T³ Europe Virtual Sharing Inspiration Conference

Four online conferences and monthly webinars

As a STEM teacher would you like to share information, learn from, and engage with other teachers in an international environment? Join our T³ Europe Virtual Sharing Inspiration Conference!

In 2021, the biennial conference Sharing Inspiration will go virtual. This means the conference will for the first time be open to all European STEM teachers that wish to learn and exchange on STEM Education topics! What is new is that Sharing Inspiration offers year-round activities for teachers, such as quarterly conferences and monthly webinars.

Quarterly conference topics
January 21 - Applying Research in STEM Classrooms Concretely
April 22 - STEM Education for a Sustainable World
September 16 - Computational Thinking and Coding in the Classroom
November 18 - Energy – The Elephant in the Room

Sharing Inspiration since 2007
Many teachers from different European countries involved in the T³ Europe network have been meeting every second year since 2007 in the ‘Sharing Inspiration’-conference. Every year teachers were invited to take part in the conference. Now that the conference will be held online we invite all STEM teachers to participate in Sharing Inspiration. “The added value is that you learn from each other and that you make international contacts,” according to one of the participants.

 

For January 21st, the topic will be Applying Research in STEM Classrooms Concretely with the following program:

 

Adapting mathematics and science education to the demands of our societies – what we know from research
15h - 15h45 

Is our mathematics and science education appropriate for educating young people for the challenges of tomorrow? Katja Maass will use Covid19 as an example to illustrate in which direction Mathematics education should go to enable students to act as responsible citizens. She outlines what research in mathematics education says about this direction and which aspects have proven efficiency.

And science education? Many science educators avoid dealing with mathematics because "students dislike covering maths in science class", despite society needing more engineers. Ian Galloway takes another perspective and argues for emphasizing mathematics in science education – to reinforce education for citizenship and encourage students to see the relevance of mathematics. He will talk about the challenges of using vectors in science!

Prof. Dr. Katja Maass 

Director of International Centre for STEM Education (ICSE), University of Education Freiburg.

Ian Galloway

T³ Europe STEM lead and is an International Professional Development provider and author.                   
Break 15h45 - 16h00
Features of Thought-Provoking STEM Acivities

16h - 16h45 
STEM education has received increasing attention in recent years. Several studies indicate that a holistic understanding of STEM, through the integration of STEM disciplines, may improve students’ motivation and understanding. Nonetheless, approaches on how the discipline integration can be achieved are varied. Throughout our professional development programs, teachers asked us several questions related to STEM education:

  • What are the criteria for a good STEM activity?
  • What would be the outcomes of this activity and how can we assess a STEM activity?
  • Do you think this is a STEM activity?
  • How can we spur students’ motivation and scientific thinking?
  • Which learning theories best form the basis of STEM education?

Accordingly, this session discusses some concrete examples of thought provoking STEM activities and attempts to highlight teachers’ voice in STEM education. Indeed, we need to acknowledge that success is partly driven by teachers.

Notes for teachers: If you have any other question to be addressed during this session please email to: gultekincakmakci@gmail.com.

Prof. Dr. Gultekin Cakmakci

Professor of Science Education at Hacettepe University, STEM and maker lab.
Break 16h45 - 17h00
The role of technology for the development and use of mathematical understanding

17h00 - 18h30

Introduction: Characteristic of mathematical understanding

What research says and examples for realizing research results:

  1. Learning by taking into account the principle of multiple representations

    Theoretical background of the principle of multiple representations
    Concrete examples for technology supported learning by interacting between several representations


  2. Aspects of learning psychology for mathematical understanding

    The role of repetitive and elaborative learning strategies
    Concrete examples for supporting elaborative learning strategies by using technology

Dr. Helmut Heugl

Taught mathematics and science. Head of ACDCA (Austrian Center for Didactics of Computer Algebra).       

Prof. Dr. Simon Plangg

Professor for mathematics education (secondary level) at the Salzburg University of Education Stefan Zweig, Austria.                      

Join us and contribute to Engaging STEM Education for all European students!

Register here

Upcoming sessions:

  •  April 22 - STEM Education for a Sustainable World
  • September 16 - Computational Thinking and Coding in the Classroom
  • November 18 - Energy – The Elephant in the Room