The Foundation for Partnership and Civil Society Development

STEM association for the popular STEM

Project holder: Foundation for Partnership and Civil Society Development
Partners: City of Pula - Pola, Mathematical Society "Istra", Society of Robotics of Istria, Community of Technical Culture, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Istrian Development Agency - IDA d.o.o., MOC Pula (Maritime Education Center Pula)
Financial support provider: European Social Fund
The total value of the project: HRK 2,462,021.59
Total funds for the Foundation for Encouraging Partnership and Civil Society Development: HRK 291,853.11
Project duration: 29.06.2021. - 29.06.2023.
Location: Croatia, Istria

By connecting civil society with the scientific and public sectors in the common goal of popularizing STEM, we will create good preconditions for further joint cooperation and new programs. By arranging the "Science Garden", an interesting space will be arranged in the centre of the city of Pula, which will, in addition to guided workshops for children and youth, also offer social facilities for the general population, all with the aim of popularizing STEM. A series of training and lectures for educators, as well as the procurement of new equipment, will contribute to a better implementation of workshops for children and youth offered by civil society organizations. Thus, the aim of the project is to improve the capacity of civil society organizations (5) to implement programs in the field of popularization of STEM.

Science and technology are the foundation of the development and progress of modern states. Technological progress affects the development of new occupations for which there are no adequately educated staff, and the fact is that today's education system is designed to educate children for occupations that will no longer exist in the next 15 years. It is important to teach children and young people to think critically and to approach problem-solving in an innovative and interdisciplinary way. According to the results of the OECD PISA survey for 2018, Croatian students achieved below-average results in all three areas (reading, mathematics, science). The reason for this lies in the fact that at the national level the possibility of conducting practical classes is limited, especially in the field of popularization of natural subjects such as chemistry, physics and biology. Rigid learning from literature for children and young people is no longer interesting. It is certainly a great challenge for every educator to conceptualize their lecture in an interesting and innovative way that will encourage children to more easily understand certain (more complex) topics. Civil society organizations have an important role in popularizing science, given that, compared to educational institutions, they have greater freedom to create content in accordance with the interests and needs of children and youth and the general population of citizens. On the other hand, in accordance with the Draft Report on financing projects and programs of civil society organizations from public sources in 2018, only 0.19% of the total amount of support for projects in the field of education, science and research was allocated for projects and programs to popularize science. One of the reasons for this is the insufficient capacity of science associations to provide financial resources for the regular functioning of associations and the implementation of activities in the field of popularization of science. Namely, the functioning and smooth operation of such associations are important in order to, given the need to develop STEM skills, programs to popularize science continuously. As stated in the document of the European Commission "Thinking about the strategy of education - communication of the European Commission" is a great demand for skilled labour in sectors intensively engaged in technology and research, and accordingly, there is a great demand for skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Accordingly, greater efforts must be made to make STEM stand out as an attractive area of ​​education. To this end, this project plans to educate and strengthen CSOs to implement programs in the field of STEM popularization, which will contribute to achieving the overall goal of the tender: strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations to implement programs in the field of STEM popularization. As part of project activities through a set of pieces of training for educators from STEM associations, educators will adopt skills and knowledge to educate children and youth in an interesting and innovative way about natural phenomena and nature in general, but also about critical thinking and research with emphasis on pandemics. Also, the goal is to educate associations and strengthen their capacity to provide funding for future activities, increase the competencies of their management for branding the association and communication with the media, which ultimately guarantees the continuity of project activities. This project includes a number of partners from different fields of activity: robotics, mathematics, technical culture, marine science. In order to popularize STEM among children and young people, it is planned to organize a series of different workshops for children and young people, through multi-day workshops on individual STEM areas (sea, mathematics, meteorology, robotics, engineering or chemical and biological processes). Through "FabLab" you will learn the application of various modern machines, recycling or re-use of plastics and other items. This series of activities aimed at children and young people will increase the interest in possible professional science in the future. This will contribute to the European Union's initiative in the Europe 2020 Strategy "Innovation Union", in which the Member States must ensure a sufficient number of graduates, mathematicians and engineers and focus curricula on creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. With the synergy of partners, the project plans to design and develop an innovative model of approach to preschool children in approaching science, which will continue to serve educators in the implementation of STEM popularization activities. In order to popularize science among other citizens, a number of different events will be held in the premises of partner organizations, but also throughout Istria, but the most important part of this project is certainly the joint concept development and design of the "Science Garden", and after equipping and putting into operation, the implementation of various social contents in order to bring this space to life for the wider community, along with the Center for the Popularization of Science and Innovation of the County of Istria, which already exists.

For more information contact: Helga Možé (helga.moze@civilnodrustvo-istra.hr) or Valentina Žgomba (valentina@civilnodrustvo-istra.hr)

https://strukturnifondovi.hr/ http://www.esf.hr/