1. Overall, underachievement persists in mathematics and sciences in the EUThe latest PISA results (2018) show that the underachievement rate is 22.4% in mathematics and 21.6% in science, meaning that the European Commission's ET2020 benchmark which targeted an underachievement rate of less than 15% has not been reached. In addition, while performance in maths remained stable, it deteriorated in sciences. Therefore, there is a need for innovation in the way mathematics and sciences are taught in European secondary schools.2. Engagement and interactivity can be the key to unlock STEM teaching & learningIn “Beyond achievement: A comparative look into 15-year-olds’ school engagement, effort and perseverance in the EU”, the DG for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture pointed out the importance of learners motivation and engagement at school. It can be said that science, technology, engineering and mathematics all have a negative image at school: they are often perceived as difficult, abstract, or disconnected to the “real” daily life. Many students believe they are not able to tackle these subjects, which prevents them from ever imagining a career in these areas, in particular girls, underprivileged students and students who already struggle with difficulties at school.This reveals a real need to make STEM more concrete and closer to students.3. The teaching and learning experience should more tailored to students’ abilities and needsTeachers understand that not all students can follow the same course at the exact same pace and perform the same, as they spend time exchanging with students in their class and working on strategies to adapt to everyone. However, this basic fact has been put into the spotlight as schools closed down during the COVID-19 lockdown in spring. Suddenly, both teachers and students had to adapt to new studying context and realities. Surveys and teachers’ interviews have revealed: (1) during the lockdown, classes had to become more interactive and students be made more autonomous or risked students dropping out of virtual classes, (2) those for whom school closures have been the most negative were those who already underperformed at school, (3) even those who performed well could end up disengaged as they saw less point in waiting for the others to progress.There is a need for educative answers to the COVID-19 context to be inclusive and to give more agency to students to allow for everyone to explore at their own rhythm.OBJECTIVESThe project partners wish to create the first European virtual museum for STEM education at secondary level, that will include the needs of students with learning disorders.It will offer an experience that is immersive, interactive and engaging. As in a real museum, the students will be able to go and see what they wish, and to spend as much time exploring the notions and elements presented. To make sure it is useful for school education, it will come with supporting material to help teachers make the most of the tools provided, and guidance to link what it presented in the museum with the STEM programs. The Museum will be accessible from a regular web browser and not limited to virtual reality to make sure it is usable by most.TARGET GROUPS: secondary school students & STEM educators and teachersWHY A TRANSNATIONAL PROJECT1. Our approach can have benefits for all learners across Europe where only four countries have reached the 15% benchmark of the European Commission in mathematics and in science. All project partners are based in countries with a rate of low achievers in maths and science above the average of the EU, which makes the development of efficient methods for STEM education even more necessary and relevant: France (21.3%), Croatia (31.2%), Portugal (23.3%) and Cyprus (36.9%). The case of the Belgian partner is particular as the country performs decently in general (19.7% of underachievers) but with large differences between regions as the North of the country (the Flanders region) is one of the best performers while the South (Wallonia) keeps on underperforming as they are under the European average, like the other partners’ countries.2. There is a need to work at the EU level on solutions adapted to the needs of learners with Specific Learning Disorders (SLDs), which According to substantiated scientific estimates, the group of European Citizens with dyslexia and specific learning differences encompasses between 5 and 12 percent of the population.The partners will create the following OER in the 5 languages of the project (EN, FR, GR, PT, HR):- a virtual museum of STEM- a pedagogical guide on the use of virtual museum for STEM education- a creation and users’ guide- 60 collections related to the STEM program in secondary education in 4 collections: > the Science Exhibition> the Exhibition of Technological Advancements> the Contemporary Engineering Collections> the Exhibition of Hidden Mathematics

<< Background >>The Commission’s article “About Multilingualism Policy” stresses the importance of linguistic diversity and language learning in the EU to foster unity, intercultural understanding, employability, and mobility. Member countries are thus encouraged to provide better language learning opportunities from an early age, following the Council Recommendation on a comprehensive approach to the teaching and learning of languages, aiming to modernize and improve language teaching methods.The Eurydice report on key data on teaching languages at school in Europe (2017) shows that foreign language courses are now starting in primary school or even earlier. It emphasizes that 90% of students in lower secondary school chose English and that two thirds of EU countries use the CEFR as a reference for language levels at school. For students learning two foreign languages, the level set at the end of upper secondary school ranges between B1 for the second language and B2 for the first language. According to the