Digital Steam Teaching Integrated science, arts and mathematics with digital devices

Course ID

Course name: Digital Steam Teaching Integrated science, arts and mathematics with digital devices
Course provider: Euneos.
Place: Tallinn
Period: from 10th to 16th October 2022.

Objectives

Experience

The group with whom we shared our mobility in Tallinn in October 2022 was made up of a mathematics teacher from the Czech Republic, two Finnish music teachers, two Italian teachers (from Biella) and nine Croatian teachers.

Eunos, the organization that hosted the course, suggested:

• traditional frontal lessons concerning the Estonian school system, Design Thinking, meaningful learning of mathematics
• group work on STEAM (games, projects involving the use of new platforms, robotics),
• guided visits to schools and to the science museum

Strengths

• continuous comparison with colleagues from other European schools
• exchange of contacts for any future projects that may also involve students
• ideas for possible new teaching methods
• observation of the organization of foreign schools
• continuous immersion in the English language, even in the short term, increases English conversation skills 
• participating in the project with a colleague from the same school allows you to exchange ideas, opinions and confront each other directly in the field, every day at the end of the course

Weaknesses

• the majority of the participants in our course were not high school teachers: the two Finns were conservatory teachers so they were not dealing with a class group but with individuals; the Croatians were part of an association that offers extra-curricular activities related to robotics and coding
• the daily duration of the activities was very intense: approximately from 9 to 17 with a one-hour lunch break
• it would have been better to go deeper into Design Thinking and the mathematics laboratory, which are really interesting

We strongly believe this type of experience, although tiring, is very important to be more open to what happens across borders, to obtain ideas to apply in our schools as well and to establish relationships with European colleagues that might even lead to student exchanges.