Project title: STEMmersion: Immersive learning through our local STEM environment
Main STEM fields of focus: Science and Technology
This project aims to support primary educators by means of the provision of innovative resources
and ideas to communicate certain aspects of the Primary Science syllabus, which are perceived as
harder to achieve through hands-on tasks, or else require local digital resources that may currently
be scarce.
The creation of VR experiences, using 360 degrees imagery, will be accessible (online) for teachers
to use with their students. These digital outputs, namely VR experiences and other digital content,
are intended