Table of contents
Partners
Charles University and its team
The Faculty of Education is one of Charles University’s seventeen faculties. The faculty’s primary goal is to train teachers and other pedagogical personnel for all types of schools and other educational institutions, at various levels of studies and forms. With about 250 members of academic staff, the faculty is currently training approximately 4200 students in BA and MA, and Ph.D. study programs, plus nearly 10 000 students in a wide range of combined forms of study programs. The faculty is actively engaged in international collaboration (TEMPUS, 5FP, 6FP and 7FP, ERASMUS+, Horizon, etc.). For its international activities and collaborations, the faculty exploits about 60 bilateral agreements and about 190 bilateral ERASMUS agreements (mainly with universities in Germany, France, Slovakia, Spain, and Poland). It is responsible for the quality of scholarships, cultural development, and the education of teachers. Educational and research activities in various areas of STEM teacher’s education are guaranteed and managed by corresponding departments (Informatics and technics, Mathematics, Chemistry, and Biology). All involved departments cooperate with representatives of educational practices, mainly with schools at all levels of the Czech educational system and organizations connected with the Czech Ministry of Education but also with companies, research institutions, and other organizations in public or private business sectors. The STEM-oriented departments have a long tradition in ITE and cooperate within a university research program called Cooperation in which STEM is one of the foci. Recently, an idea to open a STEM teaching study program has been reopened at the faculty level. So far, there have been several projects on this topic, however, more international experience would be helpful.
The team was built to join members of various levels of experience. It consists of a senior teacher trainer/researcher assoc. prof. Martin Rusek, two junior lecturers dr. Marta Kuhnová and dr. Dominika Koperová, and three Ph.D. students Martina Tóthová, Lucie Hamerská and Tadeáš Matěcha. Members of the research group regularly publish the results of their work in peer-reviewed journals, they organize an annual PBE conference. 2022 was the 20th anniversary of the conference. Also, all these members hold a science teacher degree in combination with either mathematics or information technology.
Johannes Kepler University and its team
Johannes Kepler University (JKU) is in Linz, Austria, the largest university in the region of Upper Austria. Since its inception in 1966, JKU has become a successful and innovative center for science, academics, and society. Today, the JKU has become one of the largest educational institutions in Upper Austria and enjoys an international reputation not only in conducting base-knowledge research but also in applied-oriented research. The university offers interdisciplinary and hands-on educational programs designed to meet today’s business and societal needs and our cooperation agreements with over 300 partner universities in over 50 countries as well as over 120 professors and over 1800 academic faculty ensure superior research and study conditions. The JKU Linz is ranked among the world’s best young universities (under 50 years). For the second year, the most recent “Times Higher Education 100 Under 50” ranking placed the JKU among the Top 70 of the world’s best young universities (under 50 years). With nine active Christian Doppler laboratories on campus, the JKU is among the best universities in Austria.
The team of the Department of STEM Education has many years of experience in carrying out national and international research and development projects. Furthermore, they have profound knowledge of all aspects of teaching and education issues. In 2014, Dr. Zsolt Lavicza and Prof Markus Hohenwarter established a STEM Education Research Group at JKU. The STEM Education Research Group is running a Master’s and Ph.D. program in mathematics, science, and computer science education. Currently, there are 45 Ph.D. students and 30 master’s students enrolled in its program. The Research Group also works in close connection with more than 250 international GeoGebra Institutes, a network of teacher education and research groups at universities in 130 countries. The Research Group holds regular seminars, organizes conferences, and hosts international visitors, trying to create and support an environment for international research. The STEM Education Centre within JKU is developing a wide range of activities connecting technology with STEAM topics as well as supporting the development of the open-source STEM software GeoGebra, currently used by more than 100 million students and teachers around the world and hosts more than a million STEM/STEAM digital learning resources. The JKU STEM Centre together with the nearby Ars Electronica Centre, a leading European center curating Arts and Technology, will further develop more integrated physical and digital STEAM resources and trial them in schools and teacher education. As a separate organizational subunit within the Linz School of Education, the Girls Only Laboratory has been implementing for 2 years the creation of a complete program of STEM support measures with a focus on informatics and computational thinking for girls and young women of all ages, which is specially adapted to the needs of relevant groups.
