Over the past two years, the LivingSTEM project partners have been working on learning materials, teaching materials and guidelines that teachers, educators, parents and stakeholders can now use for STEM education and education through permaculture activities.
LivingSTEM project uses the practical experience of Permaculture to engage students between 10 to 14 years old in the scientific subjects, which can boost STE(A)M learning, and encourage them to pursue a scientific career. While at the same time raising awareness with teachers and students about environmental issues,and giving them some key elements to an environmentally-friendly lifestyle.
In this article we present the results of our hard work.
We are currently testing and peer reviewing the prepared materials, with a view to finalising them in September and distributing them to all interested parties.
The main vehicle for information about the project, its idea and its materials is the guide:
THE LIVINGSTEM MANUAL
The aim of the Manual is to give teachers a framework to develop some activities in close collaboration with other actors in the field of permaculture. This free material was destined to teachers, facilitators and stakeholders who are or want to be involved in the creation of a cross-sectoral, collaborative scientific learning experience for children between 10 and 14 years old. The manual is be available in all project partners language.
Read the LivingSTEM Manual
The Gamification System
The Gamification System contains twenty educational outdoor and indoor games that fuse together STEAM subjects and Permaculture. Each activity can be spread over the school year and are best combined with theoretical as well as practical projects. The games are carefully laid out to develop a sense of intrigue, making the learning experience enjoyable and the implementation trouble-free.
Explore the Gamification System
We are currently testing our activities in schools, education centres, associations and permaculture farms.
Deck of cards
A deck of over 170 cards with seeds, plants, basic transformed products and animals was created. These explain details about the cultivation and nutritional value of seeds, plants,animals and basic transformed products(such as bread, honey, etc.). Children can be invited to find information during their treasure hunts and quests, which could contribute to the elaboration of the cards, for instance by mapping the journey of all the products.
Play with our Deck of Cards
Ideal Kitchen Garden Game
The Ideal Kitchen Garden is an educational multi-challenge Game with 4 interlinked phases. Its overall aim is to transfer to students how to design a vegetable garden with the interdisciplinary approach of STEM combined with the applied methods of Permaculture design.
Ongoing tests of the game have shown that it is very popular with children and teachers.
Discover the Ideal Kitchen Garden Game
Ideal Menu Game
The ideal menu game helps students to create their own menu, based on the knowledge they have acquired about food, the environment and their experiences in applied science.
The game is based on a board, action cards, the LivingSTEM “deck of cards” and a recipe canvas, to help girls and boys develop their ideas and have a more accurate picture of the expected final product.
With these elements it will be possible to carry out different variations on the game, and playful and educational activities, where children will learn and at the same time apply the knowledge acquired.
Test our Ideal Menu Game
Practical videos and testimonies
Students, teachers and educators can learn a lot with the LivingSTEM project activities, which is why we suggest recording short videos, in order to document the process and share the outcomes with others.
During the learning phase, pupils may create short videos and talk about the
experience in their own words. This will help them remember the
concepts, and will provide valuable content for follow-up learning
activities. Other pupils will be able to replicate the actions and learn
from these videos.
To facilitate the video recordings, we have put together a short and practical guide, with content for educators and students: the “The LivingSTEM guide – How to produce a video” and a “storytelling canvas” to draft the video content.
Check out our advices for you testimonies
Keep in touch with the progress of the project:
Visit the project’s website
Follow the project on Facebook: Living Stem #livingstem
An Erasmus+ project in collaboration with: GENERATIONS.BIO (Belgium), TRANSIT PROJECTES (Spain), EDU lab (Italy), The Polish Farm Advisory and Training Centre not-for-profit (Poland), ed-consult (Denmark) & Citizens in Power (Cyprus)