IMPROVING STEM EDUCATION THROUGH KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATION

The DESIRE presentation addresses how STEM education stakeholders can contribute to the improvement of science education. The presentation exposes how teachers can have better access to newly developed science education methodologies and teaching resources. We present best practices to science education stakeholders to improve the dissemination of the knowledge to teachers.

To start with, we will present the DESIRE project’s key results, a set of recommendations to STEM education project managers and science communicators.

The two yearlong project has identified the main obstacles and facilitators to promote science education projects’ outcomes. The findings are gathered in the DESIRE Survival Toolkit, a publication is available on the DESIRE website (http://desire.eun.org). The results arise from a survey and testimonies collected through discussion events. The STEM education stakeholders involved were projects managers, professionals from museums and science centres, science events’ organisers, policy makers and teachers.

The DESIRE project results focus on how to create participatory dissemination strategies, oriented toward teachers and other stakeholders needs. The presentation will:
- Provide you information about the targets of your science education projects and permit you to look at your diffusion, dissemination and exploitation practices with new eyes.
- Identify obstacles which prevent you from reaching a successful dissemination and exploitation of your messages to stakeholders.
- Give you survival tools to create a multiplier effect when transferring and implementing results and eventually mainstreaming them into policies.
- Provide you practical tips based on lessons learned and experiences from teachers and other science education stakeholders.

The project was initiated with the aim of giving life to the multiple funded projects in science education around Europe each year. Most of them have the potential to change existing teaching and learning practices but their impact is sometimes low and the outcomes are often not used as expected. Thus, it is important to place emphasis on the dissemination of project outcomes as a mechanism for quality improvement in education.

Teachers in science education and STEM professionals in Europe are in pole position to encourage and intellectually stimulate more young students in STEM studies and careers. They have a key role in helping them understand the need for researchers and science professionals in Europe, and that there are many jobs available in the fields. To achieve this goal, access to results of research project fostering innovation and change in STEM education is essential to support the efforts of the key formal and informal education stakeholders.