10 Dec ATS STEM – Austrian dissemination event “MINT BRINGT’S”
On 25th November 2021, the ATS STEM National Dissemination Event “MINT BRINGT’S” took place in an online format in Austria. It was organised in cooperation with the University for Continuing Education (Danube University Krems) and the University College of Teacher Education Vienna/Krems. More than 50 people attended the event. In addition to teachers, other people interested in STEM from Austria and abroad were also represented.
Contents of the event
The event was moderated by Isabell Grundschober, Michaela Liebhart-Gundacker and Sonja Brachtl. In the opening contribution, Michaela Liebhart-Gundacker established the connection to school and teaching development in the area of the MIN(D)T focus and showed how these are related to the new quality management system for schools (QMS.at). It became clear that disciplinary, interdisciplinary and transversal competences can be promoted in the best possible way through STEM topics. Isabell Grundschober presented the ATS STEM project and described how STEM-integrated teaching can be designed.
How a learning cycle can be implemented in practice was presented by Nina Poljansek and Marija Oblak, primary school teachers from Preska Primary School in Medvode, Slovenia. In the course of this project, pupils developed measures for the residents of the old people’s home CSO Medvode to improve their quality of life. The pupils created board games and beds for mini-gardens. These activities were developed in groups using Google documents and the students independently assessed their problem-solving skills.
Following this presentation, the Innovationsstiftung für Bildung presented its focus “MINT4future” and provided information about funding opportunities in the course of submitting innovative concepts and projects in the STEM area for schools in Lower Austria.
After a break, the participants of the event had the opportunity to choose between different practical impulses.
Conclusion
The conference ended with a joint reflection and the question of what roles teachers take on in the design of integrated, digitally supported teaching. The most frequently used terms were: accompany, coach and support.