“STEAM4ALL: Supporting the Digital Inclusion of all Students through an Inter-Disciplinary Programme for a Sustainable Future” project has been developed in order to support the digital inclusion of all students through an inter-disciplinary programme for a sustainable future. The project targets students with fewer opportunities (marginalised, living in remote or rural areas, with migrant background) specifically between 13-19 years old together with their educators. It is led by Culture Goes Europe (CGE) – Soziokulturelle Initiative Erfurt e.V. with the partnership of European Digital Learning Network, 2 EK Peiraia, Stichting Amsterdam European Mobility, A & A Emphasys Interactive Solutions Ltd, National Centre of Scientific Research “Demokritos” and Werkstatt Berufskolleg.
The aims of the first Intellectual Output (IO1) which is called “STEAM4ALL Schools’ Index” are:
- to develop the methodology for the conceptual mapping of each partner country in relation to the promotion of STEAM skills in secondary education
- to present the findings in a multi-media way using visual representations
- to define benchmarks and indicators for the STEAM4ALL Competence Framework against which students’ skills will be monitored, assessed and validated through the Open Badges system to be developed in IO2.
A survey was conducted with educators in each partner’s country. General findings of the survey are the following:
- The majority of teachers assess their knowledge in STEAM subjects as weak or average, although most use non-formal or STEAM methods in teaching such as problem-solving, field trips, collaboration, reflection on learning, etc.
- At the same time, the majority of teachers confirmed that they are eager to engage in an extra-curricular project on up-skilling in STEAM for at least one or more hours.
- Even though the school infrastructure and availability of digital tools were rated as good by the majority, there are various challenges such as insufficient number of computers, lack of adequate training and insufficient technical support for teachers, budget constraints in accessing adequate material for teaching, etc.
The findings for each country have been presented with infographics prepared by the project coordinator Culture Goes Europe (CGE) for ease of reading.
Furthermore, STEAM4ALL partners will develop the Educational Tool Kit and the ecosystem (off and online) of the Open Badges based on the modules/topics identified in the competence framework.