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StarT provides everyone participating with fresh ideas and support for carrying out projects related to science, mathematics or technology.
We invite schools, kindergartens and extracurricular activity groups from all around the world to come and share with us innovative ideas for interdiscplinary collaborative project work!
Watch the video and register now to join the global StarT community!
The International LUMA StarT Award nominees and the public’s favourite have been chosen ‒ get inspired by the top-quality educational practices from all around the world!
The LUMA Centre Finland is proud to share the nominees for the best educational practices and the best projects carried out in learning communities across the world in 2017‒2018. The videos of these twenty nominees introduce educational practices worth noting and suggest inspiring ideas for carrying out project-based learning in schools and kindergartens. Have a look and let the videos of the top contestants of StarT inspire you!
The International LUMA StarT Awards will be awarded for the second time at the University of Tampere on the 5th of June 2018. In StarT, learning communities from all around the world share their interdisciplinary and cross-curricular science-related projects and educational practices with us at StarT, and we share them with the rest of the world. This year, we received altogether 500 project videos and 100 best practice videos from 20 countries. The StarT jury has now decided the final 20 contestants continuing to compete for the International LUMA StarT Awards, and the public chosen their top two favourites.
The StarT jury chose approximately 100 project and best practice videos to be included in the public voting of StarT. The public voting was ongoing from the 12th of March 2018 until the 8th of April 2018, and the project “Waste busters” and the best practice “StarT Day in S.O.S Project Schools” were able to inspire the greatest number of people. Congratulations on the winners and thanks to everyone who participated! Read more about the videos of the public’s favourite here.
Out of the videos included in the public voting, the StarT jury has now made their decision on the International LUMA StarT Award nominees. There are two award categories in StarT: 1) best educational practices 2) best projects. The StarT jury has chosen ten nominees for the International LUMA StarT Award, which will be given to three teams with the best projects, and ten nominees for the International LUMA StarT Education Award, which in turn is given to three best educational practices. Thus, the nominee videos are the top twenty videos reported to StarT in 2017-2018, and they convey exemplary educational practices that take use of an interdisciplinary approach, and promote collaborative learning and active learning in general. By watching the videos everyone can benefit from the pedagogical innovations formulated across the world, and make use of the exciting ideas and quintessential methods for carrying out project-based learning.
The International LUMA StarT Education Award Nominees 2018 (best practice nominees):
The International LUMA StarT Award Nominees 2018 (project nominees):
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The final six winners of the International LUMA StarT Awards will be revealed in the international LUMA StarT gala which is the grand final of both the national and international StarT every year. This year the gala will take place at the University of Tampere on the 5th of June 2018, as a part of the international LUMAT Symposium and the national LUMA Days. The awards will be handed by the Director General of the Finnish National Agency for Education, Olli-Pekka Heinonen. Everyone is warmly welcome to participate in the gala! There gala will also be livestreamed, so that everyone in the world can watch it online.
StarT is organized annually, and we invite all learning communities from daycares to upper secondary schools and extracurricular activity groups to share their best educational practices and project-based learning ideas related to science with us! Registering for the StarT 2018–2019 starts in May, and you can find more information here. Registering does not bind you to anything, but instead you will receive additional support and inspiration for carrying out exciting, interdisciplinary project-based learning in your learning community. Welcome along, everyone!
More information about StarT:
https://start.luma.fi/en/ | info@start.luma.fi
The article, “Dynamics of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) within a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for In-Service Teachers in Environmental Education” has been recently published in the journal Education Sciences, analyzing a MOOC hosted by the LUMA Centre for in-service educators in Spring 2016.
The article has been written through a collaboration between Professor Maija Aksela, Visiting Researcher Maya Kaul, and Associate Professor at Peking University, Xiaomeng Wu. Maya Kaul is visiting the LUMA Centre Finland for the 2017-2018 academic year from the United States through a research fellowship funded by the Fulbright Finland program.
The study analyzes the formation of a Community of Inquiry (CoI) within the LUMA Centre’s MOOC, “Sustainable Energy in Education.” The course was offered to teachers from across the world who were interested in learning how to engage their students in topics related to sustainable energy and the environment. The article studied the ways that teachers were able to build professional development learning communities online within the MOOC, specifically through their written assignments in the online MOOC forum setting.
This publication builds off of previous research performed on the LUMA Centre’s 2015 MOOC for 15+ year-old students, “Millennium Youth Course – Sustainable Energy.” This course had expert researchers introduce topics such as sustainable growth and renewable energy to the students in order to expose them to new environmental education content knowledge. In 2016, the article “Relevancy of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) about Energy for Adolescents” was published about this course, providing insight on how to design and deliver relevant environmental science curriculum to youth through online, distance learning channels, such as MOOCs.
