"The quality of our nutrition affects our well-being throughout our lives, but it has an even greater impact on children whose bodies and minds are still growing. As studies presents nutritional deficiencies can seriously damage a child’s neural development, possibly leading to lower IQ and even learning disabilities. The essential role nutrition plays for developmental, cognitive and behavioral outcomes in life’s early stages, unfortunately, is often not well understood and appropriately acted upon by schools and parents, as nutrition education program as well is not coherent and integrated into school curricula. If from a young age child health-friendly nutrition is taught, it is likely that these knowledge, understanding, habits will last a lifetime. This could contribute to obesity and other problems and diseases reduction across Europe. EU Strategy 2030, conferences responses, Framework for Action Education 2030 highlights the importance and educational improvement needs in early childhood development as ""education is one of the most potent ways of improving individuals’ health – and of making sure the benefits are passed on to future generations"" in this way reaching the topic of well-being and health to which the project with its aims and results corresponds. Therefore within the project “Innovative teaching methodology of health friendly nutrition development and practice in pre-primary and primary education (HealthEDU)“ we sought to create a comprehensive, unified educational program for children involving a unified education for teachers, school staff and parents (educational institutions community), too. To provide them with health-friendly education knowledge correlated with schools achievements, eating habits, positive attitudes, we developed and promoted understanding and health lifestyle principles and body awareness, suggesting health-friendly menus and dishes for children as well as a correct food culture. Methodical material contained trans-nationally formed educational activities for children, educational trips. The materials were systematized on the basis of international good practices, the knowledge gained during the professional international training courses, experience, EU countries’ working practice, the content of health-friendly nutrition information including the pedagogical point of view and the importance for child education and schools improvement, which is necessary for maintaining human beings’ good health. All this was prepared by thematic area specialists and in compliance with EU health policy, the World Health Organization recommendations, and international researches. An E-learning course created and evaluated by experts and also an approved training program plus its methodical material were developed. By creating a portal as Open Education Resources to public auditorium, teachers were able to learn, provide lessons and use it as material and full e-course. We also recommended the course and the teachers training (qualification development). At the end of the project, in Lithuania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain and Greece a final conference as strong dissemination event was organized in order to invite all target groups - educational communities, public bodies and local, regional, national authorities, experts for all the results, good practice, feedback from beneficiaries’ presentation, and also workshops and round table discussion. The conference was led by health-friendly food chefs through practical shows. The project sustainability raised awareness of such program usability in Europe. The project ensured the spread of information for the public and private sector educational organizations, networks, regional, local, national authorities and mass media. The creation and development of non-formal education program based on the best European practice and achievements were proposed and used as facultative or as integrated lessons to the already existing school curricula - this improved the school curricula, the children knowledge as well as the quality of education. To conclude, we can say that inclusive education, encompassing child+family+educators, led to qualitative education and corrected the way to understand each other, the willingness to learn together, the fostering of motivation and effective learning."

Digital technology has radically changed the way people work in industry, finance, services, media and commerce and has urged necessary corresponding changes in educational systems. However there is a lack of progress in the education arena. Hence, recent studies show that high percentages of college graduates can't find work, the dropout rate is high and new generations are moving back into their parents homes after school or college. Nevertheless, the digital trend indicates that today's grade-school children will end up at jobs that haven't been invented yet. Nowadays, several studies assure that digital fabrication and making technologies, if coupled with proper learning methodologies such as Constructivism can provide learning experiences that promote young people’s creativity, critical thinking, teamwork, and problem solving skills, which are essential and necessary in the workplace of the 21st century. However, as early as 2008 a OECD report remarked that “technology is everywhere, except in schools”. In addition to this, most uses of technologies in education and training today do not support 21st-century learning skills. In many cases, new technologies are simply reinforcing old ways of training and learning in current school settings and very often they are introduced according to a narrow perception as being suitable only for talented youth or only for Science-, Maths- or Engineering-oriented majors. Current developments call for a move from this elitism to the recognition that fluency with making technologies represents knowledge and skills valuable for every citizen. The eCraft2Learn project will research, design, pilot and validate an ecosystem based on digital fabrication and making technologies for creating computer-supported artefacts. The project aims at reinforcing personalised learning and teaching in science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) education and to assist the development of 21st century skills that promote inclusion and employability for youth in the EU. The eCraft2Learn ecosystem will support both formal and informal learning by providing the appropriate digital fabrication, making technologies, and programming tools. It will also incorporate mechanisms for personalised and adaptive learning.

