What is ARTIFEX?
ARTIFEX is an ERASMUS+ project designed to establish a practical European framework for STEM education in innovative out-of-the-classroom learning environments. The project focuses on student-centered and problem-based active learning using multi- and interdisciplinary tools offered by community spaces such as FabLabs and Makerspaces with an open access to high-tech manufacturing equipment.
Within the ARTIFEX consortium we consider STEM as a holistic framework of learning that involves thinking, creating, doing and measuring. Our vision on STEM learning can be found in this short video below.
ARTIFEX aims to
- Provide transparent and easily accessible information on contemporary competences required from engaged STEM workers in the current and future European labor market and society.
- Provide and disseminate new contents, tools and pedagogical approaches (access to new learning resources) in the context of FabLabs and encourage the transfer of these approaches to other similar open community spaces (Maker Spaces, Hackerspaces, Techshops ….), specifically open access online professional development tool.
- Provide and disseminate a self-assessment tool structured around key areas of teachers’ and educators’ teaching for STEM competencies.
- Identify and promote examples of European good practices (transferability) which are embedded in national curricula.
- Which competences are needed by teachers or educators to teach STEM in the context of open and high tech community spaces like FabLabs?
- How can teachers and educators support student’s creativity, problem-solving, collaborations, communication and other 21st century skills related to STEM competences?
- How can high tech open community spaces contribute to link formal, non-formal and informal learning?
- How can teachers and educators identify priorities to their own professional development for supporting student learning of STEM competences in the context of FabLabs?
- Which competences are required from STEM workers in the contemporary and future labor markets and how does that relate to the teaching of such competences in the context of FabLabs?
- An ARTIFEX Book with a listing of STEM professions and the competences required by the labour market and a vision on the teaching and learning process to develop STEM literacy of learners.
- An online self-assessment tool structured around key areas of teachers’ and educators’ educational competences.
- An eSCAN to provide transparent and easily accessible information on contemporary educational competences required from teachers and STEM educators.
- An eCourse: an open access online professional development tool for teachers and teacher trainers.
- An online repository with educational good practices that provide and disseminate new contents, tools and pedagogical approaches (access to new learning resources) in the context of FabLabs and encourage the transfer of these approaches to other similar open community spaces (Maker Spaces, Hackerspaces, Techshops ….).
- An interactive open e-learning platform for teachers, teacher trainers and STEM educators giving them access to the outputs of the project and a platform to interact with each other.
- Policy-makers as multiplication drivers.
- Teachers from primary and secondary education, professionals in high tech open community spaces, students and trainees as the final end-beneficiaries.