StarT is a programme organised by LUMA Centre Finland centered on interdisciplinary and phenomenon-based projects, best educational practices and the joy of learning together.

Everyone can participate in StarT: schools, kindergartens, hobby groups, families, experts, organizations, students and businesses. You can find something for everyone in StarT’s diverse activities. Learn more about the possibilities of StarT here.

As of 2016 we have had StarT-participants from over 50 countries. In the previous season 580 project work and 300 educational practices from 27 countries were shared through StarT. The joy of learning and educational practices were shared by 850 learning communities, more than 4 000 teachers and 41 700 children and young people. Check out the best projects as well as the best educational practices from last season!

The Start Gala was held in June 2020 as a virtual one. In the gala well earned awards were handed out to the most successful project teams and teachers. You can watch the gala here.

StarT’s international community offers support and ideas including a material bank full of fantastic projects and practices from previous seasons and online training led by experts at the university to support the implementation of project learning… And then our flagship, an international competition, to which you can participate.

You can participate in the international StarT competition by describing the projects and/or the best practices of your learning community through our online form. The online form will be open for reporting your StarT projects and/or best practices until the 14th of February 2021.

We are also looking for partners to strengthen the StarT community in different countries. As a partner, you represent your own country in international StarT. Interested? You can learn more about the topic here.

The International LUMA StarT Gala took place on the 4th of June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak the gala was held as a live broadcast. The LUMA Centre Finland awards annually three internationally most distinguished science, technology and mathematics related projects by children and youngsters, and three teachers’ best educational practices at the StarT gala. This year the winners came from China, Jordan, Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland and Finland. Read more about StarT here.

The International LUMA StarT Awards were awarded for the fourth time this year. The internationally awarded StarT programme has been organized by the LUMA Centre Finland, a network of Finnish science, technology and mathematics universities, since 2016. So far we have had participants from over 40 countries. In 2019-2020, over 850 learning communities, 4000  teachers and 41 700 children and youngsters have participated in the StarT programme. For the competition we received this year over 580 projects and 300 best practices from 27 different countries.

Indeed, a very interesting and inspiring task; if every task in our working life was this inspiring

Dr. Erik Fooladi, member of the Honorary StarT jury

 

In the winning projects students created e.g. a solar-powered charging station for electric cars and raised awareness in their hometown about the local pollution problem.  The winning best educational practices showed how cooperation between kindergarten and University of Applied Sciences can benefit both sides. When assessing the projects and best practices, the StarT jury has focused on innovativeness, interdisciplinarity, collaboration and creativity.

I am so blown away by the extensive, exciting and relevant work that the learners are engaged with. Oh my, I really loved working with this…. What a beautiful, learning experience…. It just shows what our children can do, given the opportunity. 

Dr. Angela James, member of the Honorary StarT jury

The public’s most voted favourite projects of StarT 2019-2020 were also awarded at the StarT gala. In addition, the Finnish National StarT Awards were handed.

Winners of the International LUMA StarT Award 2020

Best projects by students

• “An Action Plan to Save the Moldy Books in Yunhai School Library”, Yantian Yunhai School, China
• “Alternative Solar Energy”, Primarschule Atelier Zwillikon, Switzerland
• “EcoBiesel”, Agrupamento de Escolas de Alcanena, Portugal

Best practices by teachers

• “Air, Water & Land Pollution”, Children of Sarajevo – Kindergarten “Dunje”, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• “Ihmeellinen ihminen – opitaan yhdessä yhteistyö”, Esiopetus Taipalsaari Kirkonkylän koulu ja LAB ammattikorkeakoulu,  Finland
• “Integration of Engineering Design in Teaching STEM“, Al Omareyah School, Jordan

Public’s favorites 2020

• “A robot that mimics the teacher’s function” also known as PIP.01, Alyadodah Secondary School For Boys, Jordan
• “Improvement of Collection and Processing of Polymeric Wastes in Cities”, Lyceum 4, Ukraine
• “Chess is a Magic Game”,  School 9, Ukraine

Registration for StarT 2020-2021 is now open!

The International LUMA StarT Award nominees have been chosen ‒ get inspired by the top-quality science, technology and mathematics projects and educational practices from all around the world!

The LUMA Centre Finland is proud to share the top ten best educational practices and projects carried out in learning communities across the world in 2019‒2020. The videos of these twenty nominees introduce educational practices worth noting and present inspiring ideas for carrying out interdisciplinary project-based learning in schools and kindergartens. Have a look and let the videos of the top contestants of StarT inspire you!

