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Finnish teachers chosen through StarT at Science on Stage festival 2019 – honorable mention to “Kalevala goes science”

Teachers from all around Europe travelled to Portugal last week to share their best educational practices with their European colleagues at the Science on Stage festival 2019. The teachers participating from Finland were chosen through the StarT programme of LUMA Centre Finland. One of the Finnish teacher teams placed among the top best practices of Europe at the festival: the best educational practice “Kalevala goes science” by Johanna Eskelinen and Päivi Mustalampi received the jury’s “highly commended” honorable mention. 

450 European teachers gathered together at the Science on Stage festival 2019 between 31st of October and 3rd of November. Teachers presented over 200 best educational practices related to science, technology and mathematics. From all these 200 best practices the Finnish “Kalevala goes science” ranked among the best in Europe. The best practice was awarded with the “highly commended” honorable mention by the festival jury. Receiving the honorable mention is an impressive achievement, as the festival featured only teachers who had qualified through a selection organised in their country. In Finland, the selection of festival participants was made through StarT during the season of 2018-2019.

 

The best educational practice “Kalevala goes science” was represented by teachers Johanna Eskelinen and Päivi Mustalampi. In the picture they are presenting their work for a full hall on the main stage.

This year the festival was held in Cascais, Portugal, and teachers from 36 countries took part in it. Teijo Koljonen, Counsellor of Education from the Finnish National Agency for Education visited the festival and summarized its nature well:

”Science on Stage 2019 festival provides a variety of inspiring ideas for science projects, the demonstration of different phenomena and collaboration between different subjects for students of all ages. The event also gives teachers the opportunity to make new contacts and plan collaboration with teachers from different countries. I am glad that Finland participated at the festival with great projects again this year!”

Teijo Koljonen, Finnish National Agency for Education
“Kalevala goes science” was among of top best educational practices in Europe. The festival jury awarded the teaching practice with a “highly commended” honorable mention.

Mother tongue teachers joined to represent Finland at the science festival – interdisciplinarity was at the core of Finnish best educational practices 

The best educational practices of the Finnish representatives provided excellent models for the implementation of interdisciplinary teaching. For example, the inquiries carried out in “Kalevala goes science” started off from the Finnish national epic “Kalevala”, the myths of which were broken by the pupils by using science. The audience was amused by the unique research questions such as “Can lingonberries get you pregnant”, and the presentation inspired other teachers to consider collaboration between teachers of mother tongue or literature and science.

“Our project can serve as an opening for collaboration between science teachers and humanists. Many teachers came to tell us afterwards that collaboration between such different subjects has seemed like a difficult task, but that now they have an idea of where to start. We got good feedback for how easily our best practice can be adapted to different countries, and it sounded like it was easy for everyone to come up with a similar literary piece to start working with. ”

Johanna Eskelinen, Mother Tongue and Literature Teacher, Joutsa secondary school

Also another Finnish best practice, “Young people learning statistics” from Keminmaa comprehensive school, represented by Aira Karassaari and Hanna Littow, combined languages and ICT for statistical research. “Young people learning statistics” was also awarded with the “International LUMA StarT Education Award 2019” the StarT Gala 2019. Aira commented on the festival as follows:

“A tremendously inspiring event! So many like-minded people and new ideas. This festival is full of ideas, from which everyone can develop projects in their own style. It was also great to meet new international colleagues.”

Aira Karassaari, Keminmaa comprehensive school

Watch the video of “Young people learning statistics” here.

Aira Karassaari and Hanna Littow from Keminmaa Keskuskoulu introducing their best educational practice “Young people learning statistics”, in which students conducted research that combined statistics with languages and information and communication technologies.

Early childhood education was represented in the best educational practices of Finnish teachers, too. In the best practice of kindergarten Piilometsä called “Play a role and learn”, children play in different roles whilst carrying out inquiries in the surroundings of the kindergarten.

Watch Piilometsä’s video here.

 

Photo: Kindergarten Piilometsä

Finland was represented also by Kirsti Koski, Hannu Moilanen and Tom Nevanpää from the teacher training of school of the University of Jyväskylä. In their best practice called “Exercise, Well-Being and Measuring Course in Teacher Training School”, high school students explored conductivity, heart rate variability, breathing and acceleration by taking self-measurements. Check out the course here.

Jyväskylän normaalikoulu “Exercise, well-being and measuring course in teacher training school”. In the photo from left to right: Kirsti Koski, Hannu Moilanen ja Tom Nevanpää.
The whole Finnish team. Top row from left to right: Kirsti Koski, Hannu Moilanen, Teijo Koljonen (Opetushallitus), Kalle Vähä-Heikkilä, Tom Nevanpää, Aira Karassaari, Anette Markula. Middle row: Irma Hannula, Anniina Vimpari, Hanna Littow, Kaisu Pöyskö, Johanna Eskelinen ja Päivi Mustalampi. In the bottom row are children from kindergarten Piilometsä.

