At the Science on Stage festival in 24-27 March 2022, 450 European science teachers will work together to shape science education of the future. Finland will be represented by the best teachers who have been selected through the StarT-program.Follow the festival on social media #sons2024.
The three-day educational festival Science on Stage will take place from 24 to 27 March in Prague. 450 teachers from over 30 countries will come together to present and exchange their innovative teaching concepts in a fair, in workshops and in short lectures. From a symphony of atoms to the production of foils from starch and the usage of microcontroller in physics lessons, there will once again be a variety of practical teaching ideas from teachers for teachers.
The delegates of Finland at the Science on Stage Festival 2022 are teachers and educators from Forssan kuvataidekoulu, Länsiharjun koulu and Taipalsaaren kirkonkylän koulun esiopetus. The delegates have been chosen as a part of the Finnish StarT program: the teachers convinced the jury with teaching practices that emphasize for example sustainable development, co-operation and multidisciplinary. Now they head for the international Science on Stage festival to inspire and enthuse colleagues from across Europe with their teaching ideas.
Teachers matter! They are the ones who can enthuse students for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and thereby prepare them for the future! At the 12th European Science on Stage festival 2022, hosted by Science on Stage Czechia in cooperation with Science on Stage Europe, the participating teachers will be given the right tools to do so.
Particularly outstanding projects will receive the festival’s European STEM Teacher Award and will later be disseminated internationally as training courses or teaching materials. In this way, teachers reach thousands of students throughout Europe with their ideas encouraging them to consider a career in science, IT or engineering.
This year’s festival is under the patronage of Mariya Gabriel, Member of the European Commission, and is endorsed by the Czech Ministry of Education.
About Science on Stage 2022
Venue: Clarion Congress Hotel Prague, Freyova 33, 190 00 Prague 9 - Vysočany, Czechia
Open Day for the public: Saturday, 26 March, 10:00 – 17:00
For media representatives: Please register at press@science-on-stage.eu
The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture organised the Nordic Nord StarT Climate Change Competition in autumn 2021. The competition was part of the programme of Finland’s Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2021. Organised in cooperation with the LUMA Centre Finland’s StarT programme, the competition aimed to engage children, young people and adults, all the way from early childhood education and care to higher education, to come up with concrete ways to tackle climate change. Minister of Education Li Andersson congratulated the winners on Wednesday 9 February 2022 at an open online event.
It was possible to enter the Nord StarT competition with projects or practices where different age groups at different educational levels work together. Schools, groups, clubs or any other set of children, young people or adults could enter a good project in the competition showing how to tackle climate change. Teachers were able to participate in the competition by entering a good teaching practice. The competition was designed for all educational levels from early childhood education and care to higher education.
The works of the winners covered a broad range of topics on climate issues from the Bokashi method to sustainable poetry. In her award speech, Minister of Education Li Andersson emphasized the importance of schools offering knowledge and skills to combat climate change.
– Environmental issues and climate change are our main societal challenges. Climate change mitigation affects every aspect of society. It is important that schools and educational institutions are able to provide good knowledge and skills to deal with the climate crisis. Effective and research-based sustainability education helps to focus young people’s concerns towards action to tackle the crisis, said Minister Andersson.
The Nordic jury felt that the winning projects harness scientific practices by means of investigation and lab collaboration, empower students and give a voice to children too. According to the jury, the projects also empower young people to take action by themselves and together with others, and use culture and poetry to showcase children’s and young people’s own thoughts about climate change.
The main prizes amounted to EUR 500. The winners of the competition are:
0 to 5-year-olds Piilometsä early education centre – Bokashi and biocarbon in horticultural cultivation
13 to 15-year-olds Vuoksenniska school centre – Young children and climate change
16 to 18-year-olds
Chemistry students at the Rajamäki unit of Nurmijärvi General Upper Secondary School – Toxins in nature
FIN-CHI Innovation and Education Association – Youth Race-to-Zero Climate Action
Best teaching practice: Sustainable Poetry. Swedish collaboration between teachers and educators.
The purpose of the Nord StarT competition was to showcase what kinds of visions Nordic children, young people and young adults have about climate change mitigation and to present examples of how to curb climate change. It also aimed to strengthen cooperation and the sense of community among the Nordic countries, develop sustainable development pedagogics and promote curriculum-based activities.
The registration for the StarT competition has begun and will continue until 28th of February 2022. The theme of the competition is My LUMA which refers to natural sciences, mathematics and/or technology. The two series you can participate in are the StarT projects and good educational practices.
