Tag Archives: STEM professions

It is raining rocks!

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A few weeks ago we read some extremely disturbing news in the national and local online media. As a result of heavy rain in Hermoupolis, our city, debris of an old building had fallen on parked cars and also on a car crossing the road. Some of the cars had serious damages but fortunately, no one was hurt. We felt like it was raining rocks!!

The pupils of the fourth grade (9-10 years old) were really upset with this fact and afraid that a major part of our town is going to collapse in the near future. That been said and after a long conversation between the teacher Mr Nektarios Farassopoulos and the students, we decided to look for answers:

Why are the buildings falling down?
What can we do to prevent similar events in the future?
Which professionals are working in this field?

On Thursday, April 13th, we invited a STEM professional, a Digital Heritage Architect to our online class hoping that he can help us understand more things about that incident. Mr Pavlos Chatzigrigoriou is a Civil Engineer with an MSc in Restoration and Conservation of Monuments, an MSc in Environmental Planning and a PhD in Architecture (Digital Heritage). He is the person who can explain to us what really happened a few weeks ago in our city and what proactive measures can be taken to handle the situation in the future. Also, Mr. Chatzigrigoriou is an excellent role model for the students and his work is a great example of how STEM professionals can help local communities prevent serious problems.

He started his presentation talking about the incident that occurred in our city a few weeks ago.

A bulding that collapsed in Syros, Greece
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Learning Professions with Bees (STEM Family Library Project)

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Author: Carmen Diez Calzada

International concern to develop sustainability on Planet Earth challenges us to remember the importance of biodiversity.

Bees are the example of directly delivered benefits to biodiversity components (ecosystems, species and genes) that may contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A family workshop was organised to discover the importance of bees, to experience real and virtual, and to learn professions with bees. It aims to bring science closer to citizens.

The workshop is a part of the STEM Family Library Project started in 2013. Family workshops are organized to spread the knowledge and interest in STEAM subjects within the society. Each workshop enables the participants to travel through a different everyday reality and build knowledge on a family level. At the end, the participating families must complete a challenge at home. Read more about the project here.

Key words: STEM Pofessions, Virtual Experiment, Health, Citizenship, Health studies.

Date: 7 March 2020

STE(A)M Family Library Project evokes interest in STEM trough family workshop and knowledge exchange. Thus, it corresponds to the need for creating a European space, oriented towards the demands of the job market in the 21st century. The methodology developed is Inquiry-Based Science Education.

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Preparing for the future – STEM professions

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Every school year, in Romania, one school week is dedicated to “Another kind of school” week. During this week, students participate in extracurricular activities and projects. This year, in my school, Școala Gimnazială Nr. 9 „Nicolae Orghidan” Brașov, between 26th and 30th of March, an event dedicated to STEM education will be organized for providing opportunities for learning STEM topics to young students aged 6 to 11. For five days, students will visit companies, meet engineers, doctors or scientists, make experiments based on Scientix Resources or create posters. STEM education is a priority in our school as we are involved in many national and international educational projects based on STEM topics.

My students aged 10- 11 will visit Ina Schaeffler S.R.L on the 27th. (https://www.schaeffler.ro/remotemedien/media/_shared_media/03_worldwide/02_websites_worldwide/romania_1/SchaefflerRomania_EN_2016.pdf) – a company which is specialized in industry and automotive in order to know more about STEM professions. Then they will present some of the professions and present them to another class. They will make experiments and present their conclusions. A poster session will be held too.

Join STEM Discovery Week 2018!

Cornelia Melcu, primary school teacher and Scientix ambassador for Romania