Knowledge partners
Linnaeus University
Linnaeus University (LNU) has approximately 31000 students and 2100 employees. At the Department of Media Technology and the Center for Learning and Knowledge Technologies (CeLeKT) at the university’s Faculty of Technology, we conduct research and development within the field of technology enhanced learning.
Our current research interests include the development of mobile and wireless systems and web 2.0 applications and tools to support collaborative learning, and the design of interactive learning environments to support collaborative discovery learning about complex domains. Our research approach is to elaborate innovative applications in educational scenarios and in workplace settings so as to support intellectual teamwork. LNU combines scientific expertise in pedagogical ICT utilization with systemic experience of actual school ICT use from single class to international scales. We have long experience in: (i) teacher training, (ii) fostering the implementation of novel pedagogical practices in schools and (iii) leading research projects in education and ICT in schools. This experience also translates into close partnerships with schools at regional level as well as established relationships with educational organisations at national and international level. The work at Linnaeus University’s CeLeKT centre is conducted in projects that are financed by a number of foundations both in Sweden and abroad. We work in close collaboration with local and international companies (e.g. Intel, Adobe Incorporated, TeliaSonera). We have close alliances with regional schools and educational organisations.
University of Eastern Finland
The University of Eastern Finland (UEF) is one of the largest universities in Finland. We show courage in crossing academic boundaries and our interdisciplinary approach is internationally recognised. Our research is ranked among the best in the world in several fields.
As a ultidisciplinary university, we train experts for the various sectors of society.
We seek solutions to global challenges through multidisciplinary research and education. In collaboration with our partners, we generate new knowledge, expertise and innovations.Research carried out at the University of Eastern Finland is of a high international standard and has significant impact, with an emphasis on interdisciplinarity. Under 4 identified challenges (ageing and health, learning in digitized society, cultural encounters and environment), pressing issues of gender equality, inclusion and caring for the environment take a stellar place in the UEF research for impact agenda. As such our participation the Science4Girls project becomes relevant as one of our priorities focuses strongly on the aspects of new learning approaches in a digitised society, as well as inclusion and tearing down misconceptions that create new challenges, and also new opportunities, for the well-being of our society. Through the Science4Girls project, we will seek to understand and further develop innovative ways of learning and teaching with special focus on understanding what makes science attractive to female students (and could as well as attract male students that may not be technically oriented!) in order to create inclusive learning experiences. Special attention will be devoted to capture and analyse unconscious biases that may surround students in their contexts.
Key personnel
Calkin Suero Montero, PhD. Calkin is an assistant professor (senior university researcher) at the School of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Eastern Finland, working with Prof. Eija Kärnä’s research team on the development of innovative and inclusive educational environments and learning methodologies. Calkin has extensive experience on the development of pedagogical practices using educational technologies and coordinating EU funded projects on these aspects, including H2020 eCraft2Learn (https://project.ecraft2learn.eu/), Open Science Schooling (https://openscienceschooling.eu/) and the recently funded Schools as Drivers of Change Project, among several others.
Joanna Bunikowska, MSc. currently a doctoral researcher and teacher at the University of Eastern Finland. In her PhD research, Joanna explores a policy-practice gap in implementing gender equality related objectives in development policy. She developed an Introduction to International Development and Gender course that she has been teaching since 2016. Joanna is interested in girls’ and women’ empowerment and social change. She was engaged in projects aimed at women’s empowerment and sexual and reproductive health and rights in South Sudan. Joanna holds a master’s degree in international Relations and currently pursues a degree in psychology.
University of Lisbon
Universidade de Lisboa (ULisboa) is the largest and most prestigious university in Portugal and it is one of Europe’s leading universities. ULisboa acquired its current status in July 2013, following the merger of the former Universidade Técnica de Lisboa and Universidade de Lisboa.
Universidade de Lisboa has 18 schools and over 100 research units, around 50,000 students, 4.000 lecturers, 2.500 non-academic staff and 400 degree courses. Universidade de Lisboa awards 1st cycle and 2nd cycle degrees, as well as 3rd cycle Degrees (Doctor), and welcomes more than 7000 foreign students every year.
