The International LUMA StarT Award And International LUMA StarT Education Award Nominees Have Been Chosen

The StarT jury has now made their decision on the ten nominees for the International LUMA StarT Award 2022 and the ten nominees for the International LUMA StarT Education Award 2022From these nominees, the honorary StarT jury will choose the winners.

The winners will be published at the International StarT Gala 13th of June. The twenty nominees for the International LUMA StarT Awards were chosen by the StarT jury. The assessment has been carried out according to the assessment criteria. The three project teams receiving the International LUMA StarT Award and the three best practices receiving the International LUMA StarT Education Award will be chosen from these nominees.

In addition, the Public Favorite will be chosen from these nominees in May.

The International LUMA StarT Award 2022 nominees (project nominees):

Estudi de la contaminació atmosfèrica a Martorell by INS Pompeu Fabra, Spain

Urban Farming as alternative adaptation for climate change and source of income for urban community in the pandemic era by Matoa D5, Indonesia

Green Space by Veikkolan yhtenäiskoulu, Finland

Additional Factors In Growth by Lyseonmäen koulu, Finland

Sustainable recycling of contaminated sediment in Yantian River by Yangang Primary school, China

The Exploration of the Secrets of Mangrove Roots — Exploring the Ecological Value of Mangrove Windbreak and Sand Fixation by Shenzhen Yantian Donghe Branch of Foreign Language Primary School, China

Disaster Search and Rescue UAV Project -The Servator, Vinschool Education System, Vietnam

Comparing the ratio of Aluminum migration to the food from different kinds of aluminum foil, ISO Education School, Jordan

Silk threads, Ismailli Secondary School, Azerbaidžan

Just Breath, Terakki Vakfı Özel Şişli Terakki Tepeören Anadolu Lisesi, Turkey

The International LUMA StarT Education Award 2022 nominees (best educational practice nominees):

Music hearing with hearing-impaired friends, Korean teachers for STEAM education, South Korea

Science picnic by “2 x 2” science club, Italy

Learning based on crisis and disaster management skills by Elementary school “bani aouf”, Tunisia

A Model of Organizing Online Experiential Activities for Secondary School Students by Cau Giay Secondary School, Vietnam

The Planetarium by Zarqa University Schools and KGs, Jordan

Golden Time by Liangfeng Primary School Zhangjiagang, China

Bud Green Action – The Aerosol Cultivation System by Wentianxiang Primary school, China

Project of sleep by Pikkolan koulu, Finland

EARTH IS OUR HOME WE AREN’T ALONE by BAHÇEŞEHİR ANAOKULU, Turkey

The Story of Tastes That Remain in an Ever-Changing World “Omniscient Foods” by MAYA ORTAOKULU, Turkey

Congratulations to all nominees! It is a great accomplishment to be chosen amongst the hundreds and hundreds of projects and best practices as a nominee. Amongst these splendid nominees, the honorary StarT jury will be making the decision on the winning teams. The honorary StarT jury consists this year of Prof. Maija Aksela (University of Helsinki, Finland; Head of LUMA Centre Finland), Distinguished Prof. Joseph Krajcik (Michigan State University, USA; Director, CREATE for STEM Institute), and Prof. Marina Milner-Bolotin (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CA; Chair of the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy Graduate Advisory Committee).

The winners will be announced at the annual StarT Gala that will be held at Aalto University, Finland. In the International StarT Gala, the three best educational practices will be awarded the International LUMA StarT Education Award and three projects with the International LUMA StarT Award. The Gala will be held on June 13th at 4 PM.

Public voting

The annual voting on the favourites of the public will be held in May. This year, the voting happens through a questionnaire form and it will be published soon. Stay tuned and vote for your favourites!

The delegates of Finland holding Science on Stage themed cardboard decorations

The Science on Stage Festival 2024 will be held in Turku, Finland!

The Science on Stage Festival is an international fair meant for STEAM teachers. At the festival, the attending teachers and educators share their educational ideas and meet colleagues from all over the world. This year, around 450 teachers from over 30 countries came together at Europe’s largest educational fair for science teachers in Prague, Czech Republic. The general assembly held simultaneously with the festival decided that the next Science on Stage Festival 2024 will be held in Turku, Finland.