Both articles have been published in the Education Sciences journal and are available to be read online:
Text: Maya Kaul & Julia Halonen.
We have the honour and pleasure to invite you to Tampere, Finland, from 5th to 6th June 2018, to the International LUMAT Symposium 2018.
We welcome math, science and technology teachers from all educational levels, prospective teachers, teacher educators and researchers in math, science and technology education to attend this symposium to share ideas on math, science and technology education and to discuss new developments in the field.
The symposium is based on discussion sessions, and the coffee point will provide participants with free coffee all day.
The Finnish National and International StarT Gala on Tue 5th June is part of the programme of the symposium.
The StarT Gala is a memorable award ceremony and a celebration of the success of both Finnish national and international StarT activities in the current academic year. The teams of children and youngsters will be awarded for their projects, and learning communities will be awarded for their good practices in the implementation of interdisciplinary phenomenon-based learning.
Experience the unique experiences in a festive StarT Gala and enjoy the learning by children and youth with them. Pick up the best ideas for your own teaching from the video presentations of the awarded projects.
The programme of the gala will include at least the following:
The Gala is partly in Finnish, partly in Swedish, and partly in English. English speakers will be able to follow the programme. A live stream of the gala will be available online.
There is no registration fees for the Symposium or for the Gala.
Photo: Ville Oksanen.
StarT spring proceeds and the time has come to vote for your favourite videos! The StarT jury has made their decision as to which videos proceeded to the public voting, and you can now find the videos of the best practices and projects on the Youtube channel of StarT so go check out the amazing work groups from around the world have done and get inspired by project based learning! You can find direct links to each theme from here.
Your likes will be considered when the nominees for the best projects and practices of 2018 are chosen by the StarT jury, so voting really pays off! The winners of the public voting will also be awarded with a diploma in the international StarT gala. The international StarT gala is the grand final of both the national and international StarT every year, and this year it will take place in Tampere on the 5th of June 2018 as a part of the International LUMAT Symposium. Read more about last year’s gala here and find more about this year’s gala here.
The voting continues until the 8th of April, so make sure to like your favourite videos before that! Don’t forget to invite your friends and family along to share the inspiring work you have done!
The nominees for the best projects and practices of 2018 will be announced on the 16th of April. The StarT jury will decide ten nominees for the best projects and ten nominees for the best practices. Of these twenty nominees, the honorary StarT jury will decide which three groups win the International LUMA StarT Education Award (for best practices) and which three groups the International LUMA StarT Award (for the best projects). You can read more about the assessment criteria here.
Text: Anette Markula. Photo: Essi Purhonen.
In 2018, the University of Helsinki will celebrate the 15th anniversary of its science education activities in many different ways. Today a book about research-based science education and its best solutions and pedagogical innovations has been published in English.
The science education aims to strengthen the science competences. All branches of science belong to this division. By 2020, Finland aims to be one of the leading countries in science education. It is important to encourage children and youth to explore various branches of science, both in and outside of school. Science education is also an important part of universities’ social role. The development and strengthening of science education is a current topic and is important to society.
At the University of Helsinki, science education is a part of societal interaction as well as research and teaching. It supports the university’s strategic areas of focus in a versatile way. The Science Education Centre aims to act as a global impactor and a pioneer and also a producer of new solutions and pedagogical innovations from early childhood education to universities. One important aim of science education is to promote sustainable development such as climate education, that follows the university’s strategy. Research on science education creates a basis for the development and strengthening of science competencies. New, meaningful solutions and pedagogical innovations are needed to strengthen the science skills of youth and encourage them towards various sciences, as they are the makers of the future. Hands-on science education is a key to uniting different generations.
The book has 8 chapters (more than a hundred pages) showing the multidisciplinary and communal science education activities and research of the University of Helsinki since 2003. The book introduces new solutions and pedagogical innovations developed in the Center’s work, key publications and theses, ongoing projects, and plans. There are examples in particular in the field of science education in the humanities, mathematics, and sciences, and the best multidisciplinary solutions.
It is hoped that the book will be widely used in various science education activities and teacher training.
The book is published both in paperback and online in Finnish and English.
The book is edited by the director of the Science Education Centre, Professor Maija Aksela, the deputy director, Professor Juha Oikkonen, and general coordinator Julia Halonen. In addition to the editors, 24 authors contributed to the collective writing of the book. The authors are mainly members of the Steering Group of the Centre and field-specific coordinators or researchers involved in the projects.
Text: Julia Halonen.
LUMA Centre Finland has the honour and pleasure to invite you to Tampere, Finland, from 5th to 6th June 2018, to the International LUMAT Symposium: Research and Practice in Math, Science and Technology Education (LUMAT) 2018.