Bringing together various academic fields, ULisboa has a privileged position for enabling the contemporary evolution of science, technology, arts and humanities. The Engineering School of ULisboa, Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), is the largest and most reputed school of engineering, science and technology in Portugal. IST aims to contribute to the development of society promoting and sharing excellence in higher education in the fields of Architecture, Engineering, Science and Technology. ITI/LARSyS is an IST research group and operates in the interdisciplinary domain of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), encapsulating contributions from the disciplines of computer science, psychology, social sciences and design. It aims to be a center of design for global change, creating socio-technical systems suited to holistic challenges, including climate changes and sustainable resource management or energy efficiency. ITI/LARSyS interdisciplinarity not only mitigates gender balance issues, facilitating the integration of science and engineering female students in an already gender balanced
environment, but also helps in the development of solutions that promote and engage open science and climate change prevention behaviors.
ULisboa integrates Ciência Viva network and activities, aiming to promote wide access to scientific culture. Ciência Viva activities include high school students’ visits to university
research labs as well as open demonstrations and talks of research work made at the university. Ciência Viva network includes a science museum, Pavilhão do Conhecimento.
Working with Europe
Working with Europe is a non-profit association established by a group of professionals from different countries. Our mission is to help partner organisations create innovative ideas, develop very qualified and competitive applications and to help manage the project if granted and support the quality of the work processes and outcomes.
We primarily work in such programs as Erasmus+ WwEU works in collaborative projects addressing very different forms of innovation, but the core capacity and expertise of the association and its professionals is to design and implement quality programs in projects Alongside the collaborative European activities, the association delivers capacity building training to organisations that wish to be able to act independently on the European scene – creating applications, implementing projects and participating actively in European innovation.
Schools
Pasvalys Lėvens
The town of Pasvalys is located in the North of Lithuania-one of the country's richest agricultural areas suitable for cattle-breeding and growing all kinds of crops.
The main industries are Agriculture, Beer making, Cheese production, Bioethanol and Biogas manufacture. School Levens basic school is situated in a quiet beautiful area by the river Levuo. It serves the educational needs of Pasvalys and the district It is a basic ten-year public school enrolling 336 students in grades 1-10. There are 64 teachers working full time. The school opened in the autumn of 1987 as a secondary school and graduated its first senior class in the spring of 1988. In 2003, due to the National education reform the school was reorganized into a basic school and has been functionning as a basic school ever since. Curriculum Levens’s academic programs are organized on a semester schedule. Students are required to take 5-6-7 (depending on the grade) periods out of a seven-period day each semester The school day is divided into seven 45-minute periods and two 20-minute lunch periods. Students meet with their classes on a daily basis. Many students are involved into extracurricular activities such as football, basketball, swimming, handball, track and field, boxing, music school, dance club, art school, pottery, etc. Levens basic school is committed to ensuring that all students graduate with the knowledge and skills required to succeed as contributing citizens in the 21st century.
Secondary School Gheorghe Titeica
The vision of the Secondary School Gheorghe Titeica in Craiova – EUROPEAN SCHOOL FROM 2019 - is to become a prestigious standard of Romanian education - by ensuring a European dimension of the education act, in partnership with other European institutions.
The school was opened on September 15, 1965. The percentage of students graduating at the National Evaluation is 100%. The share of students with good results in school competitions and Olympiads is ~ 65%. We pride ourselves with the students of our school who, guided by the teachers, participated in the Olympiads and school competitions, county / regional / inter-county / national /international phases, obtaining numerous prizes and mentions. Moreover, our students show a true interest in participating in volunteering activities which involve mainly the well being of the community. One example is our DIGITAL VOLUNTEERS PROJECT – the winner in the ”Volunteer Championship” PROGRAM, The 2019 edition-OMV Petrom (Energy for a better LIFE). Our school holds the title EUROPEAN SCHOOL – a title offered for complex extra-curricular activities and for involvement in activities in the field of European Projects. Our volunteering team is made up of students, teachers, parents and the association “Parents for the 3rd Millennium”. We believe that constant involvement in new European projects and partnerships will bring a new vision to the school, giving new approaches to the whole teaching approach, especially in the field of science and science education. The digital infrastructure (internet access, all classrooms with modern equipment – video projectors, projection screens and laptops) allows permanent links with partners from schools
belonging to the European Community. This, we believe, facilitates the emergence of constructive dialogue, applying European learning strategies and to fostering a network of international contacts, to take an active part in society, and to increase the sense of European identity.
