STEM in primary education

There is general agreement among practitioners that the manner by which science is taught at the level of primary schools influences students perceptions and attitudes towards science, and their uptake of STEM subjects and careers later on. Primary school teachers can play a central role, but they often feel insufficiently prepared to approach STEM subjects in their classes. Their challenges have been discussed between 20 STEM education stakeholders and 22 primary school teachers participating in the 13th Scientix Projects Networking Event. As a result, three key strategies were proposed to tackle the most challenging aspects of delivering effective STEM teaching in primary classrooms: raising the quality of teacher training, increasing easy access to high quality teaching resources and raising the STEM culture in primary education. This observatory presents a set of actionable recommendations for projects organisations looking to address these challenges.