general awareness of STEM careers, collaboration between the research and teacher communities, the support provided to primary schools for teaching STEM subjects, cooperation between countries among leading schools, and the transfer of best practices.

Initial Teacher Training Various initiatives are currently in place to attract more people into the teaching profession. The Initial Teachers’ Education Lab (ITELab), for example, is a knowledge

The experts who attended this round table from the Netherlands, Ireland, Finland and Croatia agreed that the teaching profession had changed drastically in the past decades. Several measures had been taken to combine teaching with professional life, in order to attract also people from specialised sectors. Many teacher training institutes are facilitating the uptake of inquiry-based methods, but it is sometimes not supported by the curriculum. Teachers need to be active participants in any reforms from the beginning to the end for them to be successful.

Participants: Dorothy Cassells, European Schoolnet, Belgium (moderator) Teijo Koljonen, Finnish National Agency for Education, Finland Aleksandra Mudrinic Ribic, CARNET, Croatia Jan Van der Meij, University of Twente, the Netherlands Shane Bergin, University College Dublin, Ireland

17

The limited information on STEM careers High quality and multi-disciplinary education STEM is needed in order to drive the current innovative economy forward and to sustain a knowledge-driven society, supported by skilled, responsible and inspired young people. While the number of graduates with science and technology qualifications keeps falling, recent reports estimate the need for a high number of scientists and researchers within Europe.

While priorities are often directed towards the improvement of students’ academic achievements, better performance does not necessarily entail higher interest in STEM, as many “high achievers” are still not pursuing STEM degrees or STEM careers.

The participants in this round table discussed the tools that students needed in order to identify possible future careers and possibilities. Thus, it was essential for policy makers to provide students with more and better information on possible STEM careers.

Participants: Maïté Debry, European Schoolnet, Belgium (moderator)

How to make research results more accessible to teachers The experts who attended this round table provided answers to key questions, in connection with collaboration between schools and the world of research. They discussed how such cooperation and exchange could be fostered, what kind of initiatives already exist to address this, how schools and research institutions can build partnerships and which stakeholders should be involved. Importantly, they also discussed the difference between successful and unsuccessful partnerships of this nature.

According to the panellists, there were several examples of successful initiatives at schools in citizen science that had a clear positive impact on the work of both schools and research institutions. One of the key conclusions was that successful partnerships between schools and research institutions must run in the spirit of cooperation, with teachers, students and researchers alike being equally involved in “negotiating” their role. Consideration must be given to the needs of each group, and it is essential that activities are designed in co-construction among these stakeholders.

Desiree Scicluna Bugeja, MEDE, Malta

Participants:

Imbi Henno, Ministry of Education and Research, Estonia

Yves Beernaert, EDUCONSULT, Belgium (moderator)

Nada Stojicevic, Elektrotehnička škola “Nikola Tesla”, Serbia

Bertrand Pajot, MEN, France

Koen Stulens, Texas Instruments, Belgium

Piotr Stankiewicz, Institute of Geophysics Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland Franca Sormani, Liceo Statale scientifico e classico E. Majorana, Italy Dragos Tataru, National Institute for Earth Physics, Romania

18

The importance of supporting primary schools in teaching STEM Subjects in STEM are often considered to be for older children than those attending primary schools. This is a mind-set that was tackled by the experts of this round table, who considered it very important to make science accessible to primaryschool children. However, teachers need to be well prepared in order to answer the questions that might arise.

Research shows that interests influence future career choices and that attitudes to science acquired in school impact a person’s relationship to science and technology in adult life. Therefore, it is crucial to ignite that interest in pupils at an early age. According to the European Commission, science teaching at the level of primary schools, which corresponds to the time of construction of intrinsic motivation, has a strong long-term impact with longlasting effects. While most students in PISA2015 expressed interest in science topics and recognised the important role that science plays, only a minority reported participating in science activities.

Getting school leaders from different countries to work together and share expertise School leadership has been high on the reform agenda for decades and even more since the radical and accelerated changes in 21st-century societies, which call for fundamental reform in education.

School leadership is indeed a key lever to implement transformation at institutional level, especially in the context of increased autonomy given to schools in the 1990s.

School leadership is more about preparing the future, analysing the changes in the environment and proposing a way and a strategy for the school to evolve and ensure all students are prepared for the society they will be living in.

According to research findings, school leadership is related to student achievements in the sense that it indeed affects students’ motivation, the quality of the school organisation, and acts as a catalyst of the potential of the school staff, all factors in turn directly affecting student learning.

Participants:

Participants: Anca Popovici, University of Bucharest, Romania (moderator) Panagiotis Angelopoulos, 1st Junior High School of Vrilissia / Ministry of Education representative, Greece Cornelia Melcu, Scoala Gimnaziala Nr. 9 Nicolae Orghidan Brasov, Romania

Vladimíra Pavlicová, Centre for International Cooperation in Education, Czech Republic (moderator) Irene Pateraki, European Schoolnet, Belgium Christel Op de Beeck, Department of Education Flanders, Belgium Teresita Gravina, MIUR – AIRIcerca, Italy

Jordi Diaz, University of Barcelona (CCiTUB), Spain

19

STEM education practices: transferring between national and European level According to the OECD’s PISA in 2015, which tested around 540,000 15-year-old students in 72 countries and economies in science, reading, mathematics and collaborative problem-solving, only 12 of the 72 countries assessed in 2006 had seen their science performance improve over this period. Nonetheless spending per student in primary and secondary education had increased by almost 20% over that period.

