STEMitUP: Instilling interest in STEM entrepreneurship to EU students

STEMitUP aims at filling STEM teachers’ quiver with innovative and fun pedagogical tools and adding an entrepreneurial layer to STEM education to help youth apply STEM to solve real-world problems, to think creatively and to benefit their communities.

STEMitUP activities will give emphasis to innovation and meeting society’s future needs, while stimulating the entrepreneurial mindsets of boys and girls equally so that they start thinking seriously about choosing STEM entrepreneurship as the best possible career.

The project is funded by the ERASMUS+ programme 2017 under the key action entitled “Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices” in School Education.

The partnership is composed of 7 organisations from 5 countries (Cyprus, Spain, The Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom), having also the representation of another 37 countries through the indirect involvement of 2 EU Code Week ambassadors.

The duration of the project is 24 months (Project start date: 01/09/2017, Project end date: 31/08/2019).

Welcome to the website of the European co-funded project entitled:

“STEMitUP: Instilling interest in STEM entrepreneurship to European students”

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Rationale

“STEMitUP” refers to the idiom “Spice it up” that means “make something more interesting or exciting”.

STEMitUP aims at developing a state-of-the-art comprehensive educational programme that will fill STEM teachers’ quiver with innovative and fun pedagogical tools. The overall aim is to make STEM-related courses fun and interesting for students of lower secondary schools aged 11-15 and strategically plant a “seed of interest” that could grow into an exciting and rewarding STEM entrepreneurship career.

A fusion of two interrelated fields will take place: stimulating entrepreneurship and encouraging STEM uptake at the same time.Adding an entrepreneurial layer to STEM education will help youth apply STEM to solve real-world problems, to think in a creative and innovative way and at the same time to benefit their communities.

Objectives

The project aims to:

Develop students’ skills, knowledge and competences related to STEM combined with an entrepreneurial mindset, through the provision of initial and in-service teacher training opportunities and support systems.
Promote increased participation of lower secondary education students who are at special risk of exclusion from scientific and entrepreneurial studies and careers. This will be done through the adoption of an inclusive STEM entrepreneurship education model;
Encourage sharing of experiences from all the partners across Europe to identify best practices for the incorporation of ideas related to science, technology and entrepreneurship in STEM classrooms and in teacher education.
Foster a mutually beneficial relationship between research communities in STEM entrepreneurship subjects, teacher networks and local education systems for the on-going advancement of the disciplines;
Facilitate the widespread dissemination and sustainability of resources and innovative pedagogical approaches to the wider EU community and internationally.

Target Groups

Teachers, head teachers and vice-head teachers – This is our main target group as their role is key to influence student perceptions of STEM subjects and STEM entrepreneurship as a future career option.
Students aged 11-15 - These young people are our ultimate target group and will be reached through follow-up project activities.
Parents and Career counselors
Decision makers

Which are the Innovative elements of STEMitUP project?

STEMitUP’s key innovative feature is that it combines two different fields, ie. STEM Education and Entrepreneurship to address both the decreasing interest of students in pursuing STEM careers and the increasing youth unemployment rates.

STEMitUP is developed on three pillars: STEM Education, Entrepreneurship and Gender Balance. Thus, an inclusive science, technology and entrepreneurship education model that will encourage the participation of learners from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds will be adopted, as it is important to raise the educational standards of European youth in these disciplines.

Furthermore, STEMitUP encompasses a wide variety of STEM subjects in the fields of chemistry, computer and information technology science, engineering, geosciences, life sciences, mathematical sciences, physics and astronomy and social sciences (anthropology, economics, psychology and sociology), all combined with entrepreneurship.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

“STEMitUP” refers to the idiom “Spice it up” that means “make something more interesting or exciting”.

The choice of the partners was made after careful consideration to ensure that the project would bring together the best possible expertise and knowledge on the topic at hand.

All partners involved have great experience in managing EU and nationally funded projects and in embracing innovative practices locally. Also, all partners have excellent networks and close cooperation at national and EU level with Science Museums and Science Centres, decision makers, governmental officials, representatives of Chambers of Commerce and Employers’ Associations, Young Entrepreneurs’ Associations, media companies and local universities. This assists in disseminating our project results widely across involved EU countries. Below the different types of partners involved in our consortium are described:

a) Two Universities with relevant experience in the topic of STEM education and entrepreneurship education for young people (EUC, NTNU);

b) Three SMEs with experience in dissemination and in research and consulting work on STEM, entrepreneurship and engineering/coding practices (GrantXpert, CyRIC, Engino);

d) One Science Museum (NEMO) that aims at making science and technology engaging and accessible to the widest possible audience;

e) Two NGOs with expertise in teaching STEM at schools (STEMworks) and organising coding/robotics events (Programamos), providing vital input during the development of our training content.

The project will be implemented in 5 countries (Cyprus, Spain, The Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom) with the resourceful collaboration of 8 involved organisations.

OUR TEAM

01

Identification of training needs

02

Development of STEMitUP training programme

03

Testing STEMitUP training programme

04

Finalisation of STEMitUP training programme

05

Setting up a multilingual e-learning platform

06

Final dissemination activities

WHAT ARE THE EXPECTED RESULTS?

During the project

Increased motivation for teachers to incorporate fun and interesting activities within their usual curriculum on STEM entrepreneurship related areas
Increased awareness by teachers of the relevance and functionality of STEM entrepreneurship, which could lead to an increase in the number of students taking up academic studies and careers related to STEM disciplines.
Greater implementation of inquiry-based teaching methods and interdisciplinary approaches by teachers;
Engagement of students to STEM entrepreneurship from an early age through the project's dissemination activities
Increased interest of parents and the general public in science and technology through social-media interest, stakeholders’ involvement etc.

Upon Project Completion

Improved problem-solving and critical thinking skills, reasoning, and literacy, both to facilitate science education and to produce scientifically literate citizens;
Increased uptake in students taking higher level STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects;
Increased number of women in STEM-related studies;
Enhanced STEM entrepreneurship levels, decreasing over the long-term youth unemployment, while boosting job creation and growth;
Increased number of STEM startups due to improved innovation capacity;
Greater expansion of national and European startup ecosystems

ONLINE LEARNING PLATFoRM

VISIT

Contact

Feel free to send us an email to Info@stemitup.eu

Coordinating Organisation:

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

NTNU, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway

NTNU in Ålesund, postboks 1517, NO-6025 Ålesund, Norway

NTNU in Gjøvik, postboks 191, NO-2802 Gjøvik, Norway

Phone: +47 73595000

Main Contact:

Name: Peter Gray Email: peter.gray@ntnu.no