It has become clear over recent years that only science-aware citizens can make informed decisions and engage in dialogue on science-driven societal issues. “Knowledge of and about science are integral to preparing our population to be actively engaged and responsible citizens, creative and innovative, able to work collaboratively and fully aware of and conversant with the complex challenges facing society” (Science Education for Responsible Citizenship, EC, 2018)
Thus, skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are becoming an increasingly important part for basic literacy in today’s knowledge economy. The interest in STEM needs to be developed from an early age. At school, children must be motivated to learn maths and science and to imagine working in these fields. A child's early years are widely regarded to be the most important for children's development and education. Children’s imagination make a great stepping-stone to introduce youngsters to science and technology. Furthermore, there is a growing number of studies supporting the idea that children as young as 4 y.o. can gradually learn and accept scientific explanations of the world around them (Panagiotaki, 2008; Gopnik, 2012).
Thus, getting young children excited over STEM and developing a STEM mindset should be a priority to enable having science-aware and active citizens in the future. This cannot be done without the active involvement of teachers. Teachers are key players in the provision of STEM Education and they are in a privileged position to get children interested in STEM.
At school primary level, STEM Education is usually limited to mathematics, science and sometimes ICT and it’s usually delivered, with few exceptions, by generalist teachers who are qualified to teach all or most curriculum subjects. This means that the teachers deal with a wide set of subject areas. If this may be an advantage in some respect, because STEM Education encompasses a wide set of fields, it also put stress on the need for the teacher to be equipped to engage in STEM Education. The desk research conducted by the partnership with teachers and STEM Education experts during preparatory works for this application pointed out a few important needs and barriers:
• The lack of learning materials for interactive and appealing STEM activities in schools
• The need to present STEM topics in ways that capture students’ interest
• The need of resources to address specific STEM topics that are more difficult to approach
• The need of resources that are easy to implement in class and don’t require long preparation by teachers
Stay tuned for more news!
