The final conference of the Be a STEMfluencer project was held on February 27th 2024, in the premises of the of the Primary School Lučko.
"Today we saw not only achievements in the STEM field, but also the achievements of students and entire collective of partner schools. I want to congratulate everyone involved in this project from the bottom of my heart," said Luka Juroš, head of the City Office for Education, Sports and Youth.
After the greeting speech the representatives of the project partners presented the results of the project, which include: the modernization of six STEM classrooms with modern equipment as a technical prerequisite for the introduction of STEM in regular classes and extracurricular school programmes, activities related to the education of teachers, educational workers and students, as well as activities of bilateral cooperation that Croatian partners of the project: Primary School Lučko, Primary School Nikola Tesla, Primary School Vugrovec-Kašina and Development Agency Zagreb established with the Norwegian GovTech company Åpenhet AS.
The Norwegian partner enabled Croatian teachers to connect and cooperate with the best STEM experts with the possibility of visiting and exchanging experiences with schools and institutions in Oslo as part of planned study trips. Through the joint work of Croatian teachers and Norwegian experts, the project created a STEM library in which teaching materials for regular classes and extracurricular activities in the field of robotics, astronomy, forensics, 3D modeling, activities in the STEM garden and similar are stored. After the completion of the STEM project, the library is to be available to all primary schools at the national level, which facilitates their transition to STEM education.
The Be a STEMfluencer project had the goal of strengthening the capacity of primary school education institutions in the Republic of Croatia in STEM teaching with the ultimate goal of improving the STEM skills of teachers, educational workers and students, and was implemented over 18 months in the period from September 1st 2022 to February 29th 2024.
The project was worth 734,405.40 euros, and the financing was provided through the European Economic Area (EEA) Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 in the ratio of 85%, while the rest of the funds were provided by the Republic of Croatia as part of the Local Development and Poverty Reduction Programme.