Combining Music and STEM education: expanding the STROOM Framework in Belgium and Italy

We applied for the project to enhance and globalize the STrOOM framework, initially tailored for Flemish schools. The need to adapt this educational structure for a broader, international audience was paramount. Our objectives included fostering cross-border collaboration among students, enabling them to work on shared projects and gain diverse perspectives. We aimed to address the gap in integrating music and ICT into regular curricula by designing specialized lessons and enhancing pupils' learning experience and skill set. Furthermore, we are committed to offering these innovative lessons and proven best practices at no cost, contributing to an enriched resource pool accessible by a global community of educators.

We wanted to achieve several objectives by implementing the project. We wanted to enhance strategies for schools’ capacity to engage in cross-border cooperation and networking with other schools in the EU. In addition, we wanted to explore new teaching methods combining music and STEM education, as we believe this can foster creativity, innovation, and interdisciplinary skills among pupils. We wanted to ensure that our project is inclusive and digitally oriented, as we recognize the importance of addressing students' diverse needs and preferences in the 21st century. This proposal focused on five main objectives to achieve digital readiness and STEAM competencies: 1) Exchange of experiences between secondary school educators in STEM and music 2) Introducing at least two new learning and teaching methods in STEAM for at least 50 students. 3) Training at least four educators firsthand in the STrOOM framework 4) allowing at least 50 students to work together on a STEAM course in an intercultural setting 5) Communicate the STrOOM Framework to 200 teachers

We launched our project in Belgium with a meeting and training on the STROOM FRAMEWORK and its educational benefits. We tested software platforms with pupils and created new courses based on the STrOOM framework. We presented them to partners online and implemented the STROOM course in Belgium and Italy, gathering feedback. We met in Italy to discuss results and plan a joint project with our expertise and resources. We developed and implemented it in Italy and Belgium to improve the quality and relevance of our education. We defined the collaborative project online with all participants. We met in Italy again to review outcomes and design a shared project. We held online meetings with stakeholders to finalize the joint project. PXL-Music Bachelor students designed modules on ICT and audio production for the project. These initiatives were the main activities during the exchanges between pupils in Italy and Belgium. The joint project and modules were the concrete output. From April 2023, we disseminated results via various channels and events. We shared outcomes and experiences with other stakeholders and interested parties. We created a website and a content plan to communicate our project and circulate our results.

One of the outcomes of our project was to create English booklets that allow teachers and pupils to use software to produce audio and music projects cooperatively. The pupils of the partnering schools tested these booklets to create different music and audio projects. These booklets have been reviewed based on their input and the insights gained and are designed to be accessible and engaging for a broad audience of teachers and pupils. Other concrete outputs are a series of teach-the-teacher sessions in Belgium and Italy and a website (https://stroom.pxlmusic.be/stroom4eu/) via which we have made our booklets available for free so teachers and pupils can download, execute, and share them with others.