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STEMPOWERING YOUTH IS AN EXTRACURRICULAR, EDUCATIONAL STEM-SKILLS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR TEENAGERS, WHICH, IN 2020, EVOLVED INTO GENERATION NEXT PROGRAM.
The STEMpowering Youth program was created in 2017, aiming at enhancing the teaching of science and technology in remote areas of Greece, as adolescents living in such areas have fewer opportunities for STEM activities (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics).
During the program, training seminars are offered to teachers in remote areas, who, then, organize free STEM workshops in their local community, for high school students (12-17 years old). Students participating in the program are taught engineering, programming, physics, astronomy, etc, with interactive teaching methods, whilst, at the same time, they learn about developing mobile applications, utilizing IoT (Internet of Things) technologies, using Arduino Sensors, etc. Moreover, students have an astronomy educational game at their disposal, "The Moondiver Xperience".
Additionally, STEM educational equipment packages are sent to selected schools in Greece, in order to strengthen the teaching of the science courses. At the end of each educational cycle, teenagers are asked to identify a problem in their local community, and then, to create a project by utilizing their knowledge and skills. With this project, they are eligible to take part in the program's competition, with an educational trip as prize.
For three consecutive years (2017-2019) and five successful training cycles, STEMpowering Youth was conducted in 47 areas of Greece, from Thrace to Crete and from the Ionian to the Northeast Aegean. It trained a total of 52 teachers, who set up 62 STEM workshops, while 43 schools across the country received STEM educational equipment donations. In total, STEMpowering Youth was embraced by more than 12,000 students, inspiring them to create 180 projects and compete for an educational trip to CERN, participating in a unique learning experience.
STEMpowering Youth has stood out for its substantial impact on Greek society as a tool for empowering young people, winning a significant award in June 2019, the Sustainable Success Award, as part of the internationally recognized Mariano Gago Ecsite Awards.
The program is implemented by SciCo, with the academic contribution of Ellinogermaniki Agogi and the support of the Vodafone Foundation. In September 2019, STEMpowering Youth evolved into Generation Next, a free access STEM-skills training program.
STEMpowering Youth has been approved in the past for its educational content by Open Schools for Open Societies - OSOS, which is coordinated by the Institute for Education Policy (IEP).
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