KVARK Science Theatre

QUICK: programme-initiative

KVARK Science Theatre
Organisation:
Teadusteater OÜ
Country:
Estonia
Education level:
Primary Education, Lower secondary education, Secondary Education, Higher Education
Year start:
2016
Status:
Ongoing
Link to website
Short summary:
The KVARK project was grown out of the highly successful Rocket69 science TV contest (see related page). KVARK’s objectives are to popularize scientific thinking and scientific approach in public by offering scientific content for different events, scientific entertainment in a form of science theatre, and by conducting clever workshops for both children and adults. KVARK also produces scientific and educational exhibits for museums and helps organisations to arrange projects that support science-based society, and environment.
Description and objectives:

The KVARK project was grown out of the Rocket69 science TV contest (see related page). The main reason for the creation was to broaden the public knowledge about science and scientific thinking. KVARK concentrates on three main actions:

 

  1. Popularizing science, technology, and engineering
  2. Rising the quality of the scientific, engineering, and technological education
  3. Adding value to working in the science, technology, and engineering subject fields

 

The team of KVARK includes undergraduates and graduates from different STEM specialities.  KVARK’s objectives are to popularize scientific thinking and scientific approach in public by offering scientific content for different events, scientific entertainment in a form of science theatre, and by conducting clever workshops for both children and adults. KVARK also produces scientific and educational exhibits for museums and helps organisations to arrange projects that support science-based society, and environment.The objectives also include raising young people's (primary target group) interest in STEM education, professions, and careers in these fields. The objectives are measured by the projects supported; the number of events/workshops carried out. The indirect indication is evaluated based on the statistics of popularity of STEM specialties among the students’ enrolling universities, vocational schools, and hobby education.

Reach:
The objective is to increase the number of projects supported, increase the number of people participating in the science theatre events. The future goal for KVARK is to start organizing events for teachers in the STEM subjects to increase the reach. In 2019, KVARK organized a science theatre performance for 12,000 people.
Impact:
KVARK and the science theatre shows have increased the popularity of STEM in young children – by making the scientific experiments entertaining, they are more interested in enrolling in vocational schools. The impact of the programme is measured primarily in the number of participants.
Budget and funding model:
KVARK’s funding model is performance-based funding