Nowadays, STEM education practices are looking into teaching students computational thinking, while focusing on how they can solve problems in real world scenarios. Besides, there is a growing demand for professionals in STEM, resulting in a significant labour shortage in

20

these fields. Some teachers are engaged in innovative teaching processes, which contribute to increasing students’ interest in pursuing STEM studies and careers.

There are also numerous initiatives conducted at both national and European level in relation to STEM education.

Participants: Natalija Aceska, Bureau for development of education, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (moderator) Tunç ErdalAkdur, Ministry of National Education, Directorate General For Innovation and Educational Technologies, Turkey Rosa Doran, NUCLIO / GTTP, Portugal Günter Törner, University of DuisburgEssen, Germany

TALKS

The 56 talks and presentations held at the conference were categorised into 16 different themes, showing how enormously diverse the topics covered at the conference were. Those themes ranged from research into the classroom, curriculum implementation and contextualisation of STEM teaching to mobile learning, technologies, gaming, robotics, computational thinking, nanotechnology, biology and much, much more.

This section covers in detail the content of each of those sessions and their associated talks and presentations.

Research into the classroom Enriching STEM education projects by adding a citizen science dimension (ROEDUSEIS, MOBE and SERA) Mr Dragos Tataru presented the educational resources from K-12 to

higher education produced by the Romanian Educational Seismic Network (ROEDUSEIS), which has been integrated in a larger European initiative called the Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructure Alliance for Europe (SERA). More than 100 of those resources can be downloaded directly from the Scientix online portal.

Do you speak science? How researchers and pupils can learn from each other about science The Researchers’ Night in Romania is a large-scale public science outreach initiative, funded by the Horizon 2020 framework of the European Union, which involves pupils and teachers. Ms Madalina Cocea presented how this event has been maintained every year, even after it came to the end of its allocated funding from Horizon 2020. A successful awarenessraising campaign helped the organisers to reach and involve schools.

21

Mediatheque of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings Dr Patricia Edema presented a vast range of educational materials based on scientific dialogues of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. The aim of the Lindau Nobel Mediatheque is to inform teachers, pupils and university students about Nobel Prize research and innovation. To achieve this, the Mediatheque has developed animated learning videos, 360 degrees Nobel Laboratories and Topic Clusters for school, as examples.

From MatLan to M&L – exploring new horizons Ms Ariana-Stanca Vacaretu presented the Maths&Languages – M&L – project, funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. This project was born from the desire to share, improve and develop further the so-called MATh. en.JEANS interdisciplinary approach with and for mathematics teachers, foreignlanguage teachers and researchers all over Europe, by pairing ten different high schools in Europe.

Curriculum implementation Online training for innovative STEM teaching Ms Teodora Ioan presented Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as free, easily accessible and flexible training opportunities for those who seek to improve their knowledge in a particular field. Over the years, the European Schoolnet Academy has offered a vast number of MOOCs for science educators.

Ms Ioan presented various success stories and challenges faced during this phase and satisfaction with the courses.

22

Informatics in primary education and integral science education in lower secondary education: the Lithuanian experience Curriculum reforms are underway in Lithuania and Mr Giedrius Vaidelis presented how two projects called “Informatics in primary education” and “Piloting the programme of Integral Science course for grades 5-8” are contributing to that process. Educational materials in informatics are being developed and tested as part of the former project and a new pilot programme for integral science education in the latter.

Teacher professional learning model for disseminating innovative practice Competency-based learning is the focus of the curriculum reforms that started in Latvia in 2016. Ms Dace Bertule presented how educators are expected to bring changes to their practices due to those reforms.

She presented a project designed to assist primary educators and minimise the gap in implementing the teaching of 21st-century skills within the classroom and to supply insights for teacher educators.

Applying mathematics to electrical engineering subjects Ms Sonja Šumonja presented several examples of cross-curricular and collaborative teaching at the

Electrotechnical School Nikola Tesla, Nis, Serbia. The purpose of this is to establish a collaborative link between mathematics and electrical engineering disciplines that previously did not exist, even though mathematical concepts are widely represented in the teaching of subjects in electrical engineering.

Tools and schools Introducing coding in primary education: methodology and tools In the last few years, the subject of “Learning to Code” has been introduced in primary schools in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, starting from 3rdgrade level. Mr Vladimir Trajkovik presented this new policy and its various implications, which have created both challenges and opportunities in primary education. He presented a methodology for implementing the policy, based on educational paradigms and digital tools.

Enhancing students’ motivation to learn STEM: educational technology Ms Stanislava Gateva presented the Khan Academy, a free online learning environment that contains various sets of exemplary problems that can be adapted for educational purposes. She demonstrated how the Khan Academy can help teachers in Europe to turn a traditional classroom into a digital one which better suits the students’ needs, highlighting best practices from the Khan Academy from around the world.