The Science on Stage Festival 2024 in Turku, Finland

City of Turku is located in Southern Finland, by the Baltic sea. Turku is the oldest city in Finland and its restaurants offer wonderful opportunities to enjoy the gifts of the pure Finnish nature. Turku Archipelago is also the greatest archipelago of the World. With all these great features, the city enables myriads of experiences in the fields of science education, nature and culture. Read more about the city from Visit Turku website.

At the Festival 2024, teachers of Finland can familiarize their-selves with their European colleagues’ ideas for a better STEM education: 40 teachers and educators from Finland will be given access to the Festival for the all four days. In addition, there will be held an open day when everyone is welcome to the fair and obtain new teaching ideas.

We are very delighted for having a significant event like the Science on Stage Festival in Finland. We can learn from each other with interaction.

Maija Aksela, Director of StarT and the LUMA Centre Finland

The teachers’ teaching ideas and projects are the core of the fair. Furthermore, there will be workshops, experts giving lectures, demonstrations and the possibility to make a city tour at the festival. The Science on Stage organisation founded in 2000 is in charge of the event and it aims at improving science teaching and encouraging more schoolchildren to consider a career in science or engineering. Finland is presented by LUMA Centre Finland in the organisation.

The delegates’ experiences at this years Festival

The 12th European Science on Stage festival was hosted by Elixir do škol with the main support of the Municipality of Prague, the Česká spořitelna foundation and The JABLOTRON foundation, in co-operation with Science on Stage Europe and Science on Stage Czech Republic. It was under the patronage of Mariya Gabriel, Member of the European Commission and was endorsed by the Czech Ministry of Education.

The delegates of Finland at the SonS Festival 2022 had been chosen as a part of the Finnish StarT program. The delegates are teachers and educators from from Forssan kuvataidekoulu, Länsiharjun koulu and Taipalsaaren kirkonkylän koulun esiopetus. The delegates enjoyed the Festival and obtained new teaching ideas for future purposes.

The Festival was interesting and it gave new ideas for my job. The art teacher’s eyes spotted projects that could be utilized while making art.

Teija Lauronen from Forssan kuvataidekoulu

The delegates of Finland presented their innovative teaching concepts in a fair and in workshops. You can read more about them from our earlier post. These were four days full of exciting discussions, great ideas, and wonderful experiences.

The Best Finnish Ideas for a Better STEM Education

From Prague to all of Europe! At the European Science on Stage festival in March 2022, 450 teachers will work together to shape science education of the future. The best teachers who have been selected through the Finnish StarT program will take part. Follow the festival on social media!

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.  

The three-day educational festival will take place from 24th-27th 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. 

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.

The teaching practices from Finland at the festival

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. 

Science on Stage 2022 Festival 24-27 March 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 

More Information

The registration for the International StarT Competition begins in early January 2022!

The year is about to end so it is time to think about wonderful time for learning together: the International StarT Competition 2022 is soon here! Participate in the competition with a good teaching practice or a project that deals with natural sciences, mathematics and/or technology.

The registration for the annual International StarT Competition begins on the 3rd of January 2022 and closes on 1st of March. The theme of the year is My LUMA that refers to natural sciences, mathematics and/or tehchnology and the the interaction and cooperation between these disciplines. The aim is that all projects are interdisciplinary and they have a link to the mentioned disciplines.

My LUMA celebrates the creativity and ideas of children and youth. It highlights the multidisciplinarity of daily life and LUMA (STEM/STEAM) phenomena.

Outi Haatainen, StarT Project Manager

Note to the ones that would have been interested in participating Nord StarT Climate Competition but could not participate: Did you already create a climate change themed project to participate in Nord StarT? No worries! Because the My LUMA theme makes many kinds of projects possible, you can participate with a climate change themed project for example.

Are you participating from one of our partner countries (Albania, Azerbaijan, China, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam)? Note that our partner countries might have their own national selection and therefore all participants should report directly to their national StarT office. You can find the partners’ contact information here.

Read more about the International StarT Competition here. Learn together and share your ideas. The best projects and practices will be rewarded!

The StarT team wishes you all merry Christmas and a happy New Year! We will be back in January.