What is StarT
In the international StarT, learning communities get support, recognition and awards for carrying out interdisciplinary, collaborative project-based learning.StarT is an exciting and encouraging platform that supports carrying out projects related to science, technology and mathematics. The requirements for the projects allow the learning communities to take advantage of participating in the StarT process in such a way that supports their needs best. The StarT way of working and thinking is based on research and it empowers children and youngsters to use science, technology, mathematics and 21st century skills in order to solve real-life issues related to their own lives and future.
The competition 2022
The theme for the 2022 competition is My LUMA, referring to natural sciences, mathematics and technology. The aim of is that all projects should be interdisciplinary and promote the ideas, interests and knowhow of children and youth. You may approach this theme through students’ own interests or phenomena related to everyday life: First, brainstorm a topic that inspires your team and then dive into the worlds of learning and discovery through your project. For inspiration, you can visit our material bank where we have collected some of the best projects and educational practices from earlier years.
Register for the competition by filling out this form. Tell us about your team of students and your project, or your good educational practice. The registration period for the competition will continues until the 28th of February 2022.
The students’ StarT projects
Teams of children and adolescents should carry out the StarT project. The project should be a product of the students’ work, supported by the teacher on a suitable level. The projects will assessed based on how creative and innovative they are. We also appreciate projects that are linked to the theme. The students’ active role in the project is important as well as collaboration and the visibility of their enthusiasm. The project can include cooperation within the teacher community and with other actors outside of the learning community, such as researchers and companies.
An example of a My LUMA themed project from 2021
Air in my town -project by
Best educational practices for project-based learning
A best practice is an educational practice or a model that the learning community has tried and found useful in interdisciplinary and phenomenon-based learning. The best practice should also have a link to science, technology and/or mathematics. In the assessment of best practices, we will look at how the best practice demonstrates links to curriculum and cooperation. We will also be looking for innovative approaches for carrying out inquiry-based and/or phenomenon-based learning.
An example of a best practice from 2021
Manufacturing of drawing charcoal by Forssan Kuvataidekoulu
With ZAU science clubs, we increased girls’ interest towards mathematics, natural sciences and technology. At the same time, science club instructors were able to try phenomenon-based and Inquiry-based teaching. For example, many primary school teachers were inspired to organize accessible science clubs for their pupils.
Learning experiences for both children and instructors
In 2019 –2021, a total of 55 clubs and 3 virtual clubs were organised, bringing together more than 1,000 children from all over Finland. At the same time, 91 club instructors gained valuable experience in phenomenon-based and inquiry-based teaching. Professor Maija Aksela, Director of the LUMA Centre Finland, is pleased with the results of the ZAU-project.
– With science club activities, we popularized science and technology for the children, young people and families involved. I am also pleased that the training of club instructors enabled us to support the continuous learning of teachers and teacher training. As a network, we gained a lot of valuable experience of science club activities and many good learning materials to share with everyone. Warm thanks to the Zonta International -organization for making this possible and all those who have organised science clubs.
Science was introduced through everyday phenomena
Primary school teacher Mari Huttunen from Kotka organized two ZAU science clubs at her school: the first one in autumn 2019 and again in autumn 2021. The theme of the clubs was selected based on its familiarity to be food and reactions, which was then expanded according to the pupils’ interests. In science clubs, pupils familiarised themselves with the reactions of everyday life, such as the reacting of baking powder and the foaming of egg protein. In addition, children made ice cream in a plastic bag, play dough and plastic from milk.
According to Huttunen, clubs were successful from the viewpoint of both participants and teachers.
– Both of our clubs were very popular: there were about 20 participants on both occasions and even more would have wanted to participate. The clubs were organised at the school premise after the school day, and they were free of charge to make them as accessible as possible. Children have been extremely motivated to experiment themselves, and their joy has also spread to us instructors. Instructing science clubs has not felt like work at all, she says.
Confidence in personal skills was increased
In particular, Huttunen praises the project for all the support which made it easy to organise clubs on her own. During the project, she was able to cooperate with a colleague as an equal team. Although the pupils had time to experiment with a variety of activities, several were still left for the prospective future clubs.
– Without the ZAU-project, I would never have organized a science club, because I would not have felt that I was competent enough to do so. However, during the clubs, those doubts were proven wrong. I wish the children who took part in my clubs would never have to doubt their own expertise, Huttunen sums up.
About the project
The aim of the ZAU-project was to inspire especially girls towards studying mathematics, natural sciences and technology and having these subjects as a hobby. To reach this goal, phenomenon-based and accessible science clubs were organized all over Finland. Club activities were specifically planned based on girls’ interests and emphasized the importance of hands-on activities. Those interested in instructing clubs were trained for their task in an online course. The project was carried out in cooperation with the Zonta International District 20 and the LUMA Centre Finland. To finance the project, Zonta International organised a fundraising with a total revenue of approximately EUR 150,000.