Working towards gender-inclusive STEM education in Europe Ms Lisanne Bronzwaer presented new guides and toolkits that communicate science to young people in a gender inclusive way, making the most out of both

girls’ and boys’ potentials across Europe.

Produced as part of the Hypatia project, funded by the Horizon 2020 framework of the European Union for research and innovation, the collection contains examples of speed dating, card games, debating scenarios and plays.

Dr. Scratch: Assessing Scratch projects for computational thinking skills Scratch is one of the most widely used programming language in education and as part of her presentation, Ms Ángela Vargas Alba presented a Web platform called Dr Scratch that enables learners to analyse their Scratch projects and improve their computational thinking skills. Built by the MIT Media Lab, Scratch is free, multilingual and highly recommended for initiation into the world of programming, as the participants discovered.

Mobile learning and technologies The PDF (Pensar Digital e Fazer) Project: A proof of concept in progress As part of the PDF project (Pensar Digital e Fazer), digital know-how is put into everyone’s hands, with the aim of changing and shaping our growing digital world and our abilities to solve problems., Mr José Carlos Pinto Miranda presented this Portuguese initiative, underpinned by 23

Raspberry Pi computing, articulating the way in which people apply technological education and take it further in a small, protected environment.

Digital Earth: GI Learner creating a learning line for GI Science in education GI-Learner is a project funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, presented by Mr Karl Doner. The purpose of the project is to help teachers implement learning lines for spatial thinking in secondary schools, using geographical information science. GI-Learner was developed on the basis of the Digital Earth concept, which envisions the opportunity to explore sciences through innovations in mapping technologies.

D3Mobile Metrology World League Ms María de la Luz Gil Docampo presented the D3mobile Metrology World League, a 3D modelling championship developed by the research group of CIGEO at the University of Santiago de Compostela.

The aim of the championship is to raise interest in science among students born between 2000 and 2005, making use of the increasing popularity of 3D modelling 24

amongst young people.

Motivating youth towards STEM education and careers through the UMI Technologies Ms Iva Walterova presented the benefits of various hardware and software and innovative and educational approaches and career services, developed as part of the UMI-Sci-Ed project, which is funded by the Horizon 2020 framework of the European Union for research and innovation. UMISci-Ed stands for “Exploiting Ubiquitous Computing, Mobile Computing and IoT [UMI] to promote STEM education”.

Contextualisation of STEM teaching STEM in aquaculture immersion – To enthuse today’s youth and foster tomorrow’s workforce Ms Pamela Ernstberger presented a blended educational programme called Exploring Diversity in Aquaculture – EdinAqua – to get high school students interested in science, particularly aquaculture. The programme gives students the opportunity to explore the aquaculture industry through inquiry-based

science, social studies and culture on an online platform, with a holistic approach to instruction and learning.

Surprising and simple devices to study forces and their laws Mr Pablo Cassinello introduced a series of entertaining and simple experiments to explain forces and how they act. Different devices were used in each experiment, which included forces of all kinds, such as magnetic, electrostatic, elastic and crash forces, among others. Students discovered in each experiment that no forces work in isolation. Whenever a force acts, there must be a reaction that they must seek and identify.

Lifting the classroom into space – Pupils observe the Earth by analysing remote sensing data Ms Claudia Lindner explained how curriculum-oriented teaching units were developed, based on data from Copernicus Sentinel Satellites of the European Space Agency. The projects “FIS – Remote Sensing in School Lessons” and “KEPLER ISS” not only help pupils to experience the overview effect for themselves, but also to work with scientific observation data about planet Earth in order to answer real-world problems.

Connecting STEM to industry through industry expert – teacher mentorship Ms Kavita Sanghvi presented how science teachers could be mentored by experts from industry on specific topics. By observing lessons, those experts could provide feedback on how experiential the curriculum is, if there is more practical knowledge to share with students and if students are performing better academically. The aim of this is to prepare the curriculum for tomorrow’s industries and the use of modern technologies.

Gaming, robotics and computational thinking Computational Thinking in Primary Schools – Pilot project on successfully combining teacher training and innovation in the classroom Mr Martin Bauer presented a project of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research in Austria called “Denken Lernen, Probleme lösen (Learning to think and to solve problems)”. This pilot project is dedicated to the teaching of computational thinking at primary schools, successfully combining teacher training and innovation in the classroom. Basic thought patterns are introduced with various technologies.

O Robot Ajuda! (The Robot Helps!)

Mr Paulo Torcato presented a new educational programme called ATTiTude3D, which aims at improving students’ achievement levels and retention rates and limiting early dropouts. This programme follows a three-dimensional methodology, based on new environments with future classrooms, robotics education and mentoring. Educational robotics are used to direct the students’ curiosity towards learning basic science concepts.

Unplugged activities for coding and algorithmic thinking Ms Gorica Njegovanovic presented a number of activities that could develop a sense for algorithmic thinking without the help of a computer. Ms Njegovanovic introduced examples of algorithms from everyday life, how they could be explained to students and various examples of outdoor activities. This demonstrated that algorithmic skills could easily be developed, even in the absence of technology.

