Author Archives: olgajuravschi

Scientific Conference “Parade of STEM projects”

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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.

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Online event: STEM implementation for students’ education

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Author: Olga Juravschi

STEM is an educational initiative which develops creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving skills to pupils. These skills will help them be more competitive in the work environment of 21st. Within STEM projects, teachers find out different ways of teaching and engaging students in various activities that make them more curious and motivated.

In the framework of the 2020 STEM Discovery Campaign, two years in a row, my school is hosting a great event that aims to emphasise the undeniable role of STEM implementation for the future pupils’ careers. We have been prepared for this event for months, but as schools are closed now because of the Coronavirus outbreak, we decided to organize the event online on 23 April 2020. This year the event was entitled “STEM implementation for students’ education”, and gathered together students and teachers online. Partner for the event is the Technical University of Moldova (TUM).

As I mentioned above, the preparation for the event took more time, we started with the development of eTwinning project “Visual Math” where students created different objects such as Archimedean and Platonic solids to be presented to the public. Another STEM project product that was presented on the event was a mechanical manipulator created by a pupil from the 10th grade. The development of eTwinning projects in this period of time (lockdown) continues and it keeps pupils’ motivation awake, they are eager to experience new things even at home.

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