On April 16th 2024, project Strengthening STEM Competencies Through Ecology at the Elementary School Zrinski – EKO-RURAL4STEM Final conference was held in Elementary School Zrinskih, Nuštar.
Elementary school Zrinski Nuštar started with project implementation on August 1st, 2022 with the implementation of the project Strengthening STEM Competencies Through Ecology at the Elementary School Zrinski – EKO-RURAL4STEM, 100% funded by Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area for the period from 2014 to 2021.
The total budget of the project is 738,061.54 EUR and lasts until April 30th, 2024. In addition to the lead partner, Elementary School Zrinski Nuštar, the project partners are Competence Centre Ltd for Research and Development, Elementary Agricultural and Forestry School Vinkovci and Norwegian University for Science and Technology (Department of Electronic Systems).
Project EKO-RURAL4STEM is aimed at bringing the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) field closer to students and educators in an innovative way, through ecology. All participants, in addition to improving their STEM skills, also increased their awareness of the importance of environmental protection, biodiversity conservation and the impact of climate change on the entire ecosystem.
The goal of the project was to improve the STEM skills of 35 teachers and other educational staff through 15 trainings in order to apply the STEM approach to teaching in regular classes, and to create and implement a program of extracurricular activities and workshops. The project predicted the inclusion of more than 200 children in the project's activities through extracurricular activities for STEM skills, ICT, entrepreneurship and active citizenship. In previous training activities, 42 teachers have participated, while in previous activities for STEM skills, ICT, entrepreneurship and active citizenship, more than 270 students have participated, with which the Elementary School Zrinskih, Nuštar has exceeded all the set indicators of the project. The active participation of the entire team in all project activities shows the commitment of the Elementary School Zrinskih, Nuštar team and the awareness of the importance of modern STEM education among school employees and students.
Elementary School Zrinskih, Nuštar completely adapted and equipped 4 multimedia classrooms with new furniture and modern ICT equipment. Almost EUR 75,000.00 was invested in the adaptation of school premises in 3 locations - Nuštar, Cerić and Marinci.
Over 350.000,00 EUR was spent on furniture, ICT equipment, didactic equipment and materials in the project activities. As many as 76 new computers, 10 laptops, 4 smart boards, 2 3D printers, 20 VR sets, 1 drone, a smart system for growing plants, 17 microscopes, 1 telescope, 1 meteorological house, audio-visual equipment for workshops, school furniture, student lockers, and numerous didactic equipment and materials for robotics, informatics, biology, technical culture, geography, chemistry, which will improve the teaching process and enable students to get acquainted with modern technologies.
New extracurricular programs in the fields of biology, forestry, geography, robotics and informatics are available to students from this school year, and given the interest of students, the implementation of the program will continue in the future. Within the project, 7 new extracurricular programs were developed ("Informatics in special departments" for students in special departments from 1st to 4th grade, "Informatics in special departments" for students in special departments from 5th to 8th grade, "STEM in growing plants" for students from 1st to 4th grade, "STEM in growing plants" for students from 5th to 8th grade, "About the forest, in the forest, for the forest" for students in 1st grade, "About the forest , in the forest, for the forest" for students in 5th and 6th grade, "Young Meteorologists" for students from 6th to 8th grade).
