The summit took place at Newton Rome and brought together representatives from Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Croatia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, France, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Norway. The participants represented Newton Rooms, schools, educational organisations, industry and partner organisations.
For Per-Arild Konradsen, CEO and Founder of FIRST Scandinavia, and COO Silke Kumeus, the value of the summit lies in bringing people from different parts of the network together.
– We come from different countries and work in different settings, but we have much in common. We want to give children and young people high-quality, practical STEM education, and there is a lot we can learn from each other, they say.
Learning from each other
Several partners shared experiences from their own countries.
Eveline van den Aker from Aircraft Maintenance & Training School and Newton Noord-Brabant talked about how partnerships have been developed in the Netherlands. Guillaume De Chazournes from Fédération Léo Lagrange presented recent PISA findings and discussed the decline in results in Europe.
The programme also included contributions from outside the Newton network. Boeing shared experiences from its international STEM engagement, while Hans van der Loo, initiator and ambassador of the EU STEM Coalition, spoke about the role STEM education can play in meeting future societal needs.
Norwegian professor and science communicator Jo Røislien presented Mathematics to the Masses!, showing how complex mathematics and science can be communicated to a wider audience.
There was also time for practical work. Participants tested the Newton module The Inventor and joined a workshop on how Newton could be scaled to reach more students and new locations.
International network, local Newton Rooms
Although the Newton Rooms share the same concept and educational framework, they operate in very different local settings.
Local partners, schools and organisations play an important role in how each Newton Room is established and developed. The summit gives partners an opportunity to compare experiences, discuss what works in different countries and bring ideas back to their own organisations.
– Meeting face to face gives us time to discuss things we do not always get to cover in online meetings. We hear what others are doing, share our own experiences and often leave with ideas we can use at home. That is an important part of developing Newton together, say Kumeus and Konradsen.