Networking with European colleagues 

“Networking plays a very important role at these festivals. The personal contacts created at the festivals are crucial, as they enable international collaboration between teachers. ”

Irma Hannula, Science on Stage Finland

The main purpose of the festival was to bring teachers together to share their good ideas and to create new things together. Finnish representatives were able to network with their European counterparts at the festivals, and much interest was shown towards their best practices.

Teacher collaboration is promoted in SonS also with a category called “Joint Projects”, where teachers from different countries can collaborate on joint projects. One of the Finnish representatives, Kalle Vähä-Heikkilä, was chosen to the festival through this selection. At the festival, Kalle presented a good teaching practice called “Physical properties of snow” in collaboration with his project partner, Iveta Štefancínová from Slovakia.

Kalle Vähä-Heikkilä from Finland and Iveta Štefancínová from Slovakia presenting their good teaching practice “Physical properties of snow”.

More information

Teacher showcasing his best practice at Science on Stage Europe

Developing skills for the future: Science on Stage Festival 2019

At the European Science on Stage Festival 2019, 450 teachers will be working together to shape the science education of the future. The best teachers from Finland will also be present with their best practices.

Whether it is digitalisation, globalisation or climate change: today’s children and young people will face enormous challenges in the future. One of the tasks of STEM teachers (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is to prepare them for these challenges. At the 11th European Science on Stage festival 2019, hosted by Science on Stage Portugal in cooperation with Science on Stage Europe, the participating teachers will be equipped with the right tools to do so.

The three-day educational festival will take place from 31 October to 3 November in the Portuguese city of Cascais. Following the motto “Skills for the Future”, 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 mathematical card tricks, to building an eco-friendly battery and programming a pet simulator, there will once again be a variety of practical teaching ideas from teachers for teachers.

Particularly outstanding projects will receive the European STEM Teacher Awards at the festival 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. They encourage them across national borders to consider a career in science, IT or engineering. 

This year’s festival is under the patronage of Mr Tibor Navracsics, Member of the European Commission, and is endorsed by the Portuguese Ministry of Education.

© Science on Stage

 

Educational experts from Finland will attend with their best educational practice

Finland will take part at the Science on Stage festival 2019 with four teachers. The participants qualified for the national delegation by passing a preliminary selection process last year. The selection was part of the StarT 2018-2019 program. 

With exceptional ideas like combining statistics and language studies the teachers convinced the jury of the Finnish Science on Stage festival. Now they head for the international Science on Stage festival to inspire and enthuse colleagues from all across Europe with their teaching ideas.

Finland will be represented by:

 

The most important for the press:

Science on Stage Festival 2019
Date: 31 October to 03 November 2019
Opening Ceremony: Thursday, 31 October, 5 p.m
Open Day for the public: Saturday, 2 November 10 a.m. to 5 p.m
Venue: Estoril Congress Center, AvenidaAmaral, 2765-192 Estoril, Portugal

For media representatives: Please register at press@science-on-stage.eu or by telephone on 030 400067-42.

Notes for the Media:

 

About Science on Stage Europe:

Science on Stage Europe brings together science teachers from across Europe to exchange best practice and teaching ideas and concepts with passionate colleagues from over 30 countries. Science on Stage Europe believes that the best way to improve science teaching and to encourage more schoolchildren to consider a career in science or engineering is to motivate and inform their teachers. The non-profit organisation was founded in 2000 and reaches 100,000 teachers Europe-wide.

Teachers from 30 countries come together every two years to exchange best-practice ideas. The Science on Stage festival is an educational fair that has in the past been hosted in Debrecen, London and Copenhagen.

The main supporter of the network Science on Stage is the Federation of German Employers’ Associations in the Metal and Electrical Engineering Industries (GESAMTMETALL) with its initiative think ING.

 

Science on Stage Finland

Science on Stage Finland spreads and promotes the best practice examples presented at the European festivals in Finland, through StarT programme. Every two years, Science on Stage Finland organizes, within the StarT programme, a national selection process for teachers to be chosen as Finnish participants for the European Science on Stage festival.

More information about representatives of Finland

M. Sc. Outi Haatainen, Project manager

Anette Markula, International project manager

info@start.luma.fi 

 

CONTACT

Science on Stage Europe e.V.
Laila Oudray
Public Relations
Am Borsigturm 15
13507 Berlin
Phone +49 30 400067-42
press@science-on-stage.eu
www.science-on-stage.eu

StarT partner country delegates getting awards

LUMA Centre Finland is looking for StarT partner countries!