Srednja Elektro- Racunalniska Sola
Our school educates about 1000 students and is the biggest school in the north-eastern region in Slovenia, called Podravje. Our school offers different programs in vocational, technical, vocational-technical and technical gymnasium education for the professions of an electrician, computer operator, electronics technician (digital electronics, microprocessor, installations, circuits,…) and computer technician (hardware, software, network, multimedia, …)
Classrooms are equipped with projectors and smart-boards. Each year we invest into modern technology, and we are proud of our new robot with which students learn to program for different purposes. Our students participate in various regional, national and international comnpetitions with excellent results. For example, in the Robotics World Championship competition, where the first three places have regularly been awarded to our school.
We are in constant flow exploring the newest ICT, methods of teaching and assessments. During the lessons, students gain the most recent topics important for their future job and lifelong learning. They learn about renewable sources of energy, green power plants, solar cells and many more. We encourage our students to behave environmentally friendly in school and
at home. Our success is the result of the supportive and stimulating school leadership towards the employers and the students.
Teachers of our school participate in regional, national and international conferences, lectures, workshops, presentations and other actions in cooperation with a lot of institutions;
Ministry of Education, Chamber of crafts and Small business, The National Education Institute, University of Maribor, Municipality of Maribor, the faculty of electrical and computer
engineering, Employment Service, The Friends of Youth Organization, and various craftsmen where our students complete their practical education. We cooperate with the local
business incubator and start-up companies, offer our conference room for presentations and workshops.
VIGS (Växjö Internationella Grundskola)
VIGS (Växjö Internationella Grundskola) is a private school funded by the state and opened in 2013. We teach kindergarten up to grade 9, with a total of 236 student, 2 headmasters, 24 teachers and 16 staff.
Many teachers have distinct backgrounds with international education. Our expertise is in teaching languages, we follow the Swedish National Curriculum but we teach 50% in English and 50% in Swedish. We also have the highest rate of student population, in our district, that come from low income households. Our motto is that language is the key to success and to understanding the world around you. We believe that all children have the right to equal and high-quality education. Our school’s vision Sweden is internationally recognized for its effort in gender equality and democratic practices. In our National School Curriculum, a new mandate has been added to the educational program of Techniques (Natural Science/Maths) and IT programing and usage. We have worked with ICT in various forms such as blogs, iPad, skype, blogs, green screen, VR, etc. from kindergarten to grade 9, in helping students prepare with a broad array of IT and skills/qualifications for the future demands of employment markets. We are a small school with cooperative and engaged teachers. We believe in deepening students’ knowledge and work extensively with issues of Sustainable Development and
statement is “By focusing on English we develop the next generation of global citizens”.
individual responsibility. Växjö as a community/municipality is eager to learn and work in environmental projects that will help or improve quality of life of its citizens and therefore are positive and supportive advocates of environmental projects like this one.
Institut de Vilafant
Ins Vilafant is a small high-school located in Alt Empordà, in the north-east of Catalonia. Our town is very close to Girona and Barcelona
Our school has around 400 students and Our Institute is fully involved in finding new ways to help students learn in a different way. The teachers are involved in projects to open the door to new teaching methodologies. Methodologies that connect formal school content to real world problems. We are really interested in keeping our doors open to Europe and to the European ways of helping our students make the most of their learning process. Ins Vilafant is a very innovative high-school. It has been involved in many projects recently: The PILE project, which helps develop learners with the communicative competence; the
around 45 teachers. Our goal is to deliver a high quality education to help our students meet the challenges of our society. Classes in our school are small and that’s why we can attend pupils more individually. Our school also provides significant materials to implement the curriculum and to cater for special educational needs by different means, including ICT.
Ins Vilafant is very concerned about language learning. Our students learn Catalan, Spanish, French and English. Thus, our school endeavors to prepare our students for the multilingual and, consequently, the multicultural society we now live in. All projects in our high-school, foster entrepreneurship which will be helpful for the Social and Technological innovations for present projects and for future life. Moreover, through citizenship education, and through all the other subjects, we give students the means to develop strong values, such as respect, or empathy, key elements to cooperative and collaborative work towards European values.
‘1X1 project’ that helps students strengthen the ICT competence. We also have exchange programs with European countries, which help teachers and students see other realities and
share different ways of learning and teaching.