Underachievement in STEM education is a problem for many European countries. It is an issue associated not only with the effectiveness of teaching and learning, but also with providing an equitable system of education. Many studies show that students perceive STEM subjects as complex and boring, abstract and disassociated with real life and their daily experiences. These perceptions generate negative attitudes towards STEM related disciplines and quite often lie beneath low achievements in these subjects. This reality is reflected in low skilled youth that struggle at dealing with the needs of the European job market. In order to face this problem, the MakeITReal project has created an international team of mutually complementing experts from the Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), Edumotiva -European Lab for Educational Technologies (Greece), CYRIC (Cyprus), Helix5 (the Netherlands), Aristotle University (Greece) and secondary schools from Poland, Greece and Poland represented by ILO (Poland), DIDE a’ Athinas (Greece) and ODTUGVO (Turkey). MakeITReal project engaged students 13-17 years old that underperform in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) education and keep distance from STEM related disciplines in creative product design and making practices following the “Maker Movement” trend in education, a global drive that encourages young people to be creative with technology. The project infused Arts into STEM, linked STEM to real life and engaged students in product design and making practices. Product design was chosen as a practice that integrates STEM disciplines, is a creative process providing links to Arts and is also reflected in industrial practices immersing students in entrepreneurial thinking and in the business culture.Special focus was placed on teachers’ professional development and on building the pedagogical and technical skills needed in order to facilitate the learning process, to support students’ in 3D modelling and 3D printing and to make connections across STEAM disciplines.During the project the following results were achieved: -The MakeITReal Technical Reference Guide detailing practical and technical issues related to 3D modeling and 3D printing -The MakeITReal Curriculum detailing the pedagogical ideas underpinning the MAKEITREAL intervention and focus on teachers’ familiarization with skill building regarding the way product design can be implemented in the class, with the activities that reflect STEAM related disciplines -The MakeITReal Pilot Protocol that provides detailed information on how teachers are supposed to work with the students and apply from a pedagogical perspective their learning experiments in the class -A Validation Report that brings together the results of the case studies in schools in Greece, Turkey and Poland-Realization of 4 blended training courses with the staff from the participating schools combining online training with short physical mobility of staff -Realization of 10 interdisciplinary projects that are interlinked to real life in the participating schools.-A Recommendation Policy Report that informs policy makers and relevant stakeholders regarding the MAKEITREAL intervention towards dealing in a creative way with under-achievement -Promotional material that is used for dissemination purposes, social media accounts, leaflets and the project website -Papers submitted to conference (E1) organised in end of the project in Poland.The findings from three case studies that took place in Greece, Poland and Turkey in an iterative manner confirmed that digital fabrication, making tools, 3D modelling, and 3D printing, combined with the theories of Constructivism and Constructionism can provide interactive learning experiences that enhance basic skills and performances in STEM disciplines, re-motivate and electrify creative capacities of underachievers and help them develop more positive attitudes towards STEAM related disciplines.The pilot studies confirmed that the MAKEITREAL initiative has the potential to propel STEAM education, support students in developing and practicing the 21st century skills and enhance teachers’ professional roles with pedagogical and technical skills useful for creating attractive and meaningful learning experiences in STEAM.

The technology-driven economy and skilled workforce in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) fields are considered the driving forces for innovation and growth in the European economy. However, a number of European studies register a declining interest in students’ interest and enthusiasm in STEM education. This declining interest in STEM, leads to low levels of entry to STEM tertiary studies and STEM careers – posing a major challenge for the future competitiveness of European countries on the world stage and calling for actions towards STEM raising interest and uptake. HOLOMAKERS aims at inspiring secondary school students (14-17 years old) in making STEM fields a career choice and continue their science education at university level by introducing them in the magic world of hologram making and virtual image processing and design. The project infuses Arts into STEM (leading to STEAM), links STEAM to real life and current laboratory practices and engages students in hologram making. Hologram making is used as a creative vehicle for bringing school community closer to the research community, familiarize students with laboratory practices in the area of STEAM, demonstrating scientific techniques through practical use of a range of technologies and tools and challenging students’ thinking on the underlying scientific concepts. The project targets also STEAM teachers/educators with the aim of helping them update their teaching skills, feel more confident in using innovative methods, digital resources and making tools in STEAM teaching, carrying out engaging and hands-on learning activities in STEAM and inspiring students towards STEAM related disciplines. The HOLOMAKERS project developed: 1) A technical reference guide that details the basics of holography, image processing and the making of holograms (https://www.dropbox.com/s/tnlqlbfh67r1ay8/HOLOMAKERS%20Technical%20Reference%20Guide.pdf?dl=0). 2) A number of portable holography kits that enable the making of holograms in the classroom, outside a specialized scientific laboratory, along with guidelines on the reproduction of the kits by the teachers for educational purposes 3) The HOLOMAKERS curriculum (https://holomakers.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/O3-curriculum_final.pdf) with Open Educational Resources in STEAM for teachers and students (https://holomakers.eu/oers)4) Hands-on activities for computer generated and analog making holograms (https://holomakers.eu/activities)5) An online class that will support teachers’ training in the HOLOMAKERS learning intervention (https://holomakers.eu/online-class)6) A pilot protocol that will guide the pedagogical implementation of the learning intervention (https://holomakers.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/O4-PilotProtocol-_final.pdf) 7) Final Evaluation Report (https://www.dropbox.com/s/i72umwuna2og6ud/HOLOMAKERS_Final_Evaluation_Report.docx?dl=0)The project brings together 6 organizations from 4 countries: Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), Edumotiva -European Lab for Educational Technology (Greece), FMD (Italy), AIJU (Spain) and secondary schools from Poland, Greece represented by ILO (Poland) and 6EK A PEIRAIA (Greece). All these organizations form an international team of experts and educational practitioners that complement each other towards propelling STEAM education, enhancing teachers’ professional roles, helping school students through innovative and creative hands-on activities that are interlinked to real life and scientific practices to develop positive attitudes towards STEM subjects and to acquire the skills needed in the European job market of the 21st century.