The internationally awarded StarT competition is organized annually by LUMA Centre Finland, a network of Finnish science and technology universities. Everyone from around the world is welcome to participate in StarT (register here for StarT 2019-20) to get support for carrying out interdisciplinary project-based learning and to share their science, technology and mathematics related best educational practices and students’ projects. However, in a few countries StarT is organized on a national level. These countries are our partner countries and they have a national StarT office that supports the participants locally in their country. In our partner countries the participants register and report their work directly to their national StarT office that organizes the selection of the national best projects and best practices for the international competition.

In StarT 2019-20 our confirmed partner countries are:

  • China
  • Jordan
  • Turkey

Would you like to organize StarT in your country? 

So far we have had participants in StarT from over 40 countries. We are always on the lookout for new partners from countries where there is no national StarT office yet, so if you would be interested in organizing StarT activities in your country, do not hesitate to get in touch with us at info@start.luma.fi!

In our partner countries the local StarT office does the practical arrangements and dissemination of StarT. As a result, the participants can have local support in their native language and local StarT events, such as StarT Festivals. We will provide you with the materials that you can translate, and the framework and schedule for the process.

What does a national StarT office do? 

Everyone wanting to participate in StarT from our partner countries reports their work and registers to their national StarT office, and a national StarT jury established by the national StarT office decides the best national project teams and best educational practices that will participate in the international StarT competition. Last year the LUMA Centre Finland awarded the winners of the main prizes of the international competition with a trip to Finland to receive their awards at the annual StarT gala.

As a national StarT office you can also organize a national StarT Festival in your country, where teachers and students get to present their projects and best practices with each other. In 2018-19, Estonia, China, Jordan and Turkey organized their own national StarT Festivals. In Finland the local LUMA Centres organized 10 regional StarT festivals in 2018-19. You can read below the comment of the representative of StarT Turkey, Nilgün Erentay, about the Turkish StarT Festival: 

“There were many… many students and teachers coming from very far distances by buses with huge parcels, thousands of materials in the early morning of the 27th April, Saturday. There were also parents and public from İstanbul visiting the stands all day long. There were even middle school students coming on their own from far towns in order to set up their stands and make their presentations.


During the certificate ceremony in the afternoon, the hall was so crowded with students and teachers that many people had to stand. We realised 30 workshops, educational presentations and science shows in the classrooms during the festival. There were also many science shows at the stands in the garden. There were 65 project exhibition stands from several schools across Turkey.


We received the thanking letters from teachers afterwards. They point out the fact that the students need such opportunities to expose their efforts.”

About StarT

The delegation of StarT Jordan handed a certificate of appreciation for the Director of LUMA Centre Finland, Prof. Maija Aksela for the fruitful collaboration between the Jordanian Innovation for Creativity Development Association and LUMA Centre through StarT. Photo from the LUMAT Symposium 2019 in Jyväskylä.

If you got interested, contact us at info@start.luma.fi for more information!

The Lithuanian "Health Week" project team receiving their award from the Chair of the LUMA Cantre Finland, prof. Jan Lundell.

The winners of the international awards of StarT 2019: China, Lithuania, Jordan, Portugal and Finland

The International LUMA StarT Gala took place on the 6th of June 2019. 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 and Finland.  The Director of LUMA Centre Finland, Prof. Maija Aksela and the Chair of the Board of LUMA Centre Finland, Prof. Jan Lundell, handed awards at the gala. Read more about StarT here.

In the winning projects students created e.g. a flash flood alert system, researched the question “When do children feel healthy and happy?” and created a drone from a scratch to enhance its design and function. The winning best educational practices showed how to make use of childrens’ questions through an interdisciplinary approach and how to combine the teaching of statistics, ICT and languages into one project. When assessing the projects, the StarT jury has focused on innovativeness, interdisciplinarity, collaboration and creativity.

The International LUMA StarT Awards were awarded for the third 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 2018-19, 900 learning communities, 2300 teachers and 25 600 children and youngsters have participated in the StarT programme. For the competition we received this year 640 projects and 250 best practices from 17 different countries.

“StarT projects are a terrific way to learn skills and abilities of the future world. To plan, to design, to achieve and to evaluate the outcome of a StarT project is a way to learn to tackle global challenges for a better and more prosperous world. It is the StarT of a curious mind needed to create clever solutions.”, Prof. Lundell, the Chair of the Board of LUMA Centre Finland commented.

The public’s most voted favourite projects and best practices and the most active country of StarT 2018-19 were also awarded at the StarT gala. In addition, the Finnish National StarT Awards were handed.