We welcome math, science and technology teachers from all educational levels, prospective teachers, teacher educators and researchers, developers and other experts in math, science and technology education to attend this symposium to share ideas on math, science and technology education and to discuss new developments in the field.
We welcome thought-provoking, engaging and innovative presentations for the LUMAT 2018.
The themes of the LUMAT 2018 are
Each presentation includes a short, lively introduction to the topic as well as discussion with the audience. Virtual presentations or poster presentations are not possible at LUMAT 2018.
Proposals for the presentations must be submitted via the online submission form by February 18th, 2018.
LUMAT 2018 is organized at the same time as National LUMA Days for Finnish teachers etc., so the programme is partly the same.
Proceedings of the LUMAT 2018 will be published as a special issue in the LUMAT-B journal (deadline September 30th, 2018). In addition, the authors of the best articles in the special issue are invited to submit a manuscript for an extended article to be published in the theme issues of the reviewed LUMAT journal, in 2019 and 2020.
LUMA Centre Finland has organized International Symposium on Science Education (ISSE) since 2011. This year (2017) the symposium was organized first time with a new name, International LUMAT Symposium: Research and Practice in Math, Science and Technology Education (LUMAT). The symposium was based on plenary lectures, discussion sessions and some hands-on activities and it was organized at the same time as National LUMA Days for Finnish teachers.
New LUMAT-B special issue brings together different articles based on workshops, lectures and research projects related to math, science and technology (LUMA subjects).
LUMA Centre Finland together with its cooperation partners is inviting all schools, kindergartens and extracurricular activity groups from all around the world to join the StarT learning community for the school year 2017–2018. (In the school year 2016–2017 more than 800 learning communities from 36 countries around the world participated in StarT.)
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With support from StarT, the learning communities share ideas and best practices about carrying out interdisciplinary, phenomenon-based, student centred, and collaborative project-based learning.
StarT encourages children and youngsters to carry out project-based learning by giving visibility for their projects and awarding the best project-teams and their supervisors as well as the best practices.
Join our international StarT family today to share and learn through project-based learning!
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Learning projects and best practices can be reported by February 18th, 2018.
The grand prize is the trip to Finland to receive the International LUMA StarT Award 2018, or, the International LUMA StarT Education Award 2018, at the International StarT Gala 2018.
More information on the StarT website »
Questions about StarT? Ask for more information: info@start.luma.fi
Text: Essi Purhonen. Photo: Outi Haatainen.
The collaboration between Finnish universities and China will branch out into math, science and technology education. The agreement to establish the LUMA China Centre, modelled on the LUMA Centre Finland, was signed in Beijing on October 10th, 2017.
The LUMA China Centre, operated by in Beijing Normal University (BNU) will follow its Finnish prototype in connecting early education, school, parents, and the business world, supporting research and development collaboration with university and teacher education in mathematics and science.
“The exportation of the LUMA method in an international setting is important and useful, and a practical implementation of the university’s strategy for international goals and visions; Global Impact in Interaction,” says Professor Jukka Kola, rector of the University of Helsinki.
The objective of the collaboration agreement signed by the universities in October is to promote the research and development collaboration and researcher exchange in science and technology education.
Besides representatives of the university, the meeting in Beijing where the contract will be signed will be attended by the Finnish Minister of Education, Sanni Grahn-Laasonen.
“The promotion of natural sciences and mathematics is one of the focal points of our education policy. In the budget negotiations, the government decided to invest five million euros extra in this field. It is great that the methods developed to strengthen science and maths learning have interested international actors, enabling the founding of new collaborations,” says Grahn-Laasonen.
International collaboration is one of the duties of the LUMA Centre Finland.
“The first LUMA centre to be established abroad is a considerable step,” says Professor Maija Aksela, director of the LUMA Centre Finland.
“We need more research on how the teaching of mathematics, natural sciences, and technology can be made meaningful,” says Professor Aksela, who has been preparing the collaboration agreement for two years.
The Chinese have made large advances in research into the teaching of modern technology, and we hope to gain inspiration for Finnish school education.
“The interest of Finnish 15-year-olds to study maths and science has fallen alarmingly low amongst OECD countries,” says Aksela.
The science class is a form of education the Chinese are eager to try.
“In Finland, the chemistry classroom Gadolin at the University of Helsinki has worked for almost ten years, and it, along with 12 other science classrooms, has proven to be an excellent forum for developing new pedagogical innovations for experimental teaching,” says Aksela.
There are also plans for international science camps. The purpose is to have teachers and researchers from both countries take part in the camps.
Text: Riitta-Leena Inki.
More information from Prof. Maija Aksela, +358 50 514 1450, maija.aksela@helsinki.fi