25

Educational mathematics games for two players

NanoInventum: Introducing nanotechnology in primary school

Ms Petra Vondráková presented a set of mathematical games that were developed by a team of teachers at the Department of Applied Mathematics at VŠB - the Technical University of Ostrava – with support from the STEM4YOUTH project, which is funded by the Horizon 2020 framework of the European Union for research and innovation. Those games are interactive and help students to develop mathematical skills.

Nanoinventum was a project, presented by Mr Jordi Díaz-Marcos, which had the aim at introducing nanotechnology to primary schools through scientific co-creation. The main objective was to create a mock-up for a nanobot, based on different scientific concepts adapted to the curriculum, and to present it to other schools at a final scientific workshop. Its methodology involves design thinking, role making and creativity.

Escape rooms in the service of science

Nano, bio and more Research-school collaboration: involving pupils in the development of a toolkit to increase their understanding of protein chemistry Ms Annalisa Aluigi presented an educational toolkit for teaching protein chemistry in secondary school biochemistry courses. This toolkit results from a collaboration between schools and the National Research Council of Italy, in which students were able to connect experimental observables and textbook theories, thus developing an understanding of protein behaviour and chemistry.

World Biotech Tour: teaching biotechnology Ms Particia Barciela presented the World Biotech Tour (WBT), which highlighted the role of science centres in bringing together key stakeholders to promote awareness of the subject of biotechnology. This wide-ranging collaboration demonstrated the relevance, excitement and wonders of biotechnology through fun hands-on activities and discussions about key issues, involving students, teachers, science centres and the public.

26

Escape rooms are games in which the participants solve puzzles to escape from a closed room within a certain time frame. As presented by Mr Ran Peleg, the increasing popularity of escape rooms can be harnessed in science education. Mr Peleg talked about an escape room that he worked on with his colleagues, which brought the fascination of commercial escape rooms to schools, science festivals and museums.

School projects STIMEY – A generic multichannel hybrid e-learning platform for STEM education Ms Christina Haaf presented a project called Science, Technology, Innovation, Mathematics, Education for the Young – STIMEY – funded by the Horizon 2020 framework of the European Union for research and innovation. The aim of the project is to create a multichannel hybrid e-learning platform, which provides materials designed and developed based on a well-researched pedagogical framework.

together schools from five different countries in Europe. He demonstrated how certain methods have simplified transnational collaboration among schools, identified certain ideas that might have looked good on paper but not in the classroom and outlined opportunities to take part in future science projects on the international scale.

Earth and the environment Marine litter solutions through learning by doing Walking through nature Ms Aleksandra Andonoska presented an educational media that helps students to learn more about endangered animals and environmental protection. It was developed as part of a collaborative project among four countries in the eTwinning community for schools in Europe. The goal of that project was to enhance learning through international collaboration, improve ICT skills and strengthen knowledge about biodiversity.

Happy Channel presents Space News

by Space Scoop Ms Marina Molla shared her experience of introducing space-related topics in primary education. Her interdisciplinary approach combined astronomy, journalism, storytelling, literacy, language classes and inquiry-based learning. “Happy Channel presents Space News by Space Scoop” was a project that she implemented with fifth-grade students at the Second Minority Primary School of Komotini, Greece.

Taking science classes across borders Mr Benedict O’Donnell presented the Prometeruse project and how it brought

MALIA – Marine Litter Awareness Through Learning by Doing Together is a project, funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, designed to introduce this global challenge to school students in a constructive way. Presented by Ms Teresita Gravina, the project’s aim is to include marine conservation practices and marine litter educational guidelines in the national school curricula of four European countries Preparing the world for tomorrow Mr Timur Yavas presented a project which aims at contributing to the development of individuals who have an international consciousness, respect all the assets in the world, take initiatives to leave a better world for future generations, try to produce solutions for all kinds of problems, make mistakes, try again and finally innovate. The project is an interdisciplinary study, which makes it more valuable to students.

Extending the NetLogo “climate change” model Mr Georgios Gkaras presented how a class of students studied “Climate Change as a Complex System” with the help of the NetLogo programming environment and NetLogo library models, within the frame of an experimental school project.

27

The students studied the code behind the NetLogo model and got to know the NetLogo programming language. In particular, they introduced positive and negative feedback on Climate Change.

SOS Pollinators SOS Pollinators was a Spanish educational project presented by Ms Clara Vignolo, which sought to encourage teachers and students to acquire additional knowledge about pollinators in green areas of cities, such as parks and gardens. In addition, SOS Pollinators encouraged teachers to use those spaces for teaching science, promoting the observation of urban biodiversity and natural processes.

IBSE Examining the added value of computer-supported inquiry-based learning with embedded virtual experimentation on students’ attitudes and motivation on STEM education Mr Achillefs Kapartzianis presented a study on the impact of a computer-supported inquiry-based learning environment, which incorporated virtual experimentation on students’ attitudes and motivation towards science education. This study made use of Inquiry Learning Spaces (ILS) of the GoLab community. Fourteen students, aged 16 to 17, completed the activities during their physics lessons.

Novel ways to promote mathematics, science and technology education through the International StarT project Ms Anette Markula presented the International StarT project by the LUMA Centre in Finland, a network of Finnish universities working towards quality teaching of science subjects in schools.

