Programme: Erasmus+
Key Action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices
Project: 2017-1-BG01-KA202-036327
Start Date: 01.10.2017
End Date: 30.09.2019
EU Grant: 217217.00 EUR
(EU Grant for TU-Gabrovo: 39 749.00 EUR)
Coordinator: TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF GABROVO
Contact Person: Prof. Toshko Nenov
Partners:
• Directorate of Secondary Education, Chania (Greece)
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI GUGLIELMO MARCONI – TELEMATICA (Italy)
• EUROPEAN CENTER FOR QUALITY OOD (Bulgaria)
• PRZEMYSLOWY INSTYTUT AUTOMATYKI I POMIAROW PIAP (Poland)
• PROFESIONALNA GIMNAZIA PO ELEKTRONIKA "JOHN ATANASOFF" (Bulgaria)
• TECHNICKA UNIVERZITA V KOSICIACH (Slovakia)
• THE RESEARCH COMMITTEE OF THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF CRETE (Greece)
Summary:
The proportion of EU students going into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and interested in STEM career is not keeping up with the rapidly rising demand from industry and society. Under-achievement in STEM is also a serious problem. The situation necessitates a shift to innovative, effective and attractive science education- both formal and non-formal, with a view to boosting the interest of young people in STEM disciplines and encouraging them to pursue science and technology careers. DISCOVER addresses the need for innovative STEM teaching and learning resources at secondary VET education (SE VET) level. It is targeted at: -educators and students at upper SE VET level; -universities and research centres seeking to enhance their impact on skills development at regional level. The rationale of the project is that adequate promotion of science education requires strong partnerships between SE VET schools and higher education and research institutions, comprehensive science outreach programs and boosting the involvement in STEM fields of young people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.
The project’s overall objective is to develop resources for cross-curricular science education based on cooperation between SE VET schools and universities and aimed at improving students’ STEM knowledge and motivation to pursue STEM careers.
The following intellectual outputs will be developed:
• A compendium of good practices in science outreach for SE VET schools, including practices targeted at disadvantaged and under-served groups
• A Resource pack for science outreach for SE VET schools, including concepts, lesson plans, and activity organization and delivery plans for science outreach activities targeted at SE VET students and teachers
• An extracurricular training program in Mechatronics and Robotics for SE VET learners, including practice oriented training resources on fundamentals of Design, Robotics, Mechatronics and Programming, and training resources and guidelines for hands-on cross-disciplinary activities exploiting Robotics Invention Systems technology
• An extracurricular training module in Programming for Art & Design – for learners without strong STEM proficiency, including practice oriented training resources on fundamentals of Scratch, App Inventor and Digital Story Creation, and an extracurricular training module in Programming and Physical Computing – for learner with strong STEM aptitude, including practice oriented training resources on fundamentals of Python and Physical Computing. Both modules will also offer learning designs and resource packs for hands-on learning activities exploiting Scratch, App Inventor and Python.
15 events for 300 participants in 5 EU countries will be organized. They will focus on testing and promotion of the outputs. As a result of the project, a publicly accessible Robotics Lab will be created in Technical University of Gabrovo. It will provide hands-on training opportunities to all students in the region, exploiting Robotics Invention Systems technology.
