STEM resources repository helps improve teaching across Europe
‘Recent evidence from a SCIENTIX comparative analysis on STEM education, published in January 2016, shows that countries across Europe are struggling to get students interested in STEM studies and careers. And to top it up, underachievement in STEM subjects is still above the 15 % benchmark set by the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020),’ Dr. Àgueda Gras-Velázquez, Project Manager of Scientix and Science Programme Manager at European Schoolnet, laments. This trend is already what convinced her and her team to launch the SCIENTIX project back in 2010. The project, which set the stage for SCENTIX 2, resulted in the first-ever online portal collecting and presenting information from European projects in STEM education. The SCIENTIX resource repository currently contains over 1 400 teaching materials, 700 research reports and 60 training courses which are used by over 3 500 science teachers to enhance their courses. Those resources are produced by the 400 EU - Member-State- and locally-funded projects - in STEM education that are part of the SCIENTIX online portal. ‘For the past three years we have experienced a significant growth of registered online users and face-to-face participants. SCIENTIX organised 29 national conferences, a European one in Brussels, more than 20 webinars, online discussion forums, nine science workshops, 11 networking events, and much more. More than 6 000 people have joined our events and 6 400 have registered on our online portal,’ Dr Velázquez enthuses. SCIENTIX 2 picks up where its predecessor SCIENTIX left off, but it was also inspired by the report ‘Science Education Now; A Renewed Pedagogy for the Future of Europe’ (Rocard – 2007) of which it aims to implement the first and fifth recommendations. These recommendations call for more active involvement of Member States in the renewal of science education, as well as better articulation between national activities and those taking place at the European level. In other words, while SCIENTIX defined the needs of the STEM education community in Europe, SCIENTIX 2 expands to the national level through an active collaboration with National Contact Points. ‘We now collaborate with 30 countries across Europe,’ Dr Velázquez explains. ‘More strategic outreach activities were carried out, and the cooperation with National Contact Points and teachers helped SCIENTIX get the word out to the European general education community.’ A long term undertaking Since SCIENTIX was completed in 2013, various improvements were brought to the portal and the translation service of resources in STEM education — which was instrumental in the success of SCENTIX so far. Registered users can now request translations of lesson plans, science exercises, research reports and all other resources available in 30 languages as long as they are published under a Creative Commons License which allows for derivatives. ‘We now receive hundreds of requests for translations of documents every year,’ Dr Velázquez says. The SCENTIX strategy at the national level is already paying off, as outlined in the SCIENTIX comparative analysis: ‘Examples from Belgium, Estonia and Austria show that they have already benefitted from the exchange of best practices. They were able to better incorporate innovative pedagogies and resources into existing teacher training programmes, and build networks for the professional development of teachers,’ Dr Velázquez says. ‘More countries are moving away from the traditional form of teaching and learning, in which the teacher is the centre of attention, to an inquiry-based learning and to teaching the socio-economic aspects of science.’ Of course, this shift from traditional forms of learning to a student-centred one, in which discovery is crucial, needs constant financial and political support which Dr Velázquez is happy to witness. SCIENTIX has already been granted another three years of funding. ‘We will continue our activities by collecting resources and making them available, and by maintaining this lively community which combines face-to-face activities, online training and communication. We want to become more visible also to teachers in training and training institutions, so that SCIENTIX becomes a reference point for all people interested in entering the teaching profession.’ Another key aspect SCENTIX might have to keep focusing on in the future is gender equality: the project’s comparative analysis reveals that initial and in-service teacher training did not address gender-specific interests and attitudes towards STEM education in 80 % of the countries observed. ‘By preparing teachers and making them more aware of how gender may affect peoples‘ attitudes towards STEM, we may attract more girls towards such subjects,’ Dr Velázquez concludes. Watch the project video here.
Keywords
Education, STEM, IBSME