28

She demonstrated how students are learning together through collaboration as part of interdisciplinary group projects of the StarT community. This can help encourage young people to take up an interest in science subjects.

ICSE International Centre for STEM Education The International Centre for STEM Education – ICSE – is a recently established institution based in Germany.

Presented by Mr Günter Törner, the ICSE’s aim is to raise students’ interest in science, improve their achievement levels and strengthen their process-oriented competences, for example in relation to inquiry, reasoning and solving problems.

To achieve this, ICSE pays attention to practice-relevant research.

The “Science, Technology, Society” course for high school students in Estonia This presentation by Ms Katrin Timakova highlighted an optional course called “Science, Technology, Society” that was designed to solve problems that were essential for students and had a wide impact on society. During the course, reasoned decisions were made that took into consideration scientific, technological, social, ethical and economic aspects, putting previously acquired knowledge into a new context.

Strengthening teacher & school competences Data-driven STEM teaching: Presentation of the JOBSTEM research project’s experiences Mr Josip Burusic presented a Croatian project called JOBSTEM. This project

explored how students form STEM career aspirations during primary schooling, how they are related to students’ school achievement and self-competence beliefs, and how students’ aspirations are shaped by their families and gender.

Several significant research outputs were produced as part of the project, relevant for schoolteachers.

Academi@STEM of Manguald Mr José Miguel Sousa presented a project that is part of the “Pact for the Development and Territorial Cohesion of the Inter-Municipal Community (CIM) of Viseu Dão Lafões” and is co-financed by the European Commission through the Portugal 2020 programme. The project, called “Academi@ STEM de Mangualde”, is an investment priority for the re-education and prevention of early school drop-out and equal access.

Changing places and changing teaching in STEM education Preparing students for leaving school is a challenge. Mr Richard Walden asked how schools can provide academic and vocational training and whether this was effective in equipping students for

entering the world of work. EUROFUTURE: Changing Places was a unique European funded project, presented by Mr Walden, aimed at providing students with insight into entering employment or further education.

Make Tomorrow – Turkey Programme Today, individuals need to be producers, thinkers, tinkerers and creators. In relation to this development, Ms Fatma Caner presented the Make Tomorrow – Turkey Programme. This was a digital conversion training programme, based on the development of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills for 9th, 10th and 11th grade students in Turkey. This brings a sense for entrepreneurship and problem solving.

Science and Inclusion Effects of problem-solving and epistemology beliefs on academic performance. Differences according to academic level and gender One of the main objectives in science and mathematics education is that students achieve competence in solving problems.

29

Mr Javier Alabau-Gonzalvo presented various studies on personal belief systems and cognitive-affective configurations, and how those two variables affected students’ achievements and learning strategies.

Those studies revealed several significant differences among students in this respect.

Science for ALL children: giving new opportunities to the less privileged The SISSA Children University in Trieste, Italy, ran a special programme with a small group of teenagers whose obligatory studies were interrupted. Mr Enrico Maria Balli presented the work, carried out as part of this project, which aimed at exploring the potential of science to mitigate school dropout and facilitate social inclusion. Older university students took the role of mentors and engaged the teenagers in several workshops.

Supporting and teaching Visually Impaired Pupils (VIPs) Mr Nikolaos Nerantzis presented the latest research findings on the brain’s function, the educational needs of visually impaired students and the general teaching guidelines for teaching visually impaired students. He presented the educational methods and activities used to support visually impaired students, the participants of in-school projects and how wideranging projects are implemented in special education.

The TEC model for teacher training and social inclusion Dr Asmaa Ganayem presented an innovative pedagogical model called Technology Education and Cultural Diversity (TEC). She demonstrated how TEC facilitates social inclusion through multicultural collaborative learning and teaching online. Three visionary women, 30

who are leading change through ICT, developed this model at the TEC Centre at the Mofet Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Supporting gifted students Be STEMpatic! (Budi STEMpatičan!): the project of identification, guidance and teaching of STEM gifted students The Croatian “Be STEMpatic!” project was financed by the European Social Fund and was focused on the identification, guidance and teaching of gifted students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Presented by Mr Josip Burusic, the project introduced a model based on current theoretical framework for giftedness and talent and empirical findings about specific areas of STEM giftedness.

Launching a gifted children programme Ms Luise Tiks, a science teacher from Estonia, presented how her school introduced a pilot project for gifted students two years ago. The aim of this programme, which was introduced thanks to the school’s psychologist, is to help class teachers to identify gifted students and to offer those students additional challenges that support their development.

Thus, this new programme helped students reach their potentials.

Out of school learning The Formula 1 competition in junior high school F1 in Schools is a global multi-disciplinary challenge, presented by Mr Panagiotis Angelopoulos, in which teams of students aged from nine to nineteen used CAD/ CAM software to collaborate, design, analyse, manufacture, test and then race

with miniature models of compressed air powered balsa wood F1 cars. This inspired students to learn about different subjects in sciences through technology.

The Open Science Internships The Otevřená věda (Open Science) projects have sought, for the past ten years, to increase interest in scientific careers among young people in the Czech Republic.