Winners of the International LUMA StarT Award 2019

Best projects by students, in alphabetical order:

  • “Flash Flood Predictor”, students Omar Shishani, Omar Abu Salem and teacher Omar Shaheen. Zarqa University Schools and KG, Jordan
  • “Health week project”, students Anele Ganusauskaite, Sofija Ganusauskaite, Simas Kudarauskas, Paulius Kvedaras, Izabele Trotaite, Arune Navickaite, Gerda Sezenytre, Saule Kasparaviciute, Dziugas Siautkulis, Jokubas Garlauskas, Elze Bartkeviciute, Liepa Morkunaite, Kostas Korsakovas, Akmeja Tilvikaite and teacher Rasa Jurgeleviciene. Šiaurės Licėjus, Lithuania
  • “Reinventing the drone”, students Vilhelm Toivonen, Arimo Gustafsson, Niilo Viheriäranta, Aapo Leppänen and teachers Johanna Halme, Jari Latva-Teikari and Kaarina Ojasti. Tampereen lyseon lukio, Finland

Winners of the International LUMA StarT Education Award 2019

Best educational practices by teachers, in alphabetical order:

Public’s favourites

Public’s favourite project 2019:

  • “ASPAR T-2”, students Talha Talip AÇIKGÖZ, Alperen KAHRAMAN and teachers Ertuğrul ÖZAR  and Cüneyt AKYOL. Niğde Akşemseddin Bilim ve Sanat Merkezi, Turkey

Public’s favourite best practice 2019:

  • “Theatre for science”, teachers Fouad El Haski, Hachim Mortaqi, Rachid Wahabi. GD-GSR (gestion déléguée du groupe scolaire la Résidence), Morocco

The most active country 2019

  • The People’s Republic of China. The most active country out of the 20 countries participating in StarT was China with its highest number of participants in StarT 2018-19.

Additional information

  • The comments of the StarT jury can be found here.
  • The composition of the StarT jury 2019 can be found here
  • Photos of the awarded teams for the media can be found here
  • Photos from the gala can be found here
  • Recording of the gala can be found here
  • See the best of StarT 2018-19 here
  • Read more about StarT here: https://start.luma.fi/en/

StarT 2019–2020: registration is open!

We want to thank everyone who participated in the gala and StarT 2018–2019, and we are already eagerly looking forward to seeing what kind of StarT projects you create next school year! 

Register as a learning community for StarT 2019–2020 here! Read more about registering as a StarT learning community here and see our quick guide for teachers here.

Subscribe to our newsletter here. 

 

Pupils making pussles

Registration to StarT 2019-2020 is now open!

Register now as a StarT learning community and get support, ideas and recognition for carrying out interdisciplinary and collaborative project-based learning!

Click here to register for StarT 2019-2020!

The LUMA Centre Finland would like to invite schools, kindergartens, extracurricular activity groups and families from all around the world to share the joy of learning with us!  In StarT, teachers’ best educational practices and innovative project-work of children and youngsters are shared and celebrated internationally, with awards and publicity. What is more, along the way we offer our participants support for carrying out interdisciplinary project-based learning! Click here to learn more about the support we offer.

In StarT, children and youngsters carry out interdisciplinary projects related to science, technology or mathematics in groups. The international StarT has two categories:

  1. projects by children and youngsters (3-18 y.o.)
  2. best educational practices by teachers (or other instructors/parents)

The topic of the projects can be anything you can think of, as long as the project has a link to science, technology or mathematics. The StarT project themes for the upcoming year have been chosen to support participants in carrying out projects related to technology, mathematics and natural sciences. What is more, the theme “My LUMA” leaves it entirely up to the participants to choose their project topic. In the assessment the StarT jury will consider the equal representation of all themes among the nominees of the main prizes.

The StarT themes 2019-2021:

  1. Sustainable development (eg. climate change and circular economy)
  2. Mathematics around us (eg. mathematics in art and statistics)
  3. Technology around us (eg. “This works!” a moving device, artificial intelligence and robotics)
  4. My LUMA (topic free of choice)

The StarT projects are reported in the form of short videos and learning diaries at the latest in February 2020 (see the more precise schedule here). Teachers’ best educational practices are also reported as short videos and as written descriptions that serve as a “recipe” for other teachers to implement their best practice.

The project and best practice videos are shared globally through the international public voting on Youtube. The international StarT jury will decide in spring 2020 which projects and best practices will be awarded with the honoured International LUMA StarT Awards (projects) and International LUMA StarT Education Awards (best practices). In 2017, 2018 and 2019 the main prize included a trip to Finland. The grand finale of StarT is annually the International LUMA StarT Gala, where awards are given to the most distinguished teams.

Learning communities participating in StarT are also encouraged to organize StarT Days, which are events where the students and teachers share their work with their local community. StarT Festivals are bigger events, where the work of young people and teachers is shared and celebrated on a regional or national level.

