The International StarT Gala was held on Tuesday May 23rd, 2017 in which three of the top projects made by children and youths all over the world were awarded. The winning teams came from Indonesia, Lithuania and Finland. The Minister of Education of Finland, Ms. Sanni Grahn-Laasonen, handed the awards.

The winning projects have provided ideas on how to prevent motorcycle accidents and how to sort litter, they have also focused on research about space and weather phenomena. In their evaluation criteria, the StarT jury has focused on innovativeness and creativity as well as work-process being evident on the project videos.

The International LUMA StarT Awards were awarded for the first time. It is supported by LUMA Centre Finland, a collaborative organization that promotes science, mathematics and technology education on all grade levels. Over 800 learning communities from 36 countries have participated in the StarT model of LUMA Centre Finland. The President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, is the official patron of StarT.

“Mastering skills in mathematics, science and technology has become more important than ever. In many fields, these subjects hold the keys to the future. The StarT participants of today are the ones who build humanity’s future tomorrow.” said Minister Grahn-Laasonen.

The top learning communities, the public’s most voted favourites and the most active country were also awarded at the StarT Gala. In addition, the Finnish National Awards were handed.

The gala was part of the programme for the centenary of Finland’s independence in 2017.

The awarded StarTeams

The award for the top StarTeam, International LUMA StarT Award 2017, was awarded to the following teams:

• SOS glove project, Semesta Billingual Boarding School, Bryan Tanamas, Fachry Adam El-Yaqien Mucharam, Sultan Gemilang Kemadi, Indonesia
• Nature and environment project, Šiaurės licėjaus, Lina Kiliauskait’s kindergarten group, Lithuania
• Weather ball project, Veikkola elementary and secondary school, the students of grades 5A + 5B and 7th to 9th graders with the help of Aki Kukkonen, Finland

The public’s most voted projects

In an international public voting in which the International LUMA StarT Award 2017 nominee teams collected likes on YouTube, these teams have been the most popular:

• Well being project about bread, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Supranee Sitthipairojsakul’s group, Thailand.
• Protect & live project, Büyükçekmece Atatürk Anatolian High School, Nilgün Erentay’s and Nejdet Köker’s group, Turkey.

The most active countries

The most active countries out of 36 countries participating in the StarT were Turkey and Lithuania. Turkey and Lithuania have registered the most StarTeam projects.

Awarded learning communities

International LUMA StarT Education Award 2017 were awarded to the top three learning communities, the StarT jury had chosen to award:

• Community outreach, Green group, Khadija Azaitraoui, Morocco
• Collaboration of education and teacher training programme through StarT, MTA-SZTE Science Education Research Group, Faculty of Science and Informatics US, Erzsébet Korom, Hungary
• Collaboration with several different actors; one collaboration partner was Park Tarabya Kindergarten / İstanbul, Kindergarten Satulaiva, Taipalsaari, Kirsi Rehunen, Finland

In the international public voting, in the category of learning communities, the most popular has been Energy Project, Miroslav Anti primary school, Futog, Serbia.

• The comments of the jury can be found here.
• Pictures of the awarded teams for the media can be found here.
• Their learning diaries can be found here.
• The best Finnish teams can be found here.
• The best Finnish practices can be found here.

For additional information, please contact the director of the LUMA Centre Finland and the StarT, Professor Maija Aksela, +358 50 514 1450, or project manager Essi Purhonen. Both of them can be contacted via email info@start.luma.fi.