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

The winners of the international awards of StarT 2018: Jordan, Turkey, Portugal and Finland received awards in the International LUMA StarT Gala 2018

The International LUMA StarT Gala was held on Tuesday June the 5th 2018. Internationally most distinguished science, technology and mathematics projects by young people, and the best educational practices by educators related to the same topics are awarded annually in the StarT gala. This year, the winning teams come from Portugal, Jordan, Turkey and Finland. Congratulations to all the winners! The Director General of the Finnish National Agency for Education, Mr. Olli-Pekka Heinonen, handed the awards. 

The winning projects have provided ideas on how mining accidents could be prevented by programming a safe helmet, and on how students can educate each other on climate change through their own club. One of the winning projects showed how kindergarten children can actively learn about life in Stone Age by creating their own informative and interdisciplinary project. The winning best educational practices showed how to make true real-life connections in secondary school mathematics, how kindergarten children can be real researchers and gave an example of creating a culture of scientific and technological learning in a country. In their evaluation criteria, the StarT jury has focused on innovativeness, interdisciplinarity, collaboration and creativitySee the winning projects and best practices here.

The International LUMA StarT Awards were awarded for the second time this year. The StarT gala is organized annually by LUMA Centre Finland, a network of all Finnish science and technology universities with a common goal of promoting science, mathematics and technology education on all grade levels. In 2017-2018, 500 project teams and 100 best educational practices from 20 different countries have participated in the StarT programme of LUMA Centre Finland.

“The key to success is curiosity, creativity and collaboration. They are needed to conquer the wicked problems of our times. The participants of the Start projects have demonstrated all these characteristics and skills which will benefit them in all areas of life in the future.” Director General for the Finnish National Board of Education, Mr. Olli-Pekka Heinonen

Find the winners below!

International LUMA StarT Award (best projects by students) 

Click the name of the team to watch their video, comments of the StarT jury below.

Baret_Care”, students Halil Ataberk Bakırcı, Ahmet Efe Bakırcı and others, Turkey

“These students developed a smart helmet, that improves the security and quality of life of workers in special conditions, namely, it can be used to measure gas, temperature and humidity in the environment, to alert the worker when the measured values may threaten their health, to determine the geographical location, to send the location to the server of tracking system, to call a predetermined number in an emergency.”

“This is an excellent example of problem-based design thinking and inter-disciplinarity. The approach and product are very innovative and there is evidence of student ownership of the problem, process and solution. The product works well, and the video can be a motivation for students in other schools.”            

“Very well Limited Project with the clear aim. Working product in the end.”

Project diary by the students

EcoChange”, Agrupamento de escolas de Alcanena, students Bárbara Correia, Catarina Naia, Guilherme Santos, José Coutinho and Maria Farinha, Portugal

“Students predicted a number of small steps, involving local community – aiming to a big change in improving the local environment.”  

“The objective of this project was to raise awareness about climate change and the importance of saving energy. Its hard to concretely measure the results of such project, but many inventive methods were used and the youths enthusiasm and their own ideas for advancing the project were present throughout the process. A lot of co-operation was done with groups of children. The exercise on thinking about different characters usage of energy deserves special credit; it was a great idea and definitely interesting and engaging for the children. The learning diary and video were both well-composed and compact and they gave a good impression of what the process was like.”

“Project shows participants enthusiasm and great interest. “Eco club” and providing educational activities for range of learning communities shows desire to spread knowledge and devotion.  Participants are very active and project is more than school or start project its still ongoing, Project diary is visual and video shows variety of activities included in the project.”                                 

“Student-based activation in school and community.”

Project diary by the students

Jump into the life at the Stone Age: Winter” (Hyppy kivikauden elämään: talvi), Day Care Center Piilometsä, Finland

“A very innovative way to approach learning about the nature and environment at the kindergarten level through prehistoric times.”   

“truly integrated project, and kids involved, inspiring”

“Very interesting approach to the history. Activating children to explore Stone Age.”