The primary objective of StarT is to implement a new, interdisciplinary and collaborative StarT way of working and thinking to schools, based on research and in accordance to the newest core curriculum of Finland. The StarT process is easy to fit in your own plans and tailor suitable for you, and it is aimed for all levels of education from all around the world. In StarT, every child is a star through teamwork – welcome along!

Subscribe to the StarT newsletter here
Register as a StarT learning community here

Read our quick guide to StarT for teachers here

Nominees 2019: See the final twenty contestants of the International LUMA StarT Awards!

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 2018‒2019. 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!

The International LUMA StarT Awards will be awarded for the third time at the University of Jyväskylä on the 6th of June 2019. 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, we received altogether 640 projects and 250 best practices from ca 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 two favourites.

The nominees for the International LUMA StarT Awards 2019

The StarT jury has now made their decision on the International LUMA StarT Award nominees out of the projects and best practices that made it to the international public voting. StarT has two award categories: 1) International LUMA StarT Award, which is given for the top three projects by children and youngsters 2) International LUMA StarT Education Award, which is given for the top three best educational practices by teachers. The StarT jury has chosen ten nominees for both of the award categories, and the final winners of the awards will be chosen from the nominees by the honorary StarT jury. The members of the international honorary StarT jury are this year:

  • Chair: Prof. Maija Aksela, Director of the LUMA Centre Finland
  • Dr. Jun Wang, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Psychology from Beijing Normal University in China
  • Dr. Angela James, Senior Lecturer in Science Education from the University of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa.
  • Secretary: Anette Markula, International Project Manager of StarT

As such, the nominee videos are the international top twenty videos reported to StarT 2018-2019, and they convey exemplary science, technology and mathematics related 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 pedagogical innovations created across the world, and make use of the inspirational ideas and exciting methods for carrying out project-based learning.


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

“Grow your own food! Dare to try it (even in the moon)! – a 3th and 4th grades approach to STEM”, 3rd and 4th grades – EB1/JI de São Bartolomeu de Regatos (Anabela Santos), Portugal

“Legend Towers” , Bahçeşehir Preschool (Macide IŞIK, Emine Medine BOZ, Sinem ERENER ÜNAL, Kevser GÜNEYLİ, Yasemin Güzin KOCA), Turkey

“Math in Our Life”, Arar the Pioneer – Arar Academy schools (Ghazal Qawasmeh, Bara’ Sarhan, Lamar Obeidat, Yousef Abed, Khalid Fayyad, Wafa’ Moh’d Bader Sa’d Batieneh), Jordan

“Physics Day in Amusement Park”, Irbid Preparatory Girls School (Smar Hasan Murshid Nazzal, Sawsan Faeq Sabbah, Yara Jamal Subhi, Khalid Mustafa Ghaben), Jordan

“STEAM-approach in education using augmented reality technology: “AR – travel around the towers””, Secondary School №8 (Olena Kovalova, Oksana Galusinskaja, Olena Shapovalova, Inna Derevianko, Olga Batkilina, Svitlana Grytsai, Viktoriia Kalinina), Ukraine

“Stem & Younger in Clima Action”, (Erviola Konomi), Albania

“The Great Starry Sky”, Wanhong Primary School League,(Minyan Lu, Guifen Qian, Jie Chen, Jinxiang Liu, Xufeng Sun, Naihua Wei), China

“The Way of A Silk’s Artistic Life”, Dongzhu Experimental Primary School of Suzhou (Lu Xiaojia, Gu Weiyi, Jiang Huiping Xiaorong, Yang Xiaoxian, Zhang Lei), China

“Theatre for science”, GD-GSR (gestion déléguée du groupe scolaire la Résidence) (Fouad El Haski, Hachim Mortaqi, Rachid Wahabi ), Morocco

“Young people learning statistics”, Keminmaan keskuskoulu (Aira Karassaari, Hanna Littow),Finland


The International LUMA StarT Award Nominees (project nominees):

“ASPAR T-2”, Niğde Akşemseddin Bilim ve Sanat Merkezi (Talha Talip AÇIKGÖZ, Alperen KAHRAMAN), Turkey

“Caring for pets- intelligent feeding appliance driven by web of things”, Suzhou Jinchang Foreign Language Experimental School (Yilin Wang, Shiwen Min, Yuxuan Lu, Zejun Zhou, Zhaojun Xie, Yuxuan Ou’yang), China

“Flash Flood Predictor”, Zarqa University Schools and KG (Omar Shishani, Omar Abu Salem, Omar Shaheen), Jordan

“From the acorn to the oak”, Rokiskis Senamiestis Progymnasium (Afanasjeva Austeja, Bunevicius Augustas, Saccani Matteo, Sapagova Samanta, Semenas Kajus, Truksnyte Urte, Vasiliauskaite Emilija, Vasiliauskaite Fausta, Vasiliauskaite Kamile, Zavarskyte Karina), Lithuania

