Author Archives: ambuduleanu

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About ambuduleanu

I am a Romanian primary school teacher and I am convinced that a STEM based education sets today a brighter tomorrow. In present, I am a Scientix Ambassador, a National Ambassador for Digital Education and a National Geographic Certified Teacher. For the past years, my students have been astronauts who set a camp and colonized the Moon (The Moon Camp Challenge); they have been environmental engineers who investigated and resolved the Danube’s climate problems (Climate Detectives); and they have been systems engineers who sent messages to the astronauts on ISS (Astro Pi Mission Zero). Through such learning activities, the children feel empowered to act like real scientists. Their self-confidence grows stronger and, as adults, they will dare to aim higher at attending jobs of the future, based on STEM skills.

House of Tomorrow

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If you could build a House of Tomorrow, what would it look like?

House of Tomorrow is a learning activity which challenges the students to imagine themselves living in the future and solving real life problems. The adventure starts as a role-play. The houses of Today Village are in danger due to severe storms and floods caused by climate change. The children of Tomorrow Village are worried and decide to help their neighbours by building strong, resistant houses. Next, the learning activity moves in real time. The students identify signs of climate change in the local environment. They use Minecraft to design eco-houses, Houses of Tomorrow, for their local community. The designs are used in an online awareness campaign to encourage a sustainable lifestyle.

During the learning activity the students make connections between the causes and effects of climate change. They work in teams to resolve a real-life problem by designing eco-houses to sustain life in healthy environments. The activities gave the children the opportunity to act like young engineers, investigate the real world, resolve problems, and learn, at the same time, about climate change and sustainability.

This learning activity is a result of the Terra Mission MOOC. I very much appreciate the Terra Mission teaching and learning resources. The lesson on climate change displayed by Gynzy platform is relevant and corresponds to students’ interests and curiosity. There is a strong focus on learning by doing activities which stimulates communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking.

Mission Earth

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Stardate: April 2021

Quest: World Earth Day

Prologue: Just STEM!

Just STEM! is an eTwinning project focused on STEM based learning.

In STEM lessons, the students don’t sit back and watch. They investigate, resolve problems and learn how to make things happen. During the project, the teachers-captains challenge the students-astronauts to accomplish missions by investigating the Earth from outer space and solving real life problems such as Global Warming and the humans’ need of sustainable development.

Mission Earth

The fourth and final quest of the Just STEM! eTwinning project

The students work in multinational teams which are formed according to their preferences for jobs of the future (based on STEM skills).

Level One: The mission starts with an online workshop via Zoom. The students-aerospace engineers teach their peers to build paper rockets which will be used `to fly` the astronauts above the clouds.

Level Two: The students-environmental engineers coordinate the crew to perform proficiency Earth observations. They use online apps to access ESA and NASA satellites data base (Sentinel Hub EO Browser and EOSDIS Worldview). The aim of the investigation is to identify Global Warming problems and to find solutions to solve them. The students open Notebookcast whiteboards for a collaborative writing and drawing activity: a description in pictures and words of the Earth seen from outer space. The final result is a common story, `Our special planet`, presented in an E-book.

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