Author: Olga Juravschi, I.P.I.Î “Excelsis”, Republic of Moldova

Throughout my  activity for more than 10 years as a math teacher, students ask me what will be useful in everyday life to learn different theorems, formulas, properties of mathematics. Moreover, students have less and less interest in studying the exact sciences, they are not so attracted by science because they hardly see the connection to real life. Meanwhile STEM is the perfect and most suitable approach  for this issue, students can be involved in many different activities that offer them the chance to  integrate and use their knowledge into the real life problem. So, my goal was to create, develop and promote, at the level of the educational institution an educational ecosystem, through STEM projects, able to offer students the skills to act independently and creatively, to see the final results, as well as to propose solutions to vital problems in any domain.

Thus, students being guided by their teachers have created various STEM projects that are successfully integrated into the national curriculum on the following subjects: mathematics, physics, chemistry, IT  and others.  All these STEM projects were presented at an online conference dedicated to STEM Discovery Campaign 2021, named “Parade of STEM projects”. It took place on 22th of April. From the 5th grade, 6 students participated with the following projects: Machine sorting large objects from small ones, Wind energy, Unfolded geometric bodies. From the 6th grade, 3 students participated with the projects: Maths in the kitchen and the “Cusadama ball”.  3 students from the 7th grade presented the projects: Leonardo’s Bridge, The birdhouse and the experiment- How is it possible? 8th grade students also participated with the presentation of projects: How to obtain the brine, Pythagorean construction and Chain reaction.  A group of students from 9th grade presented the project Allotropic forms of carbon. To carry out all these projects students needed the following materials: colored paper, sticks, ,matches, scissors, cardboard, thin thread, glue, salt, necessary equipment from chemistry laboratory and many others. All the students’ presentations were accompanied by scientific explanations, they have shown the reason they wanted to carry out and where might be used in the real life their projects. At the conference have participated the school principal, science teachers and all the students from 5th to 9th grade.

For the first time, in this year,  Republic of Moldova is being part of the National Contact Points of Scientix represented by Technical University of Moldova (UTM). So, we have invited their representatives to attend the event, to show us their support and to evaluate the student’s work. Their expertise will motivate our students to participate in many other STEM projects organised by Scientix.

For the entire school, the participation in the STEM Discovery Campaign 2021 was a great challenge, our students acknowledged the STEM approaches, they have learnt how to work in groups, why is so important to use their creativity, to work collaboratively, in a nut shell, they have been developing the 21st century skills. But, above all, they have used what they have learnt at the lessons in the real life issue.

All visuals belong to the Author – Attribution CC-BY