Director of LUMA Centre Finland, professor Maija Aksela is celebrating her 60th birthday on 25th of November, 2021 with the theme of creativity and an art exhibition. Some of her colleagues and friends have sent greetings around the world. On this page we have collected art greetings from colleagues and friends abroad and Finland in English and in Finnish and info about her birthday celebrations and about possibility to support national and international LUMA work for good and sustainable future. You can send your greetings to luma-keskus@helsinki.fi until 3rd of December.
Maija Aksela: Miksi teen taidetta? Why do i do art?
Maija Aksela is celebrating her birthday through her art exhibition:
Greetings in English
Professor Vesna Ferk Savec, Slovenia
Professor Russell Tytler, Australia
Associate Professor Erik Foolandi, Norway
Professor Marina Milner-Bolotin, Canada
Professor Esa Räsänen, Finland
Professor Samuli Siltanen, Finland
My art greeting is a photograph I took of a convection flow that has passed through a pseudo-differential operator.Here is the core message of your great science education work: Sciences together, seasoned with color!Congratulations!
Everyone is Creative
Adjunct Professor Terry Lyons, Australia
When I think of creativity I’m reminded of the unconventional students I taught in high school; those labelled as angry or badly behaved or rule breakers. They looked for the boundaries of behaviour and then tried to challenge these, sometimes destructively but also sometimes in creative, even funny, ways. This attitude could be irritating in many school subjects—mathematics, science and so on—which tend to be taught in highly structured, non-creative ways. Yet if these student discovered a topic or subject where they could explore boundaries, their propensity to challenge and question conventions became an asset. They were capable of such beautiful and original work precisely because they didn’t just copy whatever they were shown, they saw it as a personal challenge to break it, to reshape it, to take it further. These students taught me that sometimes creativity has the same spark as disobedience and mischief. It just needs the right opportunity to ignite.
Congratulations on your 60th birthday. The art exhibition is a great idea and an excellent way to celebrate this milestone and your dedication to creativity in all things.
Emma Abbete, Italy An active participant of our international Teachers’ Climate Change Forum
Dr. Marianne Juntunen, Finland
Very warm congratulations from arctic Lapland for my dear great Professor Maija!
– Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR) collaborators, Finland
Professor Ying-Shao Hsu, Taiwan
Creativity is integrating things to serve a particular goal in innovative ways. Creativity is a way to improve the current status with different solutions so it is important for better life and innovation in industry. Creativity serves a role in learning science as a channel of learning problem solving in flexible and effective ways. I think creativity is different in science and in art because creativity in science is more like problem-solving innovatively but in art is like extending imagination for fun. It is possible to learn creativity by building an atmosphere for expression ideas and presenting a novice solution freely; also, providing possible resources and supports for trying out ideas and solutions.
Professor Jun Wang and her research team, BNU, China
Creativity means imagination, curiosity, fresh ideas, novel connections, turning ideas into reality, solving complex problems and make changes in our life. It is creativity makes our lives better and more colorful. Creativity is the vitality of science (and education). Creativity is the same, whether in science, art or life. In creativity, you concentrate, you try, and you find it in reality, in the way of painting, dancing, or experiments. Creativity is not a subject, all we learn is to open ourselves to the world, keep studying, accept new things and welcome people come and go, get close to the nature, collaborate with others, and done is better than perfect! You future makers are naturally creative. Let your ideas fly！Together we are more! All the best wishes.
Your creativity has been the seam that has created opportunities for youth, families, educators in Finland and throughout the world. Wishing you and the LUMA Centre continued success!
Professor Maija Aksela wishes all possible birthday gifts for the LUMA fund for promoting national and international research-based LUMA activities to support meaninful learning and teaching of future makers -kids and youth for good, sustainable future. LUMA means STEAM in Finnish with A being all subjects/disciplines. You can read about the earlier LUMA work on our recent e-book.
Professori Maija Aksela on valinnut syntymäpäivänsä teemaksi luovuuden ilon. Tiede ja taide tuovat toivoa tulevaisuuteen! Täällä on muutamia onnittelutervehdyksiä ja linkki sivulle. Voit lähettää onnittelutervehdyksen (joku kuva luovuuden ilosta ja tarina) osoitteeseen maija.aksela@helsinki.fi tai galleriasihteeri.soukantaideseura@gmail.com
Professori Maija Aksela toivoo pienemmät ja isommat muistamiset tulevaisuuden tekijöiden -lasten ja nuorten- opiskelun ja opetuksen edistämiseen hyvään, kestävään tulevaisuuteen. Sitä varten Helsingin yliopistolla on tulevaisuuden tekijöille LUMA-rahasto (LUMA LU luonnontieteet, M matematiikka A kaikki oppinaineet/tieteet: All subjects/sciences): Lue tarkemmat ohjeet lahjoittamiseen Helsingin yliopiston sivuilta.
