ingenious 1st competition

1st inGenious Competition

for Schools

“The first spark”

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL OF THERMI PYRGOI THERMIS 81100 MYTILENE GREECE

Tel.0030 2251071301 Fax.0030 2251071615

[email protected]

1st inGenious Competition for Schools 2

Name of the campaign:

“The first spark”

Teacher and school details:

George Roungos

Junior High School of Thermi

Pyrgoi Thermis, 81100 Greece

[email protected]

Class/Grade level/Age-range:

Class C/3rd Grade of Junior High School/14-15 years old

Summary in English:

STEM Education in secondary level education is interlinked with science teaching through

experiments carried out in the school labs. The experiments are related to the school curriculum

which limits the thematic range under study because it sets specific guidelines for the learning

process to be followed by the teachers. By allowing students the possibility to choose experiments

from everyday life in order to try solving an ecological problem of their area, we provide them with

sufficient motivation to produce positive results.

Supported by two Universities we have been able to tackle the ecological issue of our concern in a

multifaceted manner because we did not limit ourselves solely to the implementation of the

experiments which will undoubtedly endow students with skills in the domain of sciences but we set

up a virtual enterprise which will find a viable solution to the problem of the electric energy

consumption. The ecological problem of our area consists in the emission of pollutants by the

Hellenic Public Power Corporation (HPPC/DEI) of Greece in the city of Mytilene which consumes 150

tons of oil per day. All things considered, students launched into a variety of actions with a view to

developing a holistic approach to STEM Education.

Going through various stages of the teaching process like brainstorming, concept map creation,

internet search, execution of natural science experiments, educational video viewing, surfing the

InGenious Code pages students have come to experience what it feels like to work in the STEM

Education sector as environmental engineers being engaged in their own real life scenario.

The Rocard report about natural sciences estimates that good practices are due for functioning as

preconditions for dramatic change in young people’s interests in natural sciences. In effect,

education, industry and politics must converge to create the need for professional experts who will

be able to meet future work needs in STEM education by filling key positions.

mailto:[email protected]


Description of the campaign:

During Physics, Chemistry and Biology classes in the third grade of Junior High School a large

number of experiments will be carried out to help students experience a variety of phenomena.

Density calculation, boiling, Hooke’s Law, Ohm’s Law, oxygen detection, ph calculation,

microscopic observation of protozoa are some of the experiments carried out in our school lab.

Having bought the necessary lab equipment we enriched our experiment collection in order to

create a positive environment for the teaching of natural sciences. Subsequently, students selected

a STEM specialty of their preference and collected information about it aiming at its association

with one of the experiments carried out in the lab.

It was through discussion that we decided that one of those experiments could be useful in the

construction of a hypothetical scenario targeted at providing solution to a problem of substantial

gravity in our area. The detection of carbon dioxide through limestone is a perfect match for the

filtering of the fuel gases emitted by the Hellenic Public Power Corporation (HPPC/DEI) in our area.

We have thus moved forward with the design of a carbon dioxide filter making the most of the

technical support provided by the University of the Aegean which took up the responsibility of

supervising the whole procedure. Our end product was presented to Hellenic Public Power

Corporation (HPPC/DEI) which demonstrated an extraordinary interest in its implementation.

The team

The team consists of twenty five students of the 3rd class and every week of January we had

different subject about our campaign.

1st week Preparation

2nd week Collection of science experiments

3rd week Design of the carbon dioxide filter

4th week Presentation of the results

Implementation

1st week Preparation

Throughout our preparatory stage via brainstorming and by the use of the concept map we managed

to define an action framework. Succeeding our internet research, the educational video viewing and

the browsing of the ingenious code web pages we ended up with a lot of information about specific

STEM professions, took relevant pictures and shot short videos.

2nd week Collection of science experiments

Thanks to the sponsorship by State Michigan University we bought new materials for our

experiments related to natural sciences and used them to fulfill our goal. The following list

exemplifies the experiments carried out:

1. Assembly of a model car with hydraulic brakes

2. Gyroscope operation


3. Laser refraction

4. Composition of chemical compounds through molecule simulation

5. Cell observation with portable camera

3rd week Design of the carbon dioxide filter

During the third week we worked as environmental engineers because we were looking for a way to

solve the problem of solution in our area so came up with the idea of designing a carbon dioxide

filter to be presented to the Hellenic Public Power Corporation (HPPC/DEI). During this stage Dr

John Matsino’s – associate professor of the Department of Environmental Studies of the University of

the Aegean – supervisory monitoring of the procedure was of vital importance. Thanks to his

experience and expertise our effort was deemed successful. The resulting device was capable of

filtering carbon dioxide through calcium hydroxide spraying with limestone being the final product.

It is worth noting that the cost of the reactants and the products of the chemical reaction, which

are both of wide use in the construction sector, turns out to be of equal monetary value (100 euros

per ton) making the whole procedure highly advantageous for the stakeholder due to the large

amount of gases in need of filtering.

4th week Presentation of the results

Last week we presented our work to the supervisor from the University of the Aegean and to the

Hellenic Public Power Corporation. The presentations were made during our visits to the University

of the Aegean and to HPPC.