results of the European Survey on Language Competencies measuring foreign language student proficiency (2015), only 42% of tested students reached an independent level (B1-B2) in their first foreign language and this number went down to 25% in the second foreign language. In addition to be a European priority, foreign language assessment will also be part of the 2024 targets of the OECD PISA test.The low student proficiency might also be explained by a lack of adaptations for students with specific needs, such as those with ‘Dys’ disorders, also called Specific Learning Disorders (SLDs). The European Dyslexia Association (EDA) estimates that around 9-12% of the European population has one or several SLDs. It stresses that the multilingual demands of the EU are triggering difficulties for ‘Dys’ students and has acquired support of the EU parliament in its effort to change legislation, attitudes, and practices in education and in the workplace. The Belgian Association of parents and professionals for children with learning difficulties (APEDA) also stressed that ‘Dys’ students need more support in language acquisition and foreign language learning than those with no special needs, as a new language comes with new sounds, letters, words, spelling, and grammar. It also emphasizes that English is one of the most complicated languages to learn, as it uses 40 different phonemes spelled in 1120 different ways. They compare it to French, which uses 36 phonemes spelled in 170 different ways. ESL is therefore one of the courses for which ‘Dys’ pupils will need more support and motivation.<< Objectives >>Our project aims to support teachers in adopting innovative tools and practices to create and use video games in their language courses to raise the motivation, engagement and participation of all their students, including those with SLDs. The focus of the project will be on ESL, since 90% of pupils choose it and as it causes more challenges for ‘Dys’ pupils. Associations for the Dys all around the world advise to use gamification such as quizzes and games and encourage the practice of language skills through informal channels (e.g. movies, series, music, and travels). However, gamification has proved to be efficient for all learners in several studies such as “Motivation, Engagement and Learning through Digital Games” by I. Iacovides et al. (2011). Our project focuses on gamification by exploring the creation of downloadable video games through different tools such as Genial.ly, RPGmakerV, Flowlab, or PowerPoint. These games will help raise the student’s motivation through non-formal and experiential learning and will be built around specific objectives to guide them towards improvement. The existing language learning games are often not adapted for students with SLDs. The inclusiveness of the games developed in this project will therefore be innovative and foster greater participation and success rates for those learners as well.<< Implementation >>The project will produce several results leading to three testing phases organised in partner countries. The expert partners will first start with the production of 6 pilot video games for ESL, adapted to the needs of learners with SLDs. These games will be tested by the partners and modified according to the received feedback. The requirements will be updated in order to prepare the production of the second batch of games.The second batch will consist of another 30 video games for ESL which will be developed by all partners, including school, based on the pilot video games and on the updated requirements and will be tested again in all partner countries. The feedback of participants will be collected and all games will be modified accordingly, to ensure their quality and relevance for the teachers’ needs.The third testing phase will be organised to evaluate the training material presented in the fourth Result: the creation tutorials e-learning module, made for language teachers to gain skills in video game creation for their students. This result will be tested and evaluated in all partner countries and feedback will serve to improve the quality and consistency of the online course with the teachers’ skills and training needs.The participants in the schools’ testing phases will then be interviewed in order to gather their testimonies, impressions, and good practices on the use of video games for ESL. These interviews will be shared in our sixth Result, the implementation guide, in order to foster the exchange of good practice and provide real-life application examples to future language teachers willing to use the project Results for their course.<< Results >>Through this project and its results, the following outcomes are expected:For teachers:•Enable improvement of language teachers’ professional practice and easy access to pedagogically adapted resources•Offer reliable tools to be used in different settings (video games to be used online in class or at home)•Offer an innovative language teaching approach and methods enhancing the teachers’ digital skills•Facilitate the inclusion of all students in language courses through the use of adapted gamesFor learners:•Increase student engagement and motivation in language learning•Increase ‘Dys’ students’ feeling of inclusion in language courses•Support the acquisition of language skills for all learnersThe practical Results of the project will be: •A booklet on “Engagement as key for success for ESL learning”•30 D-ESL practice sheets (Dys-friendly)•36 Video Games and pedgagogical sequences•A Creation Tutorials e-learning module•A Resources database•An Implementation guideAdditional results:•The project website on which all the material will be uploaded•Field tests in all 5 countries of the partnership with at least 200 participants•3 transnational meetings + 2 virtual meetings•5 multiplier eventsIncreased experience and knowledge of the partners in innovative and inclusive practices for language learning.

