The SEER seminar 1

The First STE(A)M Education European Roadmap Seminar confirms: STE(A)M is the future of Education!

On 27 March 2024, the Horizon Europe funded project STE(A)M Education European Roadmap (“the SEER”) held its first public seminar to present the results of the first half of the project to broad audiences of teachers, educators and other stakeholders interested in joining the conversation on the value of STE(A)M practices. The SEER seminar was organised with the support of Scientix, the community for science education in Europe.

During this interactive online event, the SEER team showcased the results of the project to date while opening a conversation with practitioners and key education stakeholders on the diversity of STE(A)M approaches, the availability and accessibility of STE(A)M education resources and continuous professional development opportunities for teachers. 

STE(A)M education is an innovative pedagogy, where Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics are integrated with "ALL” the other subjects in the curriculum to create engaging and contextualised learning experiences for all students. This wide and encompassing definition in turn can create confusion for practitioners, who can struggle with identifying the adequate approaches and resources to fit their needs in the classroom. 

To connect the multiple approaches to STE(A)M education, the SEER invited guest speakers from other STE(A)M Roadmap initiatives, RoadSTEAMER and Sense., who collaborate with the SEER on the STE(A)M Atlas, a joint initiative for the mainstreaming of STE(A)M in Europe. These guest speakers offered additional perspectives on STE(A)M teaching and learning, which combined with the SEER provided the audience with a cohesive view of the journey ahead to mainstreaming STE(A)M education in Europe. 

The seminar, which was open to all, saw the participation of various types of stakeholders, including teachers, educational science professionals and researchers, teachers in training, and coordinators of national STE(A)M programs. The rich variety of participants led to essential discussions about the usefulness of STE(A)M as a pedagogical approach to enable a contextualised and experiential science education, breaking the silos of traditional subject-based education.

In simple words, the message from participants was loud and clear: STE(A)M is the way of the future but implementing it remains a challenge for practitioners. Indeed, educators need to be supported through policy changes, resources and continuous professional development offers, and a paradigm shift in schools that would make STE(A)M a core component of the curriculum in European countries. 

This seminar, beyond consolidating and validating the past work of the SEER, also paved the way for the project’s future activities and confirmed that the SEER roadmap will be a key tool in making STE(A)M teaching and learning a reality in European schools.

Watch the recording of the Seminar: https://bit.ly/see-seminar1