Project diary by the students

 

International LUMA StarT Education Award (best educational practices of instructors and teachers)

Innovation for Creativity Development Association, Suraaya Ayyad, Jordan

“Broad science fair programme for kids and youth”                   

“Excellent idea to create a culture of scientific and technological learning, research, and innovation amongst children and youth in primary and secondary level. Also I applaude the idea to support the childrens’ and youths capacities of scientific inquiry, and problem solving skills to accomplish unique and original scientific projects which inspire them to become innovative scientists in future.”                     

“Nationwide development project. This is also very important sign for youngsters, that also we as a adults appreciate even small students’ steps in science and make possible for them to have  a stage, where to show fruits of explorations.”

MEF Middle School, Simge Sohtorik, Turkey

An excellent example of the integration of school mathematics and community and social responsibility. The project is entrepreneurial and easily replicated by schools around the world. The students appeared to find the project a motivational, creative and educational way to learn mathematics.“                                                                                                                                

“Mathematics is integrated into real life in an innovative way. The students first have a chance to be creative when making their products related to the mathematical theory, and because they still sell the products they’ve produced at a fair, the calculations of cost and benefit become very realistic for the students. It’s also great that the benefits will be given to charity. This educational practice forms a great whole that engages all the students to actually take use of what they have learnt and to bring it into real life in a long-lasting process with clear aims.”

“The project integrates mathematics, arts and crafts nicely as a project that contains knowledge of mathematics useful for all citizens of society. The project seems to have also some other societal aims.”

“The practice is very innovative i.e. many different aspects of the golden ratio were used. It was truly interdisciplinary combining several school subjects. Involving charity work was a good bonus.”                                                 

“Real life mathematics used to learn social and economic skills – and serving community.”

Preschool group Puuhiset Satulaiva, Kirsi Rehunen, Finland

“Enthusiasm, excellent idea, a network of collaboration (professors, parents, library), involvement on various subject-areas”                    

“Excellent example, how storytelling, fairytales can be used in pre-primary education. This is also showing how the boundaries of different subjects can be faded out very natural way.”                     

“This best practice has wonderfully managed to bring scientific ways of working to a kindergarten through a common theme of a story. The group has made use of parents, real scientists, science fairs, field work, and conducted a lot of different scientific experiments that base on the children’s questions. The children are put in the place of the experts in an innovative way, as they’re encouraged to invent new things and even share their knowledge to help another kindergarten group with their work. The scientific working practices and the impressive and diverse activities that this group has done clearly make it one of the nominees.”

“The project introduces innovative and child-centered way to introduce technology education and an important discussion about the image of scientists for pre-schoolers. This kind of discussions can have a positive effect on children’s interest on science.”

The public’s favourites  (read more here) and the most active countries were also awarded at the StarT Gala. In addition, the Finnish National Awards were handed. The programme for the StarT gala can be found here: https://start.luma.fi/en/gala/

Public’s favourite project:

Waste Busters” with their project “Lemna grinder”, students Zeynep Sude Çetin, Bora Özkan, Zeynep Eyüpoğlu, Berfin Elçin, Kerim Berber, Umay Eskialp, Melike Damla Özdemir, Aslıhan Eşkin, Gizem İdil Tunçbilek and Bilgesu Gökçenur. Turkey.

Public’s favourite best practice:

StarT Day in S.O.S. Project Schools” S.O.S. Project Schools, Turkey.  

The most active countries

The most active countries out of the 20 countries participating in the StarT were Turkey and Estonia. Turkey has registered the most StarT projects, and Estonia has organized a national StarT Science Festival.  Congratulations to all the teams from Turkey and Estonia! 

Additional information

  • The composition of the StarT jury 2018 can be found here.
  • Pictures of the awarded teams for the media can be found here.
  • Best of StarT 2018 here (including nominees)
  • Photos from the gala can be found here
  • Watch the gala here
  • Read more about LUMA Centre Finland here: https://www.luma.fi/en/centre/
  • Contact us at info@start.luma.fi

StarT 2018–2019: registration is open!

We want to thank everyone who participated in the gala and StarT 2017–2018, 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 2018–2019 here (registration open until the end of October 2018. Reporting of the projects of children and youth, and the best educational practices of  teachers and instructors starts in November (tbc) and must be done by February 2019. Reporting the work does not require registration but by registering as a learning community you get additional support from us)

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