"The Maker Movement has emerged recently in education with the great promise to democratise access to opportunities for learning by making, for skills development and for fostering positive attitudes and openness to making for the future generations of citizens. Μaker Spaces have originated from the Maker Movement as places where young people have the opportunity to explore their own interests, learn to use tools and materials, both physical and virtual, and develop creative projects. According to constructionist models, students learn best when they are involved in making tangible objects. Makerspaces build on a holistic constructivist ideology to form a constructionist approach to education, and are the ideal environments to build maker mindset and practice the 21st century skills: creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork and entrepreneurial thinking skills.However, there is neither systematic introduction of the ‘making culture’ in school curricula in European school systems so far nor systematic teacher training on how to promote the making culture and the DIY spirit. In addition, often only privileged schools or specific groups of students have access to established makerspaces or opportunities for long-term engagement in making experiences. STEAM2GO embraces the Maker Movement trend and aims at bringing Maker Movement to as many students as possible. STEAM2GO aims at eliminating geographical and socio-economical obstacles by creating a mobile makerspace model (with low cost technologies) that can be wheeled from classroom to classroom (with the potential to move from one educational place to another as well). Moreover, the STEAM2GO project encourages the transformation of the role of the teacher in a maker space which is completely different from that of the instructor in a traditional class. To address this challenge, we design and implement a training curriculum for teachers to enable them toestablish and manage a maker space at school while transforming their role to that of a coach. The target groups include school teachers and educators active in STEAM subjects (from both formal and non-formal education settings) and secondary school students (age 13-18) who have not easy access to established makerspaces.The project methodology includes 5 core phases:1. Technical design2. Pedagogical design3. Teacher training4. Pilot studies with students (in Poland, Greece, Cyprus and Italy)5. EvaluationThe 5 phases are not strictly linear. As a matter of fact they are interlinked and inform one another. The methodology draws upon the principle of iterative design; the feedback gained by the participant school community is used for the refinement and improvement of the technical design, the educational resources and supporting materials.The results include:-A model for a mobile maker space that will be piloted in schools and non-formal education settings-""How-to"" guides and video for teachers/educators to enable them to replicate the mobile maker space-Educational package including open educational resources for teachers and learners to be used within the mobile maker space-A digital platform to connect researchers, teachers/educators, school students and non-formal learners, to support teachers and students in using the mobile maker space, to provide a forum for discussions and opportunities for teachers and students to upload their own ideas and projects-Teacher training workshops (throughout the project implementation period) that will engage 100 teachers/educators-Learning activities in schools and non-formal educational settings targeting directly students 13-18 years old in 4 countries (Poland, Cyprus, Greece, Italy )-Evaluation results from teacher training courses and learning activities with students that participate in the pilots- Four multiplier events (one in each participating country)Based on the premise that STEAM and maker education is important for students' empowerment, we aim to set up learning situations whereby all learners have the opportunity to engage. The long-term goal of the project is to promote maker education in schools, democratising access to STEAM education and innovation development for all the children, especially those belonging to non-privileged social groups which in turn will be a bold step towards equity in education. We argue that young people aren't just the future. They're the present, innovating and creatively solving problems in a range of fields. Students across the EU from every background should have the ability to build new products that could change lives around the world and STEAM2GO learning intervention can fulfill this goal."