STEM4Agri : STEM Practices For Modernising Agricultural Training

This project aimed to involve VET trainees and trainers in STEM training using innovative Digital Agriculture technologies. Learners participated in interdisciplinary activities that encourage you...

This project aimed to involve VET trainees and trainers in STEM training using innovative Digital Agriculture technologies. Learners participated in interdisciplinary activities that encourage young people to be creative with technology and acquire digital skills in demand. Modern Digital Agriculture is chosen as a practice that incorporates STEM disciplines that can enhance the attractiveness of the VET Institute and can lead to the job market. The didactic practices being followed reflected this progress and utilized real-world problem paradigms to solve and prepare them for their future professional role. Such challenges and job opportunities intrinsically exist in agriculture, which is a critical sector for feeding the growing population on Earth, against natural source depletion and pandemics. In this context, this project aimed to explain how STEM – based techniques can be customized to form a characteristic bouquet of activities to better prepare students for their careers in a rapidly changing environment, resulting in an innovative skillset that makes agricultural practices more efficient and environmentally friendly. The experience being gained, can be useful far beyond the area of agriculture.

Through the project, the following activities were implemented: 1)Managing the STEM4Agri Project 2)Adapting the necessary conventional and mainly cutting-edge agricultural technologies paradigm from the AUA university curriculum to the VET curriculum 3)Training VET trainers in the context of focusing on STEM actions and artifacts that are directly related with environmental and agricultural processes 4)Training VET trainees in the context of focusing on STEM actions and artifacts that are directly related to environmental and agricultural processes 5)Verifying the skills acquired by all the trainees 6)Dissemination of beneficial results

Participating trainees were benefited from various STEM themes combining creativity, innovation, and constructiveness that can lead to a promising career. As they worked on their interdisciplinary projects, they had the opportunity to develop digital skills, explore scientific concepts, be familiar with the digitization of the agri-sector and apply Digital and Sustainable agricultural practices. Furthermore, the project provided trainers with professional development skills in the STEM field. The feedback received through discussion among the participating people indicated the positive contribution of the project to the improved ability of the trainees and future professionals to investigate, assess, combine the afore mentioned solutions in order to assist and consult farmers and agri-food sector personnel in general to make better selection of equipment and production/transport/preservation methods. The guidelines for the creation of Digital Agriculture Technician specialty became more mature, the objectives and the methods of the project were communicated via national and international conferences and events, while the most representing content was uploaded to the cloud services supported by the DIEK Aigaleo.