Μaterial produced (tool used)

1. Carbon dioxide filter design (SmartDraw)

2. Word Lesson plan Ingenious (Word)

3. Videos (Youtube)

4. Photo set (Flickr)

5. Questionnaire (Survey Monkey)

6. Thumbnail (Power point)

7. STEM jobs (Padlet)

Team and stakeholders:

1. The Team: Science teacher and 25 pupils of the 3rd grade.

2. Positive influence in the project completion: University of the Aegean, Environment Department

3. Interest upon a successful completion of a project: Hellenic Public Power Corporation of Greece.

4. Sponsor a project: State Michigan University (200 euros).

Subject in focus and pedagogical objectives:


Subject: Experiments & S.T.E.M. occupation

Pedagogical objectives:

-acquire experimental skills

-explore S.T.E.M. sector

-work as an environmental engineer

Materials and resources used to conduct or report on the campaign

-paper & pencil

-books from the school library

-computers

-internet research

-science lab facilities

-pages and videos related with S.T.E.M. education

Activities or school/industry collaborations proposed to reinforce/enhance the

campaign

-Invitation to University of the Aegean to participate as a supervisor of the project.

-Financial support 200 Euros from the Michigan State University for the science lab.

-Presentation of the project’s results to the Hellenic Public Power Corporation which shows interest

in the project completion.

Time allocation

January 2014

-1st week: Preparation

Brainstorming

Concept map creation

Internet research

View related pages and videos

-2nd week:

Performing experiments in physics, chemistry and biology

Explore S.T.E.M. occupation

-3rd week

Design of the Carbon Dioxide Filter

-4th week

Presentation of the results to the University of the Aegean and to the Hellenic Public Power

Corporation.

Assessment i.e. how did you evaluate pupils’ understanding of STEM careers?


InGenious Lesson Plan

Survey Monkey Questionnaire

Discussion about their future job

University of the Aegean scientific support

Hellenic Public Power Corporation interest in completion

Transferability: How you think other teachers across Europe can benefit from your

campaign outcomes and resources

Teachers can implement this lesson plan to solve school or region problems acting as company

associates to carry out real life tasks. What is more science teachers can think of more experiments

related to daily life to add to the curriculum.

Mytilene, 29/1/2013


InGenious survey (Junior High School of Thermi)

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZXDNV55

1. In which sector do you prefer to work in the future?

Science

Technology

Engineering

Mathematics

Other (please specify)

2. What is your dream job?

Engireer

Math teacher

Science teacher

Scientist

Technician


3. In which of the following industries do you prefer to work?

Automotive

Construction

Financial Services

Information Technology

Manufacturing

Transportation

Aerospace

Biotechnology

Energy

Healthcare


https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZXDNV55


4. How much effort do you put in the InGenious project?

Almost no effort

A little bit of effort

Some effort

Quite a bit of effort

A tremendous amount of effort

5. Do you prefer school projects to classroom teaching?

Not at all

Not very often

Often

Most of the time

All the time

6. How often do you engage in extracurricular activities at your school?

Almost never

Once in a year

Once in a month

Once in a week

All the time

Done

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InGenious survey results (Junior High School of Thermi)


InGenious Padlet (Junior High School of Thermi)


InGenious Carbon Dioxide Filter Design (Junior High School of Thermi)


InGenious Lesson Plan (Junior High School of Thermi)

S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) Activities

A. Annex A: STEM and the World

1. List science, technology, engineering and maths achievements that you enjoy or admire?

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2. What do these achievements enable?

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3. How might innovation change the world fifty years from now?

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4. How will science and technology impact world issues?

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5. Would you like to play a part in shaping tomorrow’s innovations? Is it enough just to

benefit from innovation or would you like to shape it, enable it, communicate about it?

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B. List STEM achievements like Facebook, the Internet, an iPad, solar power, wind

turbines, keyhole surgery, artificial legs and hearts, airplanes, satellite systems.

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C. Is the world a better place thanks to these innovations? If so, how?

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D. Will we go to school or learn at home via virtual lessons? Will we go to work or

connect to virtual teams? Perhaps we will beam people into our living rooms as

holograms? If we travel, what energy will our cars use? Will cars exist? How will we

heat our homes? Will problems like clean water and access to education in developing

countries be solved? How will healthcare evolve?

Talking point:

The pace of change and what it means for jobs and skills acquisition.

a. It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million users. It took the iPod just 3 years to reach the

same number of people. (Technology)

b. In the past ten years alone, we’ve learned to sequence the human genome, grow STEM

cells, transplant faces and create working bionic limbs. (Medical science)

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E. How Science and Technology can impact world issues. Talking points: a. Diseases can be fought by aggregating health data (Bioinformatics).

b. Low literacy / poor education can be fought by providing the invaluable content of books and lessons virtually (eBooks and eLearning)

c. Hunger can be fought by sharing knowledge to grow crops (Internet and collaboration technology)

d. Accidents can be prevented and energy saved by sensor systems in cars and lights (Robotics and mechanical engineering) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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F. “Ignite Your Future” video

On-line resources exist in most countries https://vle.thebrilliantclub.org/brightside/knowledge-bank

http://www.myworldofwork.co.uk EU and UK examples below: https://vle.thebrilliantclub.org/brightside/knowledge-bank

http://www.myworldofwork.co.uk/

http://www.futuremorph.org/

https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/Pages/Home.aspx

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/

http://www.careerswales.com/en/

http://www.education.gov.uk/

http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/cse/about-us/stem-unit

http://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/