Dear friends, today we had the final online meeting of the GREEN STEAM partnership! These 2 years flew so quickly, but in the end, we are happy that our journey was successful!
The project has been jointly implemented by the University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy (project coordinator) and Business Foundation for Education in Bulgaria, Akademia Humanistyczno-Ekonomiczna w Łodzi in Poland, Mindshift in Portugal, UnitelmaSapienza in Italy, and SEIT Lab – University of Cyprus.
GREEN STEAM addresses students and recent graduates from STEAM fields, with a strong focus on female learners, who have little or no prior experience in entrepreneurship.
The project aims to:
- foster innovation, entrepreneurial mindset and growth mindset
- raise awareness of climate change, sustainability and environmental challenges
- develop key change-making skills, including collaboration, leadership, creative problem-solving, resource management and persuasive presentation of ideas
To achieve this, the partnership developed an open learning platform with a flipped training course and interactive toolkit, combined with a 6-month international hackathon, enabling students to learn at their own pace and apply knowledge in real-life challenges.
The MOOC includes 5 modules:
- STEAM Entrepreneurship
- Green Skills and Sustainability
- Innovation and Design Thinking
- Digital Skills in Entrepreneurship
- Project Management and Social Skills
Find the MOOC here – https://greensteam.cs.ucy.ac.cy/moodle/
The project applies the flipped classroom approach, in which learners study the theoretical content independently at home, while classroom time is used for collaborative project work where they apply what they have learned.
Using this method, hackathons were organised, focused on addressing practical environmental challenges faced by society and business. A total of 431 students participated, both in teams and individually presenting their innovative ideas and solutions.
In Bulgaria, the MOOC training was piloted with 106 students, and 124 students, organised into 29 teams, competed in the hackathon.
On December 12th, the results of the GREEN STEAM project were presented at a final event in Sofia to teachers, lecturers, representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science, Bulgarian universities, and non-governmental organisations.
All project indicators and targets have been reached and exceeded by a wide margin:
- Social media followers: 500+ promised and achieved
- Platform visits: 5,000+ promised → 22,000 achieved
- Students in teaser workshops: 120+ promised → 370 achieved
- Students enrolled in the MOOC: 250 promised → 425 achieved
- Hackathon participants: 250 promised → 430 achieved
- Participants in final events: 180+ promised and achieved
- Ex-ante survey participants: 60 promised → 243 achieved
- Project-related posts: 50+ promised → 230+ achieved
- Number of individuals reached out and informed about the project: 100,000+ promised → 400,000+ reached
The gamified MOOC, combined with hands-on hackathons and flipped classrooms, proved to be highly effective. All participating students reported improvement in their competencies after completing the training modules, and the educators involved in the project highlighted the high quality of materials, the flipped learning methodology, and its strong responsiveness to students’ needs.
GREEN STEAM demonstrates that flipped learning, entrepreneurship education and sustainability can empower the next generation of STEAM changemakers. We would like to thank to everyone who has been part of this journey – project partners, professors, students and all supporters who helped us achieve these outcomes!
The project outputs will remain freely accessible in English, Bulgarian, Italian, Greek, Polish, and Portuguese by the end of 2028 and can be used by other interested education providers and learners.
The Green STEAM project is co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Programme.
Project No: 2023-1-BG01-KA220-HED-000155940.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.