“Health week project”, ŠIAURĖS LICĖJUS (Anele Ganusauskaite, Sofija Ganusauskaite, Simas Kudarauskas, Paulius Kvedaras, Izabele Trotaite, Arune Navickaite, Gerda Sezenytre, Saule Kasparaviciute, Dziugas Siautkulis, Jokubas Garlauskas, Elze Bartkeviciute, Liepa Morkunaite, Kostas Korsakovas, Akmeja Tilvikaite), Lithuania

“Mind Controlled Car”, FISTA (Manu Kiiskilä, Sampo Lassila, Iiro Pekkarinen), Finland

“Planting By Using Artificial Lighting with Different Wavelengths”, The Shiny Light (Sondos Al-Mhesn, Haneen Al-Masalek, Dania Al-Qasire, Adan Al-Badnde), Jordan

“Reinventing the drone”, Tampereen lyseon lukio (Vilhelm Toivonen, Arimo Gustafsson, Niilo Viheriäranta, Aapo Leppänen), Finland

“Water for Life”, Blue World (Raihan Ahmad Shahab, Raisya Amira Maher, Aldebran Daffa Yudha Cahyadi , Bintang Rifqi Maulana DS, Aleena Rahma Shahab), Indonesia

“Waterx”, Green Group (Ayoub Dadani, Nouamane Ait Daoud, Khalil Admi, Aberrahmane Driouch, Houssam Azzouz), Morocco

Welcome to the International LUMA StarT Gala on the 6th of June in Jyväskylä, Finland!

The final six winners of the International LUMA StarT Awards will be awarded with a trip to Finland to receive their awards and diplomas at the international LUMA StarT gala. The gala is the grand final of both the national and international StarT every year. This year the gala will take place at the University of Jyväskylä on the 6th of June 2019, as a part of the international LUMAT Symposium and the national LUMA Days. 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. Register to the symposium and the gala here until the 26th of May. Watch the gala livestream here.

Remember: registering as a learning community for the StarT 2019–2020 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 2019–2020 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!

Pupils working on their “ASPAR T-2” project

The favourites of the public 2019 have been chosen!

The international public voting of StarT 2019 was ongoing on our Youtube channel from the 18th of March until the 7th of April 2019. During this time everyone could share the videos and give likes for their favourites. Based on the number of likes and times the videos have been viewed, we are proud to announce that the favourites of the public 2019 are…

  • The project “ASPAR T-2” by Turkish students from Merkez, Turkey! Congratulations to the students Talha Talip AÇIKGÖZ and Alperen KAHRAMAN from Niğde Akşemseddin Bilim ve Sanat Merkezi! Congratulations also to the supervisors of the project, Ertuğrul ÖZAR and Cüneyt AKYOL! Watch their video below:
  • The best practice “Theatre for science” from GD-GSR (gestion déléguée du groupe scolaire la Résidence) learning community form Benguerir! Congratulations to the implementers, Fouad El Haski, Hachim Mortaqi and Rachid Wahabi! Watch their video below:

The “ASPAR T-2” project was carried out by a group of innovative upper secondary school students from Merkez, Turkey. Students Talha Talip and Alperen wanted to improve the design and functionality of wheelchairs, especially for disabled people without for example fingers or hands. This is how the students describe their project:

“The aim of the project is to provide disabled people who cannot control wheelchairs (with no fingers and arms) with the use of wearable technology to control the wheelchairs without needing help from anyone else. At the same time, we aimed to enable people with disabilities to move without needing others in the face of wheelchairs, door sills, ramps and pavements in public transport. In this context, using the wearable technologies, it is ensured that the wheelchair is controlled with sensors that detect arm movement. While doing all this, the interdisciplinary approach in the fields of software, design, mechatronics, robotics and science has been focused. In the process, ideas were gathered from various experts and non-governmental organizations.”

“ Theatre for science” is a best practice in which students take humankind to court for causing climate change. The events in the courtroom are displayed in the form of a play, and the students have prepared for the play by exploring the “scientific debate on the controversy of global warming and water depletion” and creating arguments based on scientific evidence. Watch their video to learn more about this inspiring way to approach climate change and scientific debate in classrooms! The teachers have also shared a report describing their best practice which you can access here.

Also the rest of the videos gained an admirable number of views and likes, and we at StarT are really happy to see that the public voting is serving its’ purpose: sharing the discoveries and innovations created by both young people and passionate educators around the world! 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!

The winners of the LUMA StarT Awards will be published in the International LUMA StarT Gala 2019

Next step in the StarT 2018–2019 is the announcement of the twenty nominees that continue on to compete for the main prizes of StarT. The StarT jury consisting of several people is now busy making their decision on the nominees, and they’ll consider your votes when making this decision. On the 16th of April 2019, we will announce the 10 best project nominees and 10 best educational practice nominees. From these 20 nominees, the honorary StarT jury will make the final decision as to who will receive the awards of the international StarT 2018–2019.