You could see the effort teachers had put in to the projects and to the best practices. It was also amazing to see the innovations by students that were emerged from everyday life.

A Memember of StarT jury

The best projects and best educational practices will be awarded

The International LUMA StarT Awards will be awarded for the fourth time at StarT Gala on 4th of June. Gala will be organized online this year. 

There are 10 nominees in each group:

1. Projects by student teams

2. Best educational practices by learning communities

In StarT learning communities from all around the world share their interdisciplinary science, technology or mathematics related projects and educational practices with us, and we at StarT share them with the rest of the world. This year over 600 learning communities shared their  projects and practices from ca 40 countries.  The StarT jury has now decided the final 20 contestants continuing to compete for the International LUMA StarT Awards. 

We got to see amazing and well executed projects and best practices. There were a lot of amazing projects and practices that would have deserved to get among the nominees. Therefore the task was not easy to the StarT jury.

A member of StarT jury

The International LUMA StarT Education Award nominees 2020 (best practice nominees):

1. “Air, Water & Land Pollution”, Children of Sarajevo – Kindergarten “Dunje”, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2. “Ihmeellinen ihminen – opitaan yhdessä yhteistyö”, Esiopetus Taipalsaari Kirkonkylän koulu ja LAB ammattikorkeakoulu,  Finland
3. “Where will we use it”, NUN Schools Istanbul, Turkey
4. “Pi & STEM. Famous number Pi, we found it everywhere!”, School: “Zhani Ciko”, Albania
5. “Yhteistyöprojekti Matkalla Marsiin 2020”, Pikkolan koulu, Finland
6. “Beyond the water!” Scientific association “Aghi Magnetici”, Italy
7. “21st Century Child”, Ecole Sidi Abdelkrim, Morocco
8. ” „ECO-FRIENDLY HOUSE WORKSHOP“ ” , Radviliškis Gražina Basic School, Lithuania
9. “A Yangtze Story”,The Yangtze River Cultural Research Community, China
10. “Integration of Engineering Design in Teaching STEM “, Al Omareyah School, Jordan

The International LUMA StarT Education Award 2020 nominee videos

The International LUMA StarT Award nominees 2020 (project nominees):

1. “Vamos salvar o mar!” – “Let´s save the ocean!”, Colégio Valsassina, Portugal
2. “LUMI-SNOW”, Päiväkoti Piilometsä,  Finland
3. “Comparison of water quality of the Chimehuín river with that of nearby puddles with mosquitoes”, Club de Ciencias Huechulafquen, Argentina
4. “EcoBiesel”, Agrupamento de Escolas de Alcanena, Portugal
5. “An Action Plan to Save the Moldy Books in Yunhai School Library”, Yantian Yunhai School, China
6. “Alternative Solar Energy”, Primarschule Atelier Zwillikon, Switzerland
7. “Food Miles and Climate Change”, COLE International Schools / Primary School, Austria
8. “IS 1°C A LOT OR NOT?”, Siaures licejus / Northern lyceum, Lithuania
9. “PIP.01”, Alyadodah Secondary School For Boys, Jordan
10. Clean environment-clean water and healthy food-happy life”, Kindergardner Dječji vrtići Mostar-Mrvica, Bosnia and Herzegovina

The International LUMA StarT Award 2020 nominee videos

Offical recognition of exellence 

Due to the high quality of the projects and practices. The jury wanted to give recognition also to these projects and best practices. First time in StarT history we want to give Offical recognition of exellence to projects and practices. These earn the visibility and this honorable mention.

Projects

1. “SnakeBot”, Tampereen lyseon lukio, Finland
2. “Keyzy”, Shaping Your Future (IMR & I-Form), Ireland
3. “Machine Learning to Detect Forest Fires”, FISTA, Finland
4. “Low Energy House”, Primarschule Atelier Zwillikon, Switzerland
5. “Safety improvement of amusement device in Yi Haicheng-”protective shield” of the swing”, Project-based learning group of “Xing Si” School, China

Best practices

1. LEARNING THROUGH COLLABORATIVE STORYTELLING VIOLET, THE STORY OF A BUTTERFLY, “an ambassador of sustainability”, Colegoi Valsassina, Portugal
2. “Yksilöllinen mobiilioppiminen”, Paraistenseudun koulu, Finland
3. “Interactive means and information technology in the service of inclusive education”, Riad, Morocco

Remember: registering as a learning community for the StarT 2020–2021 starts in May!

