The Winners of the 2013 LUMA School competition have been announced. The prizes were rewarded for schools engaging students in STEM through innovative and inspirational activities.
Finnish schools use and innovate diverse and inspirational activities to engage children and young people in STEM subjects. LUMA Centre Finland supports teachers and schools in the development of teaching and learning in STEMsubjects. The annual LUMA School competition rewards and recognizes the efforts of active schools.
In 2013 the LUMA School competition was divided into three series: I) pre- and primary schools, II) middle schools and III) upper seconday schools and vocational schools. Participating schools reported on their STEM activities during 2013 with special emphasis on the year’s themes: global environmental challenges, Finnish innovations and know-how, the year of Statistics and functional mathematics.
Winners of the LUMA School competition had different approaches to engaging STEM activities. Their examples of good practices included events and workshops built around the themes as well as innovative projects encouraging skills in communication and investigative learning.
Trees adopted for investigation
Kindergarten Metsäpolku from Taipalsaari won series I for pre- and primary schools. The entire learning environment in Metsäpolku (“Forest path”) supported the children’s curiosity towards nature and natural phenomena, skills in questioning and critical thinking as well as active participation. ‘
The toddlers had for example adopted individual trees from the nearby forest, and continued to measure and examine their trees throughout the seasons. The globally important issue of clean water was addressed though a project where the children designed and tested their own water-cleaning apparatus.
Oral math olympics and simulated oil spills
Viikki Teacher Training School in Helsinki won the middle school series. Their activities included for example oral mathematics olympics for 7th graders, math challenges and workshops. In biology the topics embraced global challenges through simulating oils spills and recovery techniques in the Baltic region.
The winner of the third series was the Kokkola vocational school from Western Finland. In Kokkola the most engaging STEM theme had been Finnish innovations and know-how, which had sparked numerous visits, interaction with scientists and experts as well as student experiments and research. Importantly, the Kokkola vocational school had increased the effectiveness of their STEM activities by reaching out to local primary schools. According to their report, the children’s participation in the school’s activities had been a reward of its own.
The winners of the LUMA School competition will be rewarded with diplomas and a 500 € stipend each. The prize ceremony will take place at the Nordic Research Symposium on Science Education in Helsinki in June 2014.
The LUMA School 2013 competition was organized by LUMA Centre Finland. The stipends were sponsored by the Chemical Industry Federation, Forest Industries and the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries.
Text: Maija Pollari. Photo: Kindergarten Metsäpolku.
