“Schools: Future Labs”

Anna SlaviProject Coordination,

Goethe-Institut Athen, Greece

The project:

Schools: Future Labs is an Erasmus+ project (KA2) and has been funded with the support of the European Commission. It aims to unite creativity in

Science (Physics, Biology, Chemistry) and language in years of primary education. It implements a new approach wherein language learning (German / Spanish)

and STEM subjects are combined, by applying the STEM/CLIL methodology in the 5th and 6th grade.

Duration:

Three years (01.09.2014- 31.08.2017)

Countries involved:

Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Rumania

The innovative aspects:

• Teaching of a foreign language in combination with a STEM subject.

• Experimental, self-directed learning approach.

• Exploratory methodology both within the classroom and as a method of teacher training.

• Strengthening the teachers’ profile

• Partnership and cooperation between different types of institutions all concerned with improving teaching practices.

• Implementation in primary schools, nurturing an early interest in STEM subjects and reaching students before they reach an age where they are too

embarrassed to try to speak in a foreign language.

Partners:

Goethe Institut Athen, Greece

Instituto Cervantes, Athens, Greece

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

University of Shumen (Department for Information, Qualification and Lifelong Learning), Varna BG

Mazowieckie Samorzadowe Centrum Doskonalenia Nauczycieli (MSCDN), Poland

Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte, Spain

Ministerul Educației și Cercetării Științifice, Romania

Partners:

Uwekind International School, Bulgaria

49th Primary School "Benito Juarez“, Bulgaria

Colegiul National Ion Maiorescu, Romania

Liceul Teoretic Bilingv Miguel de Cervantes, Romania

Społeczna Szkoła Podstawowa nr 4 STO, Romania

Ellinogermaniki Agogi S.A., Greece

The outputs of the project:

A teacher training Course for the Schools: Future Labs methodology (Output 01: Teacher training Course)

www.sflabs.eu

A series of “plug‐and‐play” STEM‐CLIL teaching modules, applied to a variety of STEM subjects and applicable to any foreign language

(Output 02: Lesson Plans)www.sflabs.eu

A virtual student learning portfolio which documents each student’s learning outcomes (Output 03: E-Learning Portfolio)

www.schoolsfuturelabs.eu

What we have achieved:

Kick-off meeting

Train the Trainers

Teacher Training in all six schools.

Development of Lesson Plans for the 5th and 6th grade.

Implementation of the methodology in the classroom.

Purchase of „Mobile Labs“

In the first two pilot years three partner meetings and two joint trainings took place, where all teachers and trainers met to compare the results and set new aims.

Constant evaluation of the methodology.

The Project Outputs are available.

The evaluationbased on research questions

Students- Do they achieve a higher and deeper level of knowledge in STEM?- Do they develop better fluency in their chosen FL?- Are they are more interested in STEM and FL?- Do they acquire useful skills?

Teachers- Do they find their SFL classes more interesting, fulfilling and motivating?- Are their profiles strengthened by the acquisition of additional teaching skills?

The project in general- Is the methodology feasible and implementable?- Is this methodology useful and successful?- Is it feasible to promote it in more schools to more countries?

•Statistically significant improvement in participants attitudes / motivation/ performance in both in STEM / FL

•Satisfied with the methodology

•Improvement in participants’ skills

There were statistically significant differences betweenparticipating and non-participating students in both STEM and FL.

Participating students achieved higher scores

The results: Students

• They are satisfied with the SFL methodology,

• SFL methodology raised students’ interest and improved theircooperation

• Students were able to respond adequately

• They managed to have more fun during the lesson

• They would recommend this methodology to their colleagues

• Almost all of them would like to participate again.

The results: Teachers

Comparison of participants - non participants students after

Independent samples T-Test: t= 9,146, p<0,001 (interest), t= 8,776, p<0,001 (competence), t= -2,245, p=0,02(tension), t= 9,875, p< 0,001 (value), t= 5,406, p<0,001 (science learning), t= 9,031, p<0,001 (FL learning),t= 1,742, p=0,05 (cooperative learning)

General impressions: Students

• They show interest and great enthusiasm

• They respond successfully to the activities of the course (comparing, identifying , predicting …), conduct the experiments with great enthusiasm and complete successfully the worksheets

• They use the German/Spanish language during most time.

• They seem to understand the instructions they are given in the German / Spanish language and it is not difficult for them to present their work in front of the class using this language.

• They embraced teamwork!

• very careful preparation of the course (withworksheets, the necessary vocabulary and appropriatevisual material)

• show considerable enthusiasm for the course andlove for their work

• good cooperation between the teachers

General impression - Teachers

Closing Confrence –June 2017

Closing Confrence –June 2017