Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Road-STEAMer (Developing a STEAM Roadmap for Science Education in Horizon Europe)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2022-09-01 al 2023-08-31
Road-STEAMer is a 3-year (September 2022 – August 2025) Coordination and Support Action (CSA) of the Horizon Europe Programme of the European Union (EU) (Project number: 101058405; Call Topic: HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ERA-01-70). The project aims to develop a STEAM Roadmap for science education in Horizon Europe (in short, the Roadmap), i.e. a plan of actions that will provide guidance to EU's key funding programme for research and innovation on how to encourage more interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) through the use of artistic approaches involving creative thinking and applied arts (the "A" in "STEAM"). The overall approach to the development of the STEAM Roadmap is founded on the triangulation of the knowledge gained through stakeholder engagement, the analysis of STEAM practices, and the analysis of current educational policies, contexts and frameworks. The STEAM Roadmap will be developed through:
• Collaboration and co-creation with stakeholders through intensive exchange, dialogue and mutual learning processes which will produce better knowledge and shared understandings of the relevant opportunities, challenges and needs;
• A bottom-up approach emphasising educational practice and practitioners' agency rather than high-level conceptualizations of STEAM and generic top-down plans or vague intention statements for its adoption in science education;
• A specific focus on ways to leverage the power of STEAM approaches, as manifested through exemplary cases and best practices, in order to enable a bridging of open science and open schooling mentalities and practices which can catalyse an increased impact for science education as a crucial tool for addressing Europe’s current scientific and societal challenges.
• Collaboration and co-creation with stakeholders through intensive exchange, dialogue and mutual learning processes which will produce better knowledge and shared understandings of the relevant opportunities, challenges and needs;
• A bottom-up approach emphasising educational practice and practitioners' agency rather than high-level conceptualizations of STEAM and generic top-down plans or vague intention statements for its adoption in science education;
• A specific focus on ways to leverage the power of STEAM approaches, as manifested through exemplary cases and best practices, in order to enable a bridging of open science and open schooling mentalities and practices which can catalyse an increased impact for science education as a crucial tool for addressing Europe’s current scientific and societal challenges.
in the first reporting period (M1-M12), the work performed as part of Road-STEAMer proceeded according to plan. The consortium managed to collaborate productively, laying the foundations for development of the policy recommendations and roadmap for STEAM education in Europe.
WP1, ‘Coordination and support for dialogue and mutual learning’ (Leader: SV) successfully produced a participatory methodology for the project (D1.1) and described the process of establishing a stakeholder community in D1.2. Within the 1st year of the project 7 events/activities were realised, following the D1.2 and 1.035 stakeholders were engaged. Furthermore, WP1 designed and deployed (M6) a first release of the Road-STEAMer Community of Practice Suite (RCS), a web-based open-source set of tools to support stakeholders’ dialogue, interaction and engagement.
The work of WP2 ‘STEAM context, concepts and conditions’ (Leader: EA) led to D2.1 Socio-economic context and relevant needs, which analyses the context and needs for STEAM education, and concludes with a series of recommendations on overcoming some of the identified challenges. Later in the year, D2.2 developed a comprehensive conceptual framework for STEAM which synthesises the breadth of theoretical approaches linked to STEAM practice in the literature in relation to the Road-STEAMer main focus areas as identified.
In WP3 ‘Analysis of STEAM policy gaps and needs’ (Leader: PAN), work has commenced with identifying which kinds of policies are relevant to our work, and what constitutes a ‘policy’ in local, regional, EU, and international contexts. Furthermore, identification of current and previously applied policies is related to concepts identified in WP2 and WP4, especially when it comes to needs to be addressed and (possibly) measurable results. This line of work is expected to uncover any aspects which are currently dealt with and (perhaps, more importantly) the bodies responsible for suggesting and implementing future policies to fill in those gaps. Data collection will start with project partners and proceed with open workshops, as planned; we will also reach out to school administrators and policy makers, starting from the ESHA workshop in Croatia, in late October.
As for WP4 ‘The landscape of STEAM practices’ (Leader: TR), the first output was the Research Framework (D4.1) which outlines the criteria that the Road-STEAMer project will use to map and analyse STEAM practices in Europe. Following and in-depth desk analysis and a co-creation workshop, the key criteria were identified as
Collaboration, Disciplinary inter-relationships, Thinking-making-doing, Creativity,Real-world connection and Inclusion/Personalisation/Empowerment. In addition, Equity was identified as an underlying principle and value supporting all STEAM practices. The work of WP4 then moved to mapping STEAM practices, which would ultimately culminate in D4.2 (submitted outside of the reporting period).
However, as the survey was only finalised at the beginning of summer after agreeing on informed consent and ethics procedures, a one-month extension of the deadline for D4.2 - Mapping of STEAM practices was requested and granted. Hence, while most of the data collection took place within the reporting period, the deliverable itself was completed and submitted in M13.