"<< Objectives >>We will identify activities and tools to feed young people's desire, trust and will to create a more tolerant, cohesive and open society.We intend to encourage their search for achievable utopias through alternative and innovative methods of raising awareness, participation, imagination and co-creation.Alternative paths must go through observing local needs, critical thinking, creativity and a greater understanding of transforming an idea into an act and being active citizens of their community.<< Implementation >>In addition to the activities related to the creation of the results, project management, transnational meetings and multiplication events in each partner country, the project will focus on the testing phase, which will ensure the relevance and practical utility of the project results in the European youth sector, and on the training, where we will train the first young utopians how to develop their ideas and implement them into reality, so how to be active in their civic life.<< Results >>The partnership intends to create innovative tools and activities to talk to young people about democracy, participation, European citizenship, and to allow them to reflect on the main social and environmental problems that characterize our society. The results will be provided to ensure replicability and accessibility of the project, ensuring the usability of all the contents and the creation of a ""digital container"" that will allow networking and cooperation EU wide."

“AgriCharisma- assessing and developing youth skills and in agro-entrepreneurship” project is aiming to empower young people to create strong teams and engage with agro- entrepreneurship.The 2019 OESC report provides strong evidence that young people in Europe are struggling to find work (unemployment 15%). However the report reveals the tendency of young people to take the risk and found their own start-up or innovative enterprise. Over 40% of them find it feasible to be self-employed within the next 5 years. However transmission between school and employment is challenging especially in rural agricultural areas. Even though the green economy accounts for 6% of the EU’s GDP, the population in rural areas is rapidly getting older while figures show that only 6% of the total managers in rural areas are under 35 years of age. The challenges young people are facing are lack of careers, training, managerial and professionals skills, lack of examples of successful innovative argo-enterprises, and lack of networks. ESM (Europe Startup Monitor) reveals that young people try to overcome all the above challenges by forming teams (over 79% of founders started as a team).AgriCharisma project proposes that the success key for a new agro-startup is the TEAM. The formation of a team with complementary skills, competences and roles before starting is crucial. Thus AgriCharisma emphasizes in developing tools for connecting young people interested in agro-entrepreneurship (platform), assessing their skills and competences and empowering them to develop their skills (E-courses and Serious game) and create efficient teams and agro-companies. At the same time it offers a guide to youth trainers and educators to effectively integrate those tools in their courses.OBJECTIVES-promote entrepreneurship education and agro-entrepreneurship among young people (age 18-24) especially those in rural areas-support young people to identify their skills and competences, in order to develop them more or acquire new for succeeding in developing sustainable agro-Enterprises-applying innovative non-formal game-based learning methods, developing innovative activities and creating innovative tangible digital tools promoting open education and innovative practices in agro-entrepreneurship in a digital era-promote empowerment, connection and engagement of young people to agro-entrepreneurship -strengthen the skills of youth trainers, coaches, career advisors and relevant professionalsTARGET GROUPS-Young men and women (age 18-30) especially from rural areas -Youth trainers and educators, career advisors, other relevant professionals-Youth centers, agro-clusters, university departments of relevant fields, other stakeholdersOUTPUTS-O1: Agricharisma Platform for young agro-entrepreneurs-O2: E-course Module 1: Key skills and personality characteristics of a strong founding team.