Inspire Teachers to Integrate DATA Science in STEM Subjects

We applied for this project to address a critical need in STEM education at lower secondary level (ISCED 2): the lack of integration of data science in the school curriculum. As data becomes an essential part of everyday life and professional fields, students and teachers need to develop data literacy skills, including how to collect, analyze, and interpret data. However, most teachers do not have the necessary training and resources, as data science has not traditionally been included in teacher training or school textbooks, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. The project addresses this needs by providing innovative and practical tools for teachers, including professional training and ready-to-use educational resources. It supports the development of students' digital and transversal skills and contributes to the modernization of school curricula. Our motivation was to empower teachers, inspire students, and ensure that our education systems are better aligned with the requirements of the digital transformation and the future needs of the labor market.

With the implementation of the project, we wanted to achieve: *Enhance students' key competences (digital competence: information and data literacy; communication and collaboration; digital content creation; problem solving) by developing a bespoke toolkit of learning resources on DATA science; *Enhance STEM teachers' competences in teaching data science as part of the ISCED level 2 curriculum by developing an online training course and training 30 teachers from Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Greece; *Support the professional development of teachers through targeted joint staff training in Portugal and by developing a training course for trainers and training 9 teachers to become trainers of other teachers on the topic of DATA science, thereby increasing and sustaining the impact of the project at national level and ensuring ongoing support for their colleagues on a regular basis. *Contribute to the modernization of STEM education and the promotion of the use of digital technologies in a creative and effective way by developing innovative resources for teachers and students, as well as by reaching out to 2500 education stakeholders across Europe by sharing and promoting the benefits of integrating data science into the classroom.

The project implemented a set of structured activities organized in 6 work packages. *We started with Project management and coordination activities to ensure smooth communication, planning, and quality assurance (WP1). *A Joint Staff Training in Portugal brought together teachers and education experts from to gain initial knowledge and exchange experiences on teaching data science (WP2). *We then developed the We Teach DATA School Box – a set of innovative learning resources tailored for lower secondary STEM education (WP3). *In parallel, we created an online training course for teachers We Teach DATA Master Class, aiming to enhance teachers digital and pedagogical competences to teach data scinse as a part of the curriculum at ISCED level 2 (WP4). *A We Teach DATA Training of Traineres was implemented to build a network of expert teachers capable of supporting their peers at the national level (WP5) *Throughout the whole project lifetime we conducted extensive dissemination through multiplier events, newsletters, social media, and direct outreach to stakeholders (WP6) These activities ensured broad awareness and engagement with the project’s goals and outcomes.

As a result of the implementation of the planned activities, we achieved the following results: *JST in Portugal – 7 partner school teachers and 8 partner education experts trained on the general subject of data science *WTD School Box – Digital learning resources with 36 ready lessons on DATA Science for students ISCED 2 *WTD Teacher Master Class – Online training course with 13 modules for STEM teachers *WTD Training of trainers – Developed Training course for trainers of teachers *4 multiplier events (2 online and 2 face-to-face) – BG, SK and EL for 199 participants in total *33 teachers with enhanced knowledge on how to integrate data science in the curriculum *19 teachers become trainers of their peers on the topic of data science *895 lower secondary students exposed to innovative resources on data science, thus with increased motivation to choose a STEM career and enhanced digital competences *4465 stakeholders with raised awareness on the benefits from introducing data science at ISCED 2 reached through targeted sharing and promotion campaign to include 5 newsletters, 14 internal staff meetings, 17 external meetings, 4 multipliers, project website, social media page, etc. *7 organisations with iimproved capacity & service