As such, please note that even though being named as the public’s favourite or a nominee is an incredible achievement and truly something to be proud of, it does not mean that the group has won the grand prize (the International LUMA StarT Award or Education Award). The International LUMA StarT Award will be given to three project teams and the International LUMA StarT Education Award for three best practices, and these six groups are the ones that will be winning the trip to Finland to receive their awards in the International LUMA StarT Gala.

The International LUMA StarT Gala is on the 6th of June 2019 in Jyväskylä, Finland. The gala is free of charge and everyone is welcome to participate in it. Unfortunately, we can only cover the travel costs of the six  teams receiving the International LUMA StarT Awards, but everyone can watch the livestream of the gala online. Read more about the gala and find the links to watch it here (the link to the livestream of the gala will be added later). ‘

Also, remember to register as a learning community to the StarT 2019-2020 from May onwards! By registering you will receive additional information and support for carrying out StarT projects in your learning community.

First photo: Theatre for Science

The Finnish Science on Stage representatives have been chosen

This year the selection of Finnish teachers for the European Science on Stage Festival was carried out through StarT – read more below to get to know the Finnish team!

Science on Stage Festival 2019 will be held from 31 October to 3 November 2019 in Cascais, Portugal. Science on Stage (=SonS) festival is the largest European educational fair for STEM teachers, and the biennual festivals gather together around 450 primary and secondary school teachers from 33 countries. Just like in StarT, also in SonS the idea is that teachers get to share their innovative STEM-related educational practices with other teachers. At the festivals the teachers share their work in a fair, workshops and performances. You can read more about SonS here.

The Finnish Science on Stage jury chose the following best practices in a two-phased assessment process to represent Finland in SonS Festival 2019:

Kalevala goes science, Joutsan yhtenäiskoulu

Kalevala goes science turns the national epic of Finland, Kalevala, into a series of science projects. The teachers thought that literature always plays a secondary role in interdisciplinary projects, and decided to take the national epic of Finland as the starting point of their science-related inquiries. Their approach produced extraordinary research projects as students researched the scientific basis for the mythical stories of Kalevala. Can you really make an instrument out of the jaw of a pike, and would it actually be possible to live inside an animal’s stomach?

You can watch the best practice video of Kalevala goes science here.

Play a role and learn, Kindergarten Piilometsä

Kindergarten Piilometsä participated with a best practice describing their educational approach that focuses on using inquiry-based approaches in which role play and outdoor learning are central. The children get to know about different topics by role play: if space is the topic of the day, they will naturally build a space station out of snow and act as the astronauts there. An important part of the activities in Piilometsä is also taking learning activities outside to the area surrounding the kindergarten.

You can watch the best practice video of Play a role and learn here. It describes four different projects Piilometsä did with their role play approach.

Young people learning statistics, Keminmaan keskuskoulu

Statistics is everywhere, and it plays a major role in research. It is also a great starting point for an interdisciplinary research project. The teachers at Keminmaan keskuskoulu have worked with their best practice for years and are still excited to see the students’s research projects every year. Their best practice is also easy to carry out in any school, as all the stages of the best practice can be carried out by using Google’s free of cost services. Students create a questionnaire with Forms, do the maths with Sheets, prepare a presentation with Slides and write their report and an article for the local paper with Docs.

Watch the best practice video of Young people learning statistics here.

Exercise, well-being and measuring course in Teacher Trainer school, University of Jyväskylä Teacher Training School

It is so much more interesting to learn about well-being, human biology and conductivity when you can make measurements from your own body! Keeping this thought in mind, the teachers at the Jyväskylä Teacher Training School created this interdisciplinary course for their upper secondary school students. During the course students measure things from their own bodies with modern sensor technology and their phones, and use the data to learn more about the studied phenomena.

The video of Exercise, well-being and measuring course in Teacher Trainer school is not available as the best practice did not proceed to the selection of the StarT nominees 2019.

The Finnish SonS jury

The Finnish SonS jury consisted of the following people:

  • Prof. Maija Aksela, Director of the LUMA Centre Finland
  • Outi Haatainen, PhD Candidate, National StarT Project Manager, LUMA Centre Finland
  • Irma Hannula, PhD, member of the Finnish national SonS Committee
  • Teijo Koljonen, Counsellor of Education, Finnish National Board of Education, member of the Finnish national SonS Committee
  • Anette Markula, International StarT Project Manager, LUMA Centre Finland
  • Kalle Vähä-Heikkilä, teacher at the Lauttakylä upper secondary school, Finnish SonS representative 2017

Congratulations for the winners and thank you to everyone who participated in the selection from Finland by sharing their best educational practice with us in English!

