Engineering Week

Engineering Week

ukraine

Period of implementation of the project: 

01.08.2019-20.02.2020

Challenge: 

Despite the rapid development of science in the world, the introduction of new technologies, and the constantly growing demand for specialists in STEM, the engineering profession remains unpopular in Ukraine. The competition for engineering majors at Ukrainian universities is on average 3 times lower than that for economic and managerial majors. Meanwhile, it is the quality engineering training that drives the emergence of innovation in the country.

By promoting engineering, we create conditions for the schoolchildren’s harmonious development, regardless of gender, social origin, or state of health. Such a transformation will be the key to Ukraine’s economic development.

Solution: 

We will help teachers from around the country turn their schools into workshops and research laboratories for one week (between January 13th and January 17th, 2020). By immersing students in the world of science and technology, we will prove that every child in Ukraine can explore and master STEM professions.

The basis of the Engineering Week, along with the implementation of the concept of STEM education, is built of:

  • our team’s 2018-2019 study of educational programs of the best interactive museums of science in San Francisco, Milan, Stockholm, Berkeley;
  • the engineering design process as a basis of technical thinking and activity;
  • the DIY approach.

The training and teaching materials consist of engineering tasks, challenges, lessons on invention, recommendations, and weekly plans for primary, secondary, and high school teachers.

In developing them, we strive to show:

  • how the laws of nature manifest;
  • how things are arranged around us;
  • how just by using physical and chemical laws we can change the world around us.

At the end of the Engineering Week, we want teachers to inspire students for independent research and inventions by conducting thematic lessons on the stories of modern Ukrainian teenage inventors.

Results: 

In January 2020, we held the first Engineering Week, for which 751 secondary schools applied and in which 136,329 students and 4,774 teachers participated. Of all pupils, 54,977 attended primary school, 54,853 – secondary school, and 26,499 – high school. The Engineering Week’s geography covered every region of Ukraine.

It is crucial for us to make the program accessible for students living in small towns and villages, where they do not have the opportunities available to children from large cities.

Out of all schools that conducted the Engineering Week, 10.6% were located in settlements with a population of fewer than 1,000 people; another 29% located in places with 1,000-10,000 people.

The final report analysis has shown that a significant number of teachers saw no difference in the performance by girls and boys. Besides, the most involved students were often those who normally did not show interest in academic subjects. This signals about the little progress in contemporary practical education. Indeed, it is a poorly chosen or outdated format of teaching, not a child’s lack of abilities, that leads to a student being disengaged in lessons.

60% of previously involved teachers plan to use our tasks in their daily work throughout the year. A significant number of schools plan to change the format of typical subject weeks and scientific conferences to a more practical one.

99.1% of the previously participating schools plan to conduct the Engineering Week in January 2021.

We expect next Engineering Week will be held at around 2,000 schools.

Category: Prosperity

Company: NGO “Pro.Pro.Lab”

pro pro lab logo

About the company: 

The goal of the Pro.Pro.Lab organization is to encourage students to grow their engineering potential. This can be achieved through implementing educational solutions that will allow teachers to immerse their students in the world of science and technology, and help them explore these worlds from the inside.

Sustainable Development Goals

GOALS_Ukr-04
GOALS_Ukr-08
GOALS_Ukr-09
GOALS_Ukr-17

Partners

Institute of Education Content Modernization

New Ukrainian School

GlobalLogic Ukraine

Noosphere Association

PeremogaSpace

Bosch