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 projects related to science with us! Registering for the StarT 2020–2021 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!

We have published 92 videos of StarT projects by students and best educational practices by teachers on our YouTube channel. From these videos the public has had a opportunity to vote for their favorite. We hope that these projects and practices have inspired you and given you new ideas how to implement projects based learning to your classroom. 

In StarT 2019-2020 there are over 600 learning communities from over 40 countries from all around the world. In the public voting we had 53 projects and 39 practices. All the projects and practices that made it through the preselection to the public voting should be more than proud of themselves! 

The international public voting has ended! Public voting of StarT 2019-2020 was ongoing on our YouTube channel from the 16th of March until the 5th of April 2020. During this time everyone could watch the videos and give likes for their favorites. Based on the number of likes and times the videos have been viewed, we are proud to announce that the favorites of the public 2019-2020!

Public voting is serving its’ purpose: sharing the discoveries and innovations created by both young people and passionate educators around the world!

The favorite projects of the public 2019-2020:

The project Improvement of Collection and Processing of Polymeric Wastes in Cities from Ukraine! On the video you will meet Igor who is an ninth grader. He introduces a device for the compression of polymeric waste. Watch the video of project that has been watched 5000 times on YouTube and has over 2100 likes!

Based on the votes (likes) relative to the number of viewers, we are proud to announce another favorite of the public from Jordan! The project A robot that mimics the teacher’s function also known as PIP.01. In 9 months and after 13 failures the students have created a robot that recognizes more than 60 voice commands, not to mention the exploring mode or voice recognition feature. Impressive! Watch the PIP.01 project video below.

The favorite practice of the public 2019-2020:

Public voted also for the best educational practice. Public voted for Chess is a Magic Game from Ukraine! Who would have guessed that there are so many ways to use the classic game chess! This practice is truly magical. Watch the video below.

Congratulations for the favorites of the public!

Also the rest of the videos gained an admirable number of views and likes! Hopefully the videos have helped you by offering plenty of ideas and inspiration for carrying out project-based learning in your own learning communities! You can still see the rest of the videos on our YouTube channel. 

Click here for teachers’ best practices and here for students’ projects. 

Once more, a big thank you for everyone for sharing your great pedagogical innovations and wonderful projects with us and the rest of the world, and for participating in the international public voting!

Also, remember to register as a learning community to the StarT 2020-2021 from May onwards!

Picture: Chess is magic

You and your students can participate in the international StarT by describing students’ projects and/or the best practice of your learning community. Participate now for a chance to get awards and visibility for your and your students’ innovations! There is already 900 teachers and 400 learning communities from 40 different countries registered in StarT 2019-2020. 

StarT-programme

StarT is a programme that offers support for educators in implementing interdisciplinary and collaborative learning. Project-based learning is a great way to let your students explore interesting phenomena and get exciting real-life experiences of science, technology and mathematics.

1. Projects by children and youngsters
StarT projects are made by student teams (3-19 y.o.). StarT projects give teams of children and youngsters a chance to show their expertise, and to make use of their own interests and creativity. To participate we will ask you to share with us a short video describing the project and a concise learning diary.

2. Best educational practices by learning communities
A teacher (or a parent or other educator) can participate in StarT by themselves or together with their colleagues also by describing a best educational practice. A best practice is an educational practice or a model that the learning community has tried and found useful in implementing interdisciplinary and project-based learning or their StarT projects. The best practices should have a link to science, technology or mathematics.

Report here!

By reporting your work you will participate in the selection of the winners of the main prizes of StarT

The winners of the main prizes International LUMA StarT Award 2020 (three project teams) International LUMA StarT Education Award 2020 (three best practices) will win a trip to Finland to receive their awards at the StarT Gala!

All learning communities that report a project or best practice will receive a diploma of participation.

Please note! The evaluation is based on the information provided through the online form by the deadline (14.2.2020). No information can be added or changed after the deadline, and submissions not meeting the criteria will be ignored.

Instructions for reporting
Rules of the international StarT competition

If any questions related to StarT please contact us via email info@start.luma.fi. 

Join us in sharing the joy of learning by reporting student’s projects or your learning community’s best practice to StarT by the 14th of February 2020! 

Pictures: Saimaan LUMA-keskus
Veera Sinikallio
Outi Haatainen