Oivaltamisen ja onnistumisen iloa kaikille! Voit tutustua aiempaan LUMA-työhön e-kirjamme avulla.
Professori Maija Aksela viettää merkkipäiväänsä tieteen ja taiteen luovuuden ilon merkeissä taidenäyttelynsä parissa 25.11-3.12.21. Hänet tavoittaa aukioloaikoina tai voi sopia hänen kanssaan muusta ajasta. Katso tarkemmin taidenäyttelystä Soukan taideseuran sivuilta. Näyttelyssä on myös LUMA-toiminta esillä ja sen yhteydessä on mahdollisuus tutustua tieteen ja taiteen mahdollisuuksiin itse kokeilemalla.
Yhteydenotot: luma-keskus@helsinki.fi tai maija.aksela@helsinki.fi
Maija Akselan kuvallinen miete/runokirjan “Ruusujen aikaa” saatavilla kirjoittajalta (mkaksela@gmail.com) suomeksi ja englanniksi. Sisältää Maija Akselan valokuvia ja mietteitä/runoja elämästä. 48 sivua. Kirjaa on saatavilla myös taidenäyttelyssä 25.11 – 3.12. Hinta 10 euroa (päälle mahd. postituskulut).
The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture is organising the Nordic Nord Start Climate Change Competition in autumn 2021. The competition is part of the programme of Finland’s Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2021. Organised in cooperation with the LUMA Centre Finland’s StarT programme, the competition aims to gather children, young people and adults, from early childhood education and care to higher education, to brainstorm concrete means for the fight against climate change.
The Nord StarT competition aims to showcase what kinds of visions Nordic children, young people and young adults have about climate change mitigation and to present examples of how to curb climate change. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in and a growing concern about climate change. In addition, young people are more socially aware and active than they have been in over two decades, and they want concrete action and solution-oriented climate debate.
It is possible to enter the Nord StarT competition with projects or practices where different age groups and educational levels are working together. Schools, groups, clubs or any other set of children, young people or adults can enter the competition with a good learning practice or project where children and young people show how to fight the climate change. Teachers, instructors and educators play an important role in the creation of teaching practices. Nord StarT aims to strengthen cooperation and the sense of community among the Nordic countries, to develop sustainable development pedagogics and to promote curriculum-based activities. The competition is designed for all educational levels from early childhood education and care to higher education.
The competition is already underway, and it is possible to enter projects and practices for the competition until the end of November. The competition will culminate at the Nordic Conference, and the award ceremony will be held on 9 February 2022. Read more about Nord StarT and how to enter the competition on the competition website.
More information and materials
Ulla-Jill Karlsson, Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Education and Culture, tel. +358 295 330 141
The 11th LUMAT Research symposium will be organized on 9-10.6.2021 by LUMAT Science Research Forum. Preceding that, we organize a Summer school on 8th of June. Both events will be organized online.
The theme of this year’s LUMAT Research Symposium is Engaging learners in math and science through modern technologies. How to get the students more involved and engaged in maths and science learning in the classrooms?
Welcome to discuss and listen to our keynote presenters as well as researchers in the oral sessions.
Professor Jari Lavonen will introduce us to the topic of engagement in Finnish science classrooms, and Dr. Angela James will give her presentation on the topic of modern technologies in South Africa.
Learn to conduct mixed methods research
This year’s summer school will provide the participants with the possibility to learn on mixed methods research, and on what to take into consideration when writing a scientific paper. We also encourage the participants to present their ongoing research and get feedback on it.
Prof. Dr. Silvija Markic will give us a keynote lecture on using mixed methods in science education research.
To address the challenges of the 21st century skills, there is a need to educate citizens capable of seeing and exploring the interconnections within STEM subjects and between STEM and other areas. It is also important to educate teachers who can support students in becoming STEAM-literate citizens. We need to educate students who understand basic science and mathematics, and in addition to that, who are curious and knowledgeable about how things work (engineering), and how modern technology is affecting our life. In addition, it will be required from tomorrow’s leaders to be able to make connections between fields, such as between STEM and arts (STEAM), STEM and social sciences, STEM and policies.
The STEAM-special issue includes an editorial and three articles that challenge us to rethink STEAM education, reveal the potential of STEAM, and offer ideas for future research.