Photo credits: Young people learning statistics

The StarT public voting 18.3.–7.4. – get inspired by the innovative projects and best practices by students and teachers from around the world!

The LUMA Centre Finland invites everyone to take part in the public voting of StarT. Videos of the projects and best practices of StarT 2018-19 have now been released on our Youtube channel. Have a look, get inspired and vote for your favourites!

The StarT programme was launched in 2016 by the LUMA Centre Finland and their collaborators to support the implementation of interdisciplinary project-based learning in accordance to the newest national core curriculum of Finland. StarT is aimed for learning communities ranging from early childhood education to upper secondary schools.

StarT is exceptional as everyone learns together as a learning community by carrying out phenomenon-based and cross-curricular projects. The main goal of StarT is to strengthen the interest of children and youngsters towards mathematics, science and technology. Furthermore, in StarT different learning communities share their best educational practices.

The long-term goal of StarT is to establish the collaborative StarT model into the annual activities of schools and other learning communities. The StarT teams consisting of children and youngsters from kindergartens, schools, extracurricular groups and homes share the joy of learning in the national and international StarT community, which consisted of nearly 600 learning communities from 30 different countries in 2018-2019.

We have now published videos of the StarT projects and best practices that the learning communities have produced on our Youtube channel. The videos celebrate the joy of learning and share the excitement of students’ discoveries!

The goal of the public voting is to share joy and ideas but also to make it possible for everyone to participate. Everyone can vote simply by giving a like for their favourite project or best practice video on Youtube by the 7th of April!

Have a look at the videos, get inspired and vote for your favourite by the 7th of April!

Voting pays off as your likes will be considered when the nominees for the International LUMA StarT Awards 2019 are chosen by the StarT jury. The winners of the public voting will also be awarded with a diploma at the international StarT gala. The international StarT gala is the grand final of StarT every year, and this year it will take place in Jyväskylä on the 6th of June 2019 as a part of the international LUMAT symposium.

Direct links to the public voting:

International best practices

International projects

Finnish best practices (in Finnish)

Finnish projects (in Finnish)

The photo of the article: the winners of the international public voting in the projects category in 2017-18, GFL WASTE BUSTERS S.O.S Project. Watch their project video here

StarT LUMA getting the Global Best 2018 Award

StarT receives an international STEM education award

We are proud to announce that the StarT programme has been awarded in an international competition that seeks best practices for education and working life collaboration!  

StarT is a science education programme by the LUMA Centre Finland and it has now been granted the Global Best Awards 2018 as Europe’s best programme bridging the gap between working life and STEM education at schools. Director of the LUMA Centre Finland prof. Maija Aksela, StarT international project manager Anette Markula, Chair of the board prof. Jan Lundell and StarT national project manager Outi Haatainen (from left to right in the photo above) travelled to Houston, Texas to receive the awards at the International Partnership Network (IPN) conference in Houston, Texas.

The Global Best Awards 2018 winners were chosen around the world in six categories, and StarT was awarded as Europe’s best in the STEM (”Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics”) category. The award was also granted to the Norwegian “Girls and Technology” project. The criteria for the award was that the winner engages young people to STEM related careers and improves their employability in these fields.

StarT is an international and collaborative education initiative in which everyone learns together through interdisciplinary project-based learning. StarT supports children and youngsters and teachers with their science, technology and mathematics projects on all levels of education internationally.

The Director of the LUMA Centre Finland, professor Maija Aksela from the University of Helsinki considers the prize as a remarkable recognition for Finnish science education.

– This international award is a fantastic recognition for the LUMA Centre Finland – a network of 11 universities – for our collaborative and international operational culture. In our initiatives the newest findings from research are creatively transformed into initiatives that benefit children and youngsters, the stars of the future. In StarT we learn from each other through different cultures and create together a better world, Aksela says.

LUMA Centre Finland launched the StarT programme together with their partners in honour of Finland’s centenary in 2016 with the President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö as the official patron of the programme. Annually over 50 cooperation partners of LUMA Centre Finland have contributed to the programme. The signing up for this year’s StarT is now open on StarT’s webpage. Since 2016 the StarT participants have been from over 40 countries around the world.

We want to thank all our collaboration partners and participants! 

More photos from the conference

Contact details for StarT team

The representatives from LUMA Centre Finland receiving the award in the Houston Space Centre. In the photo from left to right: astronaut Bill McArthur, Jan Lundell, Outi Haatainen, Johnson Space Center’s former director George Abbey, Maija Aksela, Anette Markula and the chair of the IPN2018 conference Bruce Van Dyk.

Join us in carrying out exciting projects and sharing the joy of learning! Participate in StarT 2018-19! 

Have you checked out our online courses on project-based learning yet? Participate here!