<< Background >>The ever-increasing use of technology in all aspects of modern life has made the youth to be dependent on online activities while interest in offline learning activities is lost. For students to engage in school subjects and develop related competencies, educators should provide them primary with the proper stimuli and secondary with supporting knowledge and skills (https://www.edutopia.org/st-college-career-stem-research). Considering how the whole education procedure was forced into distance learning in virtue of COVID-19, it is certain that skills, such as problem-solving, critical thinking and teamwork, are slowly being neglected (https://www.futurity.org/stem-education-equity-covid-19-2438882-2/), while subjects that require a hands-on approach are becoming less attractive (https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/how-pandemic-changing-stem-education). As a result, distance teaching is becoming less engaging and motivating, while thought-provoking experiential learning is becoming obsolete and antiquated.Teaching STEM usually involves hands-on work either from the educator’s side while showcasing experiments, or from the student’s side while experimenting. With the global pandemic forcing distance learning, subjects of STEM lost the hands-on or experiential teaching side, and are currently losing students’ participation and engagement, especially at young ages (https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/how-pandemic-changing-stem-education), when children require additional activity and stimulation. In addition, the lack of direct support from a tutor along with students’ feelings of isolation and technological gaps (https://www.tutordoctor.com/blog/2015/may/problems-and-solutions-for-distance-learning/) have endangered STEM education to lose its uniqueness of building things.SCRAPY wants to address the following target groups:Direct:- Teachers/educators of STEM subjects in secondary education to whom SCRAPY aims to educate on digital education practices (experiential learning, game-based learning) in order to teach STEM-related lessons in an engaging and stimulating fashion either in a classroom environment or via distance learning.- Students (8-14 years of age) to whom SCRAPY aims to educate on physical computing, programming and simple DIY electronics in order to foster STEM and increase their interest in related fields.Indirect:- Parents, educational community (trainers/academic staff), who can use the hardware and software to offer informal education to their children/students.- Policymakers, ministries of education and academic bodies, who can take into consideration initiatives such as SCRAPY when designing new education policies and frameworks.<< Objectives >>The project SCRAPY has as primary objective to strengthen educators' competencies for distance STEM learning by offering a state-of-the-art solution of custom-made hardware and software in order to teach young students physical computing, programming and DIY electronics development.In terms of specific objectives, we can identify the following:- Providing educators with a hands-on experiential approach to physical computing and programming which is engaging for young children without necessarily increasing screen time.- Developing an effective educational package that integrates STEM subjects and can be utilised in either a classroom environment or through distance learning.- Strengthening educators' capacity to offer engaging and stimulating lessons to their students by using digital tools and technologies.- Incorporating gamification and experiential learning in the teaching procedure of STEM-related and other subjects.- Creating a community of practice for educators and learners, through a virtual academy, which ensures continuity and further development of project outcomes, as well as promotes collaboration and constructive discussions.- Creating evidence-based policy and research recommendations for the use of hands-on educational play in primary and secondary education curricula.- Reinforcing the ability of educational institutions to provide high quality, inclusive digital education.<< Implementation >>First of all, the partnership comprises an engineering graduate school, a primary school, two STEM education centres, a company offering bespoke software development services and game-based training and a technical consultancy designing and developing hands-on training tools. Through the cooperation of such a diverse and experienced consortium and in order to achieve the project objectives, the following activities will take place:- Design and develop an educator's manual for using the SCRAPY KIT to teach students physical computing, programming, circuit basics, physical blocks and hands-on constructions;- Elaborate a glossary, explaining terms used in STEM, physical computing, programming, electronics, engineering, etc;- Design and develop the SCRAPY KIT powered by a Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller, complemented by custom-made sensors and electronics to simulate and experiment on physical computing principles;- Test the educator's manual and kit with educators from the educational organisations of the partnership;- Design lesson plans in support of the educator's manual to build kits and use electronics and peripherals in an educational hands-on play approach;- Design and develop an online drag & drop coding platform in order to program the provided hardware by following simple programming scripts;- Test, validate and finalise the SCRAPY tools and resources with the direct target group through piloting activities organised in partners' countries.- Support the final outcomes through a dedicated virtual space (SCRAPY Academy) providing access to all project results and infrastructure for supporting the growth of a community of adopters/practitioners/enthusiasts.An iterative methodology will be followed: three versions of the results are produced, one in each iteration. After each iteration, the results are tested/validated and based on the conclusions the next iteration is planned and executed.In addition, the project foresees the organisation of three transnational project meetings in partner countries, a learning/teaching/training activity as well as the organisation and execution of four multiplier events aiming at the promotion of the project outcomes and finally, another two multiplier events focused on the sustainability of the project and exploitation of project results.<< Results >>The project SCRAPY will develop educational content, a drag & drop coding platform and a do-it-yourself electronics kit to enhance distance STEM teaching and develop competencies of educators in delivering highly motivating and engaging lesson related to science, engineering, technology and mathematics. Educators will learn how to build and configure the electronics kit, how to utilise the software and how to deliver the lesson plans to their students in either a classroom setting or via distance learning. Ultimately, educators by using the project outcomes will be able to arouse students’ interest and increase their motivation to learn physical computing and programming.Expected outcomes comprise the following:- The SCRAPY KIT comprising of a Raspberry Pi Pico, custom-made sensors and electronics, and other necessary peripherals.- The SCRAPY Coder, an online drag & drop coding platform based on Google Blockly to program the hardware.- The SCRAPY Guide containing detailed instructions on how to use the suggested hardware and software along with lesson plans to implement.- The SCRAPY Academy, an online space where educators, students and STEM stakeholders in general, can meet online, discuss, showcase their projects, build synergies, access and further develop the project results.