Presented by Ms Katerina Svobodova, the projects provide students, teachers, researchers and science communicators with opportunities for development, in which they get first-hand experience working with onsite researchers and scientists.

STEM+A Particle physics and creativity in primary education Ms Ourania Lampou introduced teaching practices of the “Playing with Protons” programme, an innovative training programme which promotes literacy skills and a vision in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) among primary teachers and students, by empowering them to become “out-of-the-box” thinkers and creators.

Playing with Protons is a pioneering project

by CERN in physics education.

Remote and digital The use of immersive virtual reality in the mathematics classroom CoSpaces is a tool that provides a programming environment for teachers and students, presented by Mr Álvaro Molina Ayuso. Teachers and students can use CoSpaces to create their own virtual realities as means of expression.

One activity connects, for example, mathematics and history through the seven bridges of Konigsberg. A Blockly add-on makes it possible for users to code different actions easily.

Simplifying the use of IoT for STEM primary education The application of the Internet of Things (IoT) in education is being studied, and results so far demonstrate that it can lead among other things to increased student engagement, easier learning processes, and personalised and improved measurement of student assessments, according to this presentation by Mr Alex Vakaloudis. This can be harvested in science experiments and data analysis, for example with the help of sensors.

Learning Science Through Theatre Learning Science Through Theatre is an initiative that creatively merges subjects in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) with Arts in the form of a dialogue, based on the principles of inquiry-based education. Presented by Mr Menelaos Sotiriou, the initiative increases students’ understanding of scientific concepts through cheerful engagement activities and connecting them to local communities.

31

THE STANDS

The exhibition room of the 3rd Scientix Conference provided each of the 20 showcased initiatives with a walled area of 6 to 9 square meters. This area included chairs, tables and stands, which could be used to put on displays according to each presenter’s preference.

It was very impressive to walk around the exhibition area, seeing how all the organisers characterised their booths by adding items and elements to it that were unique for their initiatives, including logos, flags, posters, publications, goodies and scientific equipment. The conference guests could visit the exhibition during breaks and specific time slots, in which they received guidance from each individual presenter.

All the exhibitions except two were directly connected to European, national and private projects. At one of those two, José Benito Vázquez Dorrío and Gabriel Pinto

32

organised live demonstrations of hands-on science experiments that made the link between science and daily life. The other exhibition was dedicated to the “Codex on the Flight of Birds” by Leonardo da Vinci, organised by Daniela Ambrosi.

The exhibited projects funded by the Horizon 2020 framework of the European Union for research and innovation, or its predecessors included eCraft2Learn, EDUARCTIC, EUNAWE, Science on Stage, STEM4YOUTH, ER4STEM, OSOS and Scientix. Those funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, or its predecessors included the School Education Gateway, eTwinning, STEM FOR ALL, I&R European Industrial Technology and Robotics, SCORE, eHAND and ERIS. Other projects were funded by national or private means. The European Commission also had its own exhibition area to present its work in research and innovation.

inGenious education & industry

All the projects and initiatives represented on this page had an exhibition stand at the conference.

33

POSTERS

The conference venue featured a special exhibition area with 25 posters, created by teachers, researchers and other practitioners in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. Each of those posters described an initiative, activity or project in STEM education. Every visitor got a welcoming package at the start of the conference, including three blue stickers, which they could attach to their favourite posters. The authors of the three most popular posters were invited to take part in a special awards ceremony at the end of the conference. This section describes the content of each of those posters presented at the conference.

Coding in my school

STEM in my school backyard

Ms Ben Shitrit Haimi used her poster to explain her first experience of an international learning model, which makes use of an academic Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).

Ms Elisa Saraiva presented how students at her school built a garden in the school’s backyard that they call the “Bio Conscience Garden”, which contains only autochthonous species.

34

As part of her poster demonstration, Ms Maria Eugenia Melniciuc explained how her school is preparing students, by strengthening their competences in relation to the use of technology.

CSI - Popular themes for education Mr Özgür Özdemir demonstrated how he makes use of the popular American television series called Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) to make school subjects more exciting and fun.

Collaborative learning of an academic MOOC by middle school students in the educational team model

Make an easy drone Mr Mustafa Erken demonstrated how students can make drones with easily accessible and cheap materials, with the aim of improving students’ technological skills through coding activities.

Municipalities and business by sciences through MUDIC-VBS-CV Mr Jesús Carnicer’s poster demonstrated the activities of UDIC-VBS-CV, a didactic and interactive science museum in Spain which presents more than 50 modules of experiments and 25 workshops along with a planetarium and a science garden.

Work-based science learning: connecting schools with industry This poster by Ms Panagiota Argyri and Zacharoula Smyrnaiou demonstrated how important it is to connect schools with workplaces. Industry has an important role to play in the development of students’ skills.

STEMigrants.eu - A repository of STEM activities for education & integration of refugees and migrants STEMigrants.eu is a website created by educators presented at the conference by Mr Ioannis Lefkos. The aim is to support the integration of migrants and refugees through science-based activities.

Measuring primary children’s confidence in science This poster by Ms Sarah Carroll presented her research on the concept of science self-efficacy (SSE), which is individuals’ confidence in their abilities to do science and engage in science-based activities.