Articles offer insights on the practical applications of STEAM education
The editorial (Jaana Herranen, Erik Cyrus Fooladi, and Marina Milner-Bolotin) introduces some key notions, discourses, and challenges of STEAM education, as a relatively novel concept and briefly discusses the history of STEAM and its evolution over the last decades. It also problematizes STEAM and its roots through asking a question: What is “A” in STEAM representing?
The second article “Promoting STEAM learning in the early years: ‘Pequeños Científicos’ Program” (Valeria Cabello, Maria Loreto Martinez, Solange Armijo Solis, and Lesly Maldonado) describes and examines a non-formal education program among 3–10-year old children. The article discusses the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities of the program based on the perceptions of the students, teachers, and educators. A number of strengths of the program were identified: the students were engaged in learning processes; holistic perspectives and integration between STEM and ‘A’ were achieved and clear signs were found of increased motivation and interest among the participants. One of the major challenges identified in this program was the handling of young learners’ emotions, frustration and behavior by an all-scientists/artist staff with limited or no pedagogical background in handling such issues.
The third article “Promoting student interest in science: The impact of a science theatre project” (Lydia Schulze Heuling) reports on a science theatre project in a heterogeneous teaching context in a disadvantaged area, and its effects on students’ interest in STEM and their artistic expression. The quantitative analysis presented in the study indicated an increased student interest in the topic of galvanization, and physics and chemistry in general. In addition, the approach resulted in increased student appreciation of artistic practices and positive classroom spirit, knowledge of cultural practices, and student self-confidence.
International climate education event Towards Sustainable Future Together – Forum for Future Makers is organized by The Science Education Centre (a part of national LUMA Centre Finland) and Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR).
The online event combines two of our yearly events which will be held online due to the coronavirus situation: Teachers’ Climate Change Forum’s Summer Camp for teachers (on August 4.-5.) and the Global Challenges Course for students aged 15–19 (on August 3.-4.). On August 4, joint activities will be organized for both the youth and the teachers.
The course for the youth will discuss the role of science in helping to solve issues connected to climate change. In the course, the participants will make a small learning project in teams to develop a solution to a global challenge, with the support of the university’s young scientists and under the guidance of teacher students.
During their virtual conference, teachers will hear about the most recent research on climate change and science education carried out in the University of Helsinki. Based on these, the theme of climate change education will be discussed – How to address climate change and global warming from pedagogically meaningful and diverse perspectives, but also pay attention in different beliefs and attitudes.
The topics are discussed in communal manner and the goal of the events is that the multidisciplinary network built during the event will continue also afterwards to be a forum, where teachers can share their ideas, experiences and skills.
The event is free of charge and open for everyone interested.
How to inspire future factors to study mathematics, science and technology? How to support skilled teachers and prospective teachers in their important work? How to build a good and sustainable future in a community-based and research-based way?
Among other things, these questions will be answered in a new online book describing national and international LUMA science education activities. A total of about one hundred people from the LUMA Center Finland network (11 universities and 13 centers) have participated in the design and production of the book.
High-level expertise is key for a good future. Knowledge of mathematics, science and technology plays a significant role in this. Strengthening competence and encouraging the study these subjects is the goal of science education in the LUMA Center Finland network, and now we want to open it more by publishing a new online book. Science belongs to everyone!
Since 2003, LUMA’s central operations have been systematically developed at the university level in Finland. In 2013, a national LUMA central network was opened by 11 universities to promote an important goal. Network includes 13 active LUMA centers. The collaborative and research-based network has a national mission given by the Ministry of Education and Culture, to which all universities and centers are committed. Together for a good and sustainable future!
Our new book contains five chapters: the first chapter presents the experiences of participants and specialists, the second chapter describes the best solutions and approaches to support future makers for a good and sustainable future, the third chapter opens up international activities and learning community, and the fourth chapter introduces the LUMA network more thoroughly. The last chapter of the book culminates in research-based, collaborative development and research: How are these new solutions and approaches developed? What kind of topics are being researched and developed now and in the future? The network’s activities are based on research and strong interaction with the scientific community and external partners. The National LUMA Advisory Board has an important role to play.
Within the LUMA Network, we believe that the activities and innovations achieved during the past years deserve to be widely available to show the diversity how science education can be addressed in formal, non-formal and informal education to achieve “LUMA literacy” (science/STEM literacy) with joy and amazement.
according to the pupils’ interests. In science clubs, pupils familiarised themselves with the reactions of everyday life, such as the reacting of baking powder and the foaming of egg protein. In addition, children made ice cream in a plastic bag, play dough and plastic from milk.