The University of Jyväskylä and its team
The University of Jyväskylä JYU is an internationally renowned research university and an expert in education that focuses on human and natural sciences. The University is strongly linked to top national and international research, business and innovation communities. JYU has 15 000 degree students. Including adult education, the total number is 40 000 students. The number of personnel is 2 500. JYU has received the HR Excellence in Research award. The recognition signals that the HR policy at the JYU can guarantee that the status of researchers at the University meets the EU targets. In Finland, JYU has been a forerunner in Open Access publishing and free access to scholarly information has been one of the university’s strategic goals ever since 2010. In Horizon 2020 JYU already has 52 projects including 12 ERC grants, 6 ITN projects, 5 MSCA IF projects and 3 FET Open projects. JYU is the coordinator of 5 consortium projects. The Finnish Institute for Educational Research (FIER) conducts internationally esteemed multidisciplinary research on education. The research ranges from primary education to university education as well as adult learning to the relationships between education and working life. The aim is to support teachers, educational establishments, and decision-makers in the promotion of learning and the development of education. The research and development activities open different views to educational phenomena and produce reliable information to support both the national level and educational establishment policies.
The Institute for Educational Research has expertise in developing human technology and digital learning and its assessment. This is combined with international research in strategic areas and active societal interaction. With the Institute’s internationally recognized and distinctive profile various national and international projects have been carried out in the field of digital learning and STEAM education. The Innovative Learning Environments research group’s research activity includes user-driven design and study of learning technologies and spaces for enhancement of learning, analyses of innovative teaching-learning practices, technology enhanced learning, STEAM education.
Bahcesehir University (BAU) was established in 1998 as a foundation university by Bahcesehir Ugur Educational Institutions. The university’s main campus is located in Besiktas at the heart of Istanbul across the Bosphorus, which is a strategic location where both continents meet. There are 7 more campuses located at various locations in the city. BAU pursues an ambitious plan to become one of the leading universities in the South-Eastern Europe and MENA region with its strong academic staff, research, and educational infrastructure at an international level, education-abroad opportunities, and modern infrastructure. BAU provides educational opportunities at a large scale ranging from certificate programs and undergraduate to postgraduate degree programs including both master’s and doctoral degree programs with 10 faculties. BAU has more than 25k students, of which more than 5k are international students from 100+ countries. There are a total of 1422 academics (68 Research Assistants, 144 Associate Professors, 360 Assistant Professors, 660 Instructors, 190 Professors). BAU has 74 projects. 55 of these Projects are funded by TÜBİTAK and coordinated by BAU. The remaining 19 projects are R&D Projects funded by TÜBİTAK and firms. There are 9 international Projects. 8 of these Projects are funded by international funding institutions and 1 project funded by an international firm. BAU has around 2500 international partners and strives to be one of the leaders nationally, by offering its researchers and students rich opportunities to gain international experience. Times Higher Education (THE) showed BAU within the top-5 Universities in Turkey for the section of international outlook in 2018. BAU was granted the award of championship three times in a row in the “Education Export” category in the Awards of 500 Major Exporters of Turkey given by the Turkish Exporters Assembly within the years of 2017, 2018, and 2019. Turkey’s best brand award in education was given to the BAU in 2017.
BAU is part of the BAU Global Education Network. The BAU Global Education Network is comprised of higher education institutions spread around the world. This international network welcomes students from across the globe to study at a number of locations. Students and graduates of BAU Global form an academic community that spans many countries on four continents: North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Also, there are several K-12 schools, Bahcesehir Colleges, affiliated with BAU. Currently, Bahcesehir College educates over 70.000 students at 125 campuses all around Turkey.