Earth and space in classroom activities The poster by Ms Cristina Iulia Anghel presented two examples of interdisciplinary activities that she carried out with her students during physics classes, using research methods and scientific data.

35

Life in a bottle This poster by Ms Angela Ruotolo demonstrated an exciting hands-on science lesson for primary schools, in which a terrarium could be created within a bottle.

From windmills to wind turbines This poster by Ms Ralia Thoma described an interdisciplinary educational practice carried out with elementary school pupils, using educational robotics and Web 2.0 tools in the classroom.

World Population Global Project Ms Argentina-Monica Pomohaci made a poster about a project between Ithaca High School, United States, and La Arboleda School, Spain, about the world’s population.

Education and industry to improve STEM – Two weeks as pharmacist Ms Maria Zambrotta created a poster inspired by a project called “two weeks as a pharmacist”, which is a collaborative

36

platform between educational institutions and pharmaceutical companies.

Teaching chemistry using online labs Ms Aleksandra Blazhevska made a poster about Go-Lab and the possibilities offered by its Inquiry-based Learning Spaces (ILS), promoting the acquisition of deep conceptual domain knowledge and inquirybased skills. botSTEM: Robotics and STEM education for 4-8 year old children Ms Ileana M. Greca created a poster about the Erasmus+ project called botSTEM, which makes use of inquiry-based teaching, educative robotics and coding in formal education from 4 to 8 years of age.

Professionals Go Back to Petro Kuzmjak School This poster by Ms Natalija Budinski presented her school’s collaboration with industry, based on the Professionals Go Back to School (PGB2S) scheme of the STEM Alliance initiative.

Inspire students to study STEM by using the COMPASS project This poster by Ms Tsetsa Hristova provided a brief overview of the COMPASS project, funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.

Why Collaborative Learning for Teachers is important This poster by Mr Bertalan Péter Farkas presented the EFFeCT project (European Methodological Framework for Facilitating Teachers’ Collaborative Learning) aimed at improving teachers’ competencies.

STEM for Daylighting Rivers: understanding the dynamic of rivers and the impact of urban sprawl for increasing civic ecology This poster jointly made by Francesca Ugolini, Fabrizio Ungaro, Serena di Grazia, Vincenzo Striano, Fouli Papageorgiou and David Pearlmutter, presented the DAYLIGHT RIVERS project, supported by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.

Teen Science Café Presented by Ms Desiree Scicluna Bugeja, this poster presented the Teen Science Café, which offers young teenage students opportunities to meet professionals and experts in different fields of sciences.

Analysis of the pedagogical use of programming in a virtual reality environment for the development of STEAM competences in primary education Ms Ascensión Robles presented with her poster a study aimed at designing and implementing educational activities in a virtual reality-based programming environment and analysing the acquisition of STEAM skills.

Pre-service physics teachers’ STEM perspectives and STEM integration Ms Fatma Caner presented a poster about a study into the perspectives of pre-service physics teachers and how they affect integration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Cell EXPLORERS – a growing network of Higher Education Institution teams delivering STEM outreach and engagement in schools Ms Muriel Grenon designed a poster based on the Irish Cell Explorers project, which is a public outreach initiative that raises general awareness of the work carried out by scientists on a daily basis.

An example of teacher training: astronomy education with STEM Ayşe Arslan and Ezgi Taylan Koparan made this poster about their study on science education and how nature can improve teachers’ understanding of scientific concepts, resulting in better transfer of knowledge.

37

AWARDS

Participants in Scientix Conferences are very motivated and enthusiastic. Their diverse backgrounds, experiences and characteristics make any activity stand out, which can lead to exciting discussions and exchanges of information. Scientix recognised the participants’ valuable contributions to the conference by handing out five awards at the end of the official programme.

Poster awards Each participant who attended the Scientix Conference received a welcoming package including three blue tokens. Those tokens could be glued to any of the 25 posters that were created for the posters session of the conference. This way, the visiting guests directly selected the best posters by popular vote. All the votes were counted at the end of the conference and the creators of the top three posters welcomed to the stage as part of a special awards ceremony.

38

First prize Mr Özgür Özdemir is a teacher of mathematics in Turkey who created a poster, which demonstrated how he implemented learning scenarios based on the popular American TV series Crime Scene Investigation (CSI). As part of those learning scenarios, his students had to solve cases by applying their knowledge and problem-solving skills and connecting different pieces of evidence together.

Second prize Ms Sarah Carroll is a PhD student in biochemistry at NUI Galway, Ireland, who designed a poster based on her research on science self-efficacy, or in other words, an individual’s confidence in his or her abilities in relation to disciplines in the fields of science. The poster also raised the question of whether scientists have an effect on people’s science self-efficacy.

3rd prize

Most tweets published

Ms Desiree Scicluna Bugeja received an award for a poster based on the Maltese initiative called Teen Science Café, which offered young teenage students opportunities to meet and have conversations with professionals and experts in various areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Mr Rory McGann (@rorymcgann1), a lecturer in ICT/digital learning, at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, made a significant contribution to the conference’s dissemination and reporting by using Twitter to cover each part of the programme and contribute to an open discussion online about science education.

