Hosted by , contributed by Kyriaki_Vakkou on 13 December 2022
The main challenge of the school was the insufficient attendance and increased dropout rates of students coming from vulnerable social groups, who belong mainly to a Muslim minority. Poor school attendance creates gaps in the continuity of learning and in the sense of belonging to the school community.
A key measure to overcome the challenge was the conduction of innovative workshops concerning astronomy (in a Planetarium), STEAM education, gardening and ceramics. The school also identified the principle factors that contributed to the poor school attendance of minority students, upgraded their lab and ICT equipment and developed an educational framework for enhancing students’ confidence.
The school created a technology environment consisting of STEAM elements such as Arduino development kits, 3D printing and robotics. STEAM laboratory has the capacity to promote creative thinking, computational and algorithmic thinking in a manner that does not resemble of that of classic schooling. Feedback is achieved through self-evaluation, which creates internal rather than external motivation. Authentic technological projects can achieve a high degree of involvement and commitment as opposed to classical homework and testing.
The impact of these actions was the increase of students’ school attendance, the enhancement of their digital skills and interest in learning, as well as being able to take on different roles. At a school level, the upgrading of the technological equipment facilitated the enrichment of school’s practices, as well as the connection to the community (i.e., organization of an astronomy event for the local community).