Social Sciences

Roadmap STEAMer: developing a steam roadmap for science education in Horizon Europe

1 October 2022 - 31 October 2023

PI/s in Exeter: Associate Professor Kerry Chappell

Research partners: The Lisbon Council (Belgium), Ellinogermaniki Agogi (Greece), ECSITE (Belgium), TRACES (France), University of Malta, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (Greece), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), ScienceView (Greece), Centre for Social Innovation (Austria), Engineering Ingegneria s.p.a (Italy), European School Heads Association (Netherlands)

Funding awarded: (total funding of £109146)

Sponsor(s): UKRI and Horizon 2020

Project webpage(s)

Roadmap STEAMer: developing a steam roadmap for science education in Horizon Europe

About the research

The overall aim of the project is to develop a STEAM roadmap for science education in Horizon Europe, i.e., a plan of action that will provide guidance to EU's key funding programme for research and innovation on how to encourage more interest in STEM through the use of artistic approaches, involving creative thinking and applied arts (the “A” in ‘STEAM’).

The consortium aims to provide Europe with this roadmap, through:

·       Collaboration and co-creation with the stakeholder communities of science education, research, innovation, and creativity, through intensive exchange, dialogue and mutual learning among them which will produce better knowledge and shared understandings of the relevant opportunities, challenges and needs.

·       A bottom-up approach emphasizing educational practice and practitioners’ agency rather than high-level conceptualizations of STEAM and generic top-down plans (in reality often just vague statements of intention) for its adoption in science education.

·       A specific focus on ways to leverage the power of STEAM approaches, as manifested through exemplary cases and best practices, to enable a bridging of open science and open schooling which can catalyse an increased impact for science education as a crucial tool for addressing Europe’s current scientific and societal challenges.

The UoE team consists of Kerry Chappell, Lindsay Hetherington, and Harriet White, and Lucy Yeomans who bring expertise in arts, science education, outdoor learning and equity and participation, respectively. The team’s contribution to Roadmap STEAMer involves bringing these expertise to developing a conceptual framework for STEAM, designing a research methodology and supporting consortium partners with co-creation workshops.

The consortium of Roadmap STEAMer also includes partners from The Lisbon Council (Belgium), Ellinogermaniki Agogi (Greece), ECSITE (Belgium), TRACES (France), University of Malta, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (Greece), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), ScienceView (Greece), Centre for Social Innovation (Austria), Engineering Ingegneria s.p.a (Italy), European School Heads Association (Netherlands).

University of Exeter are supported in Project STEAMer by UKRI grant number 10040523 and Horizon 2020.

Download associated document