-O3: E-course Module 2: Development of soft skills useful on agro-entrepreneurship through innovative hands- on activities-O4: AgriCharisma Digital serious game; on assessing personality characteristics and developing skills on Agro-entrepreneurship-O5: Guide for youth trainers and educators; on how to implement the innovative tangible tools and methods of Agricharisma in their courses.RESULTS-Young people will participate in activities within the framework of the project or get aware of them. Expected number indicator: 100-Staff and associates of the partner organizations including youth trainers, educators and relevant professionals will learn about the educational tools created within the project. Expected Number indicator:50-People will be informed through Dissemination activities and Project’s website about the outputs and results of the project. Expected number indicator: 2000TRANSNATIONAL INTERESTThe project meets a transnational need for innovation in the field of career development, education and engagement of young people on Agro-entrepreneurship. The partners Yuzupulse(France), The Polish Farm Advisory and Training Centre(Poland), CIP (Cyprus), Challedu (Greece), Dramblys(Spain) come from different backgrounds and are capable of creating a holistic approach. The digital, tangible materials and methods that will be developed through the project will be of global interest and will have the ability to be applied in different environments.

Multilingualism has been identified as playing a key role in fostering mobility and linguistic diversity in the EU by the European Commission’s article “About multilingualism policy” and the Council Recommendation on Key competences for Lifelong Learning. Language learning is therefore one of the top educational priorities in the EU, calling for innovative, inclusive and multilingual teaching methods allowing for students to speak two additional languages to their mother tongue. Language learning is a discipline that calls for regular practice and immersion in order to develop the four main language skills, namely: reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Language teachers are always on the lookout for innovative activities allowing them to work on those skills with their students. In the past few years, Escape Rooms (ER) have generated a growing interest among teachers as they are indeed engaging and immersive. Nevertheless, the existing solutions are often expensive, only in digital format, or do not fit the needs of teachers in terms of quality and/or accessibility. In order to really help teachers, this project will provide ready-made content as well as practical advice on how to implement such activities in the classroom for language learning. The goal of this project is to foster multilingualism and diversity in the EU by promoting good practices to implement ER in language courses. These games will consist of a scenario in which the students will develop their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in the foreign language by solving language riddles, decoding written and audio messages, communicating in the target language and exploring an environment filled with challenges and clues in order to escape a room. Our project’s approach is to guide language teachers and equip them with the knowledge and tools related to the creation of Escape Rooms. By using ER, we are creating a scenario in which students will be surrounded by elements allowing them to practice the target language. The experience will therefore be totally immersive. To create engagement, the students will have a motivating goal: to escape the room in which they have been locked, to open a chest, or to save the classroom, by working together and solving riddles.In addition to the four main necessary skills to practice a foreign language, two other aspects are important to include in this project: The first is cultural heritage. As a language always reflects a community's way of thinking and culture, it remains essential to teach students about the culture behind the language they are learning. With Escape Rooms, this can easily be integrated in the scenarios by choosing relevant figures as characters and by creating an environment that is true to the cultural reality.The second is the development of language teachers’ digital skills. The project will train them on the use of different resources in order to understand why and how to practically implement the use of ER in their language courses. Among those resources, some ICT tools will be recommended and tested by the partners, such as QR codes, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Voice Recognition, etc.The intellectual outputs developed in this project will be:•A booklet “ER and languages: a perfect match?”•A creation box with tools, resources and inspirations•A collection of 300 enigmas•A guide “Animation of a pedagogical ER for language education”•The creation of 50 ER scenarios