STEM Alliance CLUB 2017-2018
Each year, STEM Alliance carries out major campaigns to raise general awareness about STEM education and careers, in close collaboration with its partners, such as the ongoing STEM Ahead (http://www.stemalliance.eu/stem-ahead-competition).
Are you looking for STEM resources you use to enthuse students in your class?
The STEM Alliance repository of practices is full of resources http://www.stemalliance.eu/resources for inspiring students to STEM careers.
On this page are presented some examples of implementation of the STEM club ?European pathways on science education? of Evangeliki Model High School of Smyrna with supervisor Ms. Argyri Panagiota (Mathematician) and members: Avgerinou Aikaterini, Nikiforakis Georgios, Giappas Charalambos, Fragaki Theodora, Gourgouletis Nikolaos, Tsolkas Marios, Bekiaris Dimitrios, Papatheodorou Aikaterina, Drakoulatou Georgia, Lalioti Anastasia, Kiourkzoglou Orestis, Zotou Elissavet, Stamatiadi Sofia, Gogianos Iosif, Karaoglanis Christos, Theodoratou Evangelia, Diamantis Dimitrios.
1. On the 9th October 2017 we started with ?Xplore Health? http://www.stemalliance.eu/practices/detail?resourceId=12007 for bridging the gap between Responsible Research and Innovation and education.
The main objective was to offer students the possibility to engage in research processes that respond to students? real life and which are co-developed between researchers, higher education students and secondary school students and teachers.
The activity was entitled ?Using the resources for educators? provided by the website of
https://www.xplorehealth.eu/en/students/skin-cancer-exposed. We successfully completed ?Skin cancer into the research microscope of students?.
As introduction to the curiosity about the topic, students researched resources for information about what is cancer and what the steps of cancer diagnosis are. They got deeper knowledge about cancer from the videos that were presented to raise public awareness regarding the importance of detecting the cancer type early. They experimented for carrying out the test in the following Xplore Health virtual laboratory and described the diagnostic method that corresponds to it. Finally, they discussed about the ethical, legal and social aspects related to skin cancer.
The most important thing was that students had the opportunity to get to know experts? opinion about cancer treatments as Mr. Lembessis Panagiotis (researcher of Biology, PhD Medicine) participated in the STEM class.
If you are looking for industries and companies in your country for collaboration in science education, you could access the Professional Go Back to School tool http://www.stemalliance.eu/pgbs_tool.
Students were highly motivated about careers on medicine and biology.
2. ?Take the role of a data scientist to explain the real world? using Texas Instruments: Inspiring Learning ? Interactive maths teaching and learning tools by STEM Alliance repository http://www.stemalliance.eu/practices/detail?resourceId=13716.
Statistics analysis of ?Data City? were evaluated and students were involved in a number of investigations that were suggested.
The analysis and processing data with this statistics method cultivate the critical and analytics skills that is a requirement and an essential skill in most STEM careers.
Students were activated and took a role of a STEM career as a data mathematician, a data scientist, a data engineer, a research data scientist, a data expert, a data research scientist and assessed, corrected or rejected some of it before moving on to analyze it.
They investigated and made decisions about many different values of continents in the world (e.g. population, food cost, living space etc.).
3. We had the opportunity to learn by playing educational games, by using the educational software https://triseum.com/ (https://triseum.com/calculus/variant/).
From engineering to medicine to 3D graphics, Calculus is a foundational for all STEM careers. However, Calculus courses today have among the highest failure rates of any course on any campus.
4. A MATHS LESSON ? EXPLORING POLYGONS THROUGH THE ?ART GALLERY PROBLEM?
The Internet of Things (IoT) connects the unconnected. Students were to play the role of fire safety company employees. Their task was to find the most efficient placement of fire detectors in a variety of rooms. This type of problem is known as the ?art gallery problem? (http://wild.maths.org/art-galleryproblem). For each room students had to decide where to place fire detectors so that the entire room was covered, using the smallest number of detectors.
For additional pedagogical value, students designed a Path MATH IN MOTION USING THE TI-INNOVATOR ROVER by the STEM Alliance resources (http://www.stemalliance.eu/practices/detail?resourceId=13716).
It includes (http://www.tcubed.org.uk/nspiring-learning/).
school year 2016-2017
Rhetoric Art Club
Formation of students? groups for practicing the rhetoric art. More precisely:
Realization of Argumentation Competition within the Club. Students are given a topic and they form two groups who try to persuade their audience about their opposing points of view, by developing the appropriate arguments.
Teaching of methodology and of argumentation-making techniques regarding ambiguous topics, both diachronic and contemporary ones
Introduction to the development of ?Spontaneous Speech?, ?Protreptic Speech? and to the ?Meaningful (Expressive) Reading?
The teachers in charge may also invite external collaborators for the preparation of Argumentation Competitions.
Participation in Argumentation Competitions
Teachers in charge: Maria Litsardou, Ioanna Pseftogianni
European Paths of Science Knowledge
In the era of the knowledge and information revolution, the use of new technologies in European projects offers new potential to the teaching approach of scientific educational topics.
? Exploitation of resources from the European Schoolnet (http://www.eun.org/)
? Participation in European digital communities for the exploitation of digital resources, tools, applications and innovative teaching and learning practices of the sciences
? Creation and dissemination of new digital educational content through inquiry-based learning scenarios about sciences
? Combination of scientific fields for the realization of interdisciplinary projects
? The European projects offer modern environments of inquiry-based learning of sciences for the connection of the curriculum knowledge with the phenomena of the real world.
? Application and realization of innovative teaching practices aiming at the scientific knowledge approach through the continuous feedback from and collaboration with teachers and students of European schools
Teacher in charge: Panagiota Argyri
Chemistry Club of the Evangeliki School of Smyrna: Chemistry in vivo, in vitro and in silico
The Club work is divided into two parts: (a) The first part focuses on the experiment of chemistry. Students will be taught the basic laboratory techniques of classical and instrumental analysis.
(b) The second part focuses on the simulations on a computer. Students will learn how scientists design, for example, a new catalyst or a new medicine and how it is possible to predict properties of chemical compounds that have not been composed in the chemical laboratory yet.
Moreover, students will be prepared for their participation in chemistry competitions, e.g. EUSO 2017 and competition of the Greek Chemists? Association.
Teacher in charge: Christodoulos Makedonas
Mathematics Club for the students of the A? Class of the High School
Teacher in charge: Sotirios Hasapis
Mathematics Club for the students of the B? Class of the High School
Teacher in charge: Sotirios Hasapis
Drama and Music Club
Aim of the Club is the production of an artistic product through the combination of the subjects of the Greek Language, History and Philosophy, Mathematics and Science (the students as receivers ad creators) and the collective artistic creation (preparation and performance of a play).
Scheduled activities of the Club also include participation: a) in theatrical performances within the framework of student drama competitions in Greece and abroad, b) in activities of community interest, c) in school events, and d) in activities concerning contemporary social issues.
Teachers in charge: Kalliopi Siopi, Maria Diakonou, Sofia Gourna
Astronomy Club
The Club content aims at the education of students with increased interest in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Its realization will be carried out in collaboration with the Eugenides Foundation and it will include the study of the sky, its observation with a telescope at school, in Eugenides Foundation and in the National Kapodistriakon University of Athens, as well as the theoretical and experimental approach of astrophysical phenomena.
Teacher in charge: Maria Diakonou