Social media awards

Ms Emilia López Iñesta (@elibeni2010), a University Teacher at the Catholic University of Valencia, was an active contributor to the online discussion during the conference.

She even created a map showing the most common discussion topics and subjects addressed during the conference, which was very well received on Twitter.

Underlining the importance of the conference’s open communications and public outreach, two of the participants were awarded for the most original posts published on Twitter and for the best post published on Twitter.

Best tweets published

39

STATISTICS The 352 participants who attended the 3rd Scientix Conference came from 39 different countries in Europe and around the world. Most common were guests from Belgium, 46 in total, which include also the organising staff, but this edition of the conference saw the representation of new countries such as India, Luxembourg, Seychelles and Ukraine.

The participants who attended the conference had various professions. Most common were teachers and Scientix Ambassadors, 160 in total. In addition, the conference welcomed 13 representatives of teacher training institutions, 28 Ministries of Education, 10 Scientix National Contact Points, 4 representatives of the European Commission, 49 researchers and 11 representatives of industry. Out of the total, there were 59 who could not be categorised and 18 attended on behalf of European Schoolnet, the conference organiser.

The conference had a visible and direct impact on discussions and awareness about the Scientix community. The conference section of the Scientix online portal was viewed 25,238 times from 1 February to 24 June 2018. On social media, there were 2,744 original 40

posts published on Twitter using the conference hashtag #ScientixConf from 3 to 7 May 2018, resulting in 5,981,758 overall impressions. The Facebook page of European Schoolnet was also used extensively to promote the conference, reaching 15,114 and generating 950 reactions from Facebook users. And for the first time, Scientix used Instagram to share snapshots from the conference.

All the 720 photos taken during the conference were uploaded to Flickr, a social photo sharing platform. They had been viewed 1,627 times by June 2018.

A wrap-up video from the conference and five interviews with the keynote speakers and stakeholders in science education were uploaded to the YouTube channel of European Schoolnet and added to the conference section of the Scientix online portal.

CONFERENCE COMMUNICATIONS

www.scientix.eu #ScientixConf

25,238 views

5,981,758 impressions

European Schoolnet

15,114 reached

Participants-distribution 2

Albania

5

Austria

46

Belgium

9

Bulgaria

1

Canada

9

Croatia

1

Cyprus

8

Czech Republic

2

Denmark

6

Estonia

5

Finland France

10

Germany

10 19

Greece

4

Hungary

5

Iceland

1

India

7

Ireland

3

Israel

26

Italy

3

Latvia

7

Lithuania

3

Luxembourg

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

8 13

Malta

13

Netherlands

2

Norway

3

Poland

21

Portugal

26

Romania

11

Serbia Seychelles

1

Slovakia

1 4

Slovenia

27

Spain

4

Switzerland

14

Turkey

1

Ukraine

10

United Kingdom

1

United States 0

10

20

30

40

50

Total participants = 352

1

41

CONCLUSIONS Demand for Scientix Conferences has increased steadily since the first one was held in 2011. This 3rd edition of the conference, held from 4 to 6 May 2018 in Brussels, Belgium, attracted 352 teachers, policymakers, researchers and project managers for a weekend programme, packed with 20 exhibition stands, 25 poster sessions, 56 presentations and 14 workshops, in addition to six round table discussions. Only a portion of the 324 proposals and 283 expressions of interest that were submitted to the conference organisers could, therefore, be accommodated.

A feedback survey, which was sent to all the participants of this 3rd Scientix Conference, illustrates an impressive level of satisfaction with the conference programme, logistics and networking opportunities. Participants expressed, furthermore, their intention to attend similar events and the need for this conference to be continued. In fact, the most common concern expressed by the participants,

42

was that they were unable to attend all the activities they wished to that were part of the conference programme. Especially, the participants welcomed the provocative and challenging ideas that were shared by the keynote speakers in relation to inquiry-based learning and standardisation.

Networking opportunities, provided by this conference, were also highly appreciated by participants, who were able to construct ties with other people and build collaboration.

Of course, there is always room for improvement. Networking can be intensified by giving the audience a even larger role in activities and interacting directly with other participants. Popular sessions could be repeated, to avoid conflicts between two sessions, and Scientix could help the participants to get to know each other already prior to the conference. Those are elements that should be examined in the organisation of the next Scientix Conference.

“I’m getting a lot of great ideas from here I will implement in my school and together with the other partners in the other four countries [in my project]”

“It’s nice to be here, to reach so many people and talk to them about our project.

Everyone seems to want to know about it!”

“I was amazed at the organization and the quality of the event.“

* This is what some conference participants had to say about the Scientix conference in an anonymous feedback survey.

For more information about Scientix, please follow us: www.scientix.eu newsletters: www.scientix.eu/newsletter @scientix_eu groups/ScienceTeachersEurope @scientix_eu https://www.youtube.com/user/europeanschoolnet

The work presented in this publication has received funding from the European Union’s H2020 research and innovation programme – project Scientix 3 (Grant agreement N. 730009), coordinated by European Schoolnet (EUN). The content of the publication is the sole responsibility of the organiser and it does not represent the opinion of the European Commission (EC), and the EC is not responsible for any use that might be made of information contained.