STEAM and Educational Robotics in PrePrimary Education

<< Background >>A lot of aspects of daily life are tied to technology-based STEAMs, therefore the need to improve and expand the STEAM education is considered key to maintain a competitive edge in the 21st century. Research confirms that exposing the youngest students (beginning at the preschool level) to STEAM experiences, encourages critical thinking skills, increases science literacy, and promotes creative problem solving. These experiences can establish a long-term passion for STEAM subjects, as well as general academic success across all disciplines. Unfortunately, due to the rapid developments experienced, most teachers and especially pre-primary teachers feel illiterate in modern science and technology because they cannot keep up to the current trends of ICT. In this framework, the project objective is to help pre-preliminary teachers to develop the necessary knowledge, skills and key Competences in STEAM and Educational Robotics<< Objectives >>- To acquire knowledge on pre-primary school teachers’ key competences development needs for STEAM/ER education- To build, pilot-test, and validate the STEAMERs training program for VET trainers, which will work as an innovativetraining to train pre-primary school teachers to meet the current and future needs for STEAM/ER early childhood education- To support VET training efforts in the frames of digitalised and creative training and learning for the professionaldevelopment of pre-primary teachers on STEAM/ER knowledge, skills, and key competences- To assign a key role to pre-primary education teachers to contribute in promoting and stimulating action-orientedtransformative learning through creative, critical, and problem-solving thinking.<< Implementation >>*Conducting desk research regarding the development of knowledge, skills, and key competences in STEAM/ER of early childhood teachers at local, regional, and EU levels *Conducting field research through online surveys and organizing local working groups with 294 professionals (VET trainers and pre-primary teachers, school leaders, teachers and trainers of all levels of education, representatives of educational organizations, research organizations, decision-makers) around the knowledge, skills, and key competences needed by pre-primary teachers to teach STEAM/ER as a multidisciplinary approach to learning.*Collection of applied STEAM/ER key competence models and contexts for pre-primary teachers*Synthesis of research findings and development of a comprehensive report (R1).*Development of a modular course Guide for VET trainers to train pre-primary teachers on how to develop their key competences and effectively teach STEAM/ER in their schools.*Implementation of transnational training for trainers involving 11 trainers/teachers from consortium member organizations and of a pilot pilot program in FR, CY, IT, PL, RO, GR *Development of an online training platform*Organization of multiplier events<< Results >>The project STEAMERs project built a complete Training Framework for pre-primary teachers, focused on the development of skills and key competences needed to have a positive attitude towards the STEAM philosophy and the educational robotic, overcome their fears, and increase their self-efficacy and confidence to bring innovative STEAM teaching with their preschoolers.The project outcomes carried out during the project implementation period are the following:1. A complete report that identifies the training needs of pre-primary schoolteachers in terms of skills and key competences, to effectively carry out a STEAM education with their preschoolers. The report also identifies current trends in each partner country. 2. The STEAMERs Training Guide include the development of a Curriculum for pre-primary school teachers that contains practical guidance for developing the skills, knowledge and key competences identified on Result 1Result 3: The STEAMERs e-Learning platform: Designed for promoting online learning actions and resources for the target group. The platform includes the training course online, technical design of the course, self-assessment, implementation, testing and further suggestions.