STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) is an innovative way of education adapted to the society of the future.
The distinction between STEM and the traditional educational process is that, using the scientific disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, it utilises a blended learning environment that shows students how the scientific method can be applied in everyday life, turning repetitive and disconnected scientific knowledge into interesting activities. Each of the STEM components is reinforced individually, but at the same time they are all reinforced together, and by subjects seemingly unrelated to them, such as Arts or Human Science.
At Kotronis Schools we aim to enrich every course with the STEM philosophy, which was introduced in order to offer our students not just another educational program, but an overall philosophy that infuses and adds colour to the entire educational routine. It is applied at all levels, from kindergarten to senior high school, and is differentiated according to the capabilities and needs of each student’s age.
Goals of the STEM programs at the Kotronis Schools
- Promoting inquiry-based learning and the “learn by doing” philosophy in the educational process
- Horizontal use of technology
- Relating STEM subjects to students’ everyday lives
- The interconnection of scientific fields and the study of concepts and principles through interdisciplinary approach.
- The development of skills such as creativity, deductive and productive thinking, problem-solving, critical thinking, logic, cooperativeness
- Strengthening students’ self-confidence, moral and social awareness by linking scientific issues with corresponding social and ethical aspects
Each STEM educational activity focuses on a different subject. With this method, children learn about the subject from different professions and explore their talents in different areas.
Thus, our students learn:
- to work cooperatively in teams from an early age, communicating, arguing and disagreeing
- to solve mathematical and logical problems
- to develop Computational Thinking skills
- to program on the ARDUINO open platform
- to build robotic devices with open hardware and open software
- to combine knowledge from the fields of Science, Computer Science and Mathematics
- to discover the laws of science through laboratory activities, recording phenomena and events, measuring, comparing, designing, creating graphs and drawing conclusions
- to increase their understanding the concepts of physics, mathematics, computing and technology through instructions for developing constructions
- participate and excel in STEM-related student competitions.
- to become familiar with research sites and the process of science by visiting the largest research centres in Greece and abroad