The work of WP5, ‘Synthesis of the STEAM roadmap for science education in Horizon Europe’: will only start in year 2, but preparatory meetings have taken place.
Work in WP6 has progressed significantly over the first year of the project. A detailed Communication and Dissemination Plan has been delivered (D6.1) with all partners identifying Key Stakeholders Communities and Channels. The project has built a strong visual identity and a number of crucial channels, including a rather innovative website. The most significant development so far has been Road-STEAMer’s connection and strong contribution to the Open Schooling Together Network, a choice with huge potential in terms of reach and exploitation.
The work of WP7 ‘Management’ (Leader: LC), has mainly focused on supporting and enabling an effective and smooth implementation of the project, with regular communications and timely submissions. The first set of deliverables of this work package, include: the Project Management Handbook (D7.1) the Quality Assurance Plan (D7.2) and the Data Management Plan (D7.3). Taken together, these documents serve to ensure timely implementation and high quality outputs. A fourth deliverable, the first policy brief (D7.4) has effectively summarised the work carried out by the other work packages in year one, and outlining the areas for future work, which will then lead to the roadmap for STEAM education in Europe.
WP1, ‘Coordination and support for dialogue and mutual learning’ (Leader: SV) successfully produced a participatory methodology for the project (D1.1) and described the process of establishing a stakeholder community in D1.2. Within the 1st year of the project 7 events/activities were realised, following the D1.2 and 1.035 stakeholders were engaged. Furthermore, WP1 designed and deployed (M6) a first release of the Road-STEAMer Community of Practice Suite (RCS), a web-based open-source set of tools to support stakeholders’ dialogue, interaction and engagement.
The work of WP2 ‘STEAM context, concepts and conditions’ (Leader: EA) led to D2.1 Socio-economic context and relevant needs, which analyses the context and needs for STEAM education, and concludes with a series of recommendations on overcoming some of the identified challenges. Later in the year, D2.2 developed a comprehensive conceptual framework for STEAM which synthesises the breadth of theoretical approaches linked to STEAM practice in the literature in relation to the Road-STEAMer main focus areas as identified.
In WP3 ‘Analysis of STEAM policy gaps and needs’ (Leader: PAN), work has commenced with identifying which kinds of policies are relevant to our work, and what constitutes a ‘policy’ in local, regional, EU, and international contexts. Furthermore, identification of current and previously applied policies is related to concepts identified in WP2 and WP4, especially when it comes to needs to be addressed and (possibly) measurable results. This line of work is expected to uncover any aspects which are currently dealt with and (perhaps, more importantly) the bodies responsible for suggesting and implementing future policies to fill in those gaps. Data collection will start with project partners and proceed with open workshops, as planned; we will also reach out to school administrators and policy makers, starting from the ESHA workshop in Croatia, in late October.
As for WP4 ‘The landscape of STEAM practices’ (Leader: TR), the first output was the Research Framework (D4.1) which outlines the criteria that the Road-STEAMer project will use to map and analyse STEAM practices in Europe. Following and in-depth desk analysis and a co-creation workshop, the key criteria were identified as
Collaboration, Disciplinary inter-relationships, Thinking-making-doing, Creativity,Real-world connection and Inclusion/Personalisation/Empowerment. In addition, Equity was identified as an underlying principle and value supporting all STEAM practices. The work of WP4 then moved to mapping STEAM practices, which would ultimately culminate in D4.2 (submitted outside of the reporting period).
However, as the survey was only finalised at the beginning of summer after agreeing on informed consent and ethics procedures, a one-month extension of the deadline for D4.2 - Mapping of STEAM practices was requested and granted. Hence, while most of the data collection took place within the reporting period, the deliverable itself was completed and submitted in M13.
The work of WP5, ‘Synthesis of the STEAM roadmap for science education in Horizon Europe’: will only start in year 2, but preparatory meetings have taken place.
Work in WP6 has progressed significantly over the first year of the project. A detailed Communication and Dissemination Plan has been delivered (D6.1) with all partners identifying Key Stakeholders Communities and Channels. The project has built a strong visual identity and a number of crucial channels, including a rather innovative website. The most significant development so far has been Road-STEAMer’s connection and strong contribution to the Open Schooling Together Network, a choice with huge potential in terms of reach and exploitation.
The work of WP7 ‘Management’ (Leader: LC), has mainly focused on supporting and enabling an effective and smooth implementation of the project, with regular communications and timely submissions. The first set of deliverables of this work package, include: the Project Management Handbook (D7.1) the Quality Assurance Plan (D7.2) and the Data Management Plan (D7.3). Taken together, these documents serve to ensure timely implementation and high quality outputs. A fourth deliverable, the first policy brief (D7.4) has effectively summarised the work carried out by the other work packages in year one, and outlining the areas for future work, which will then lead to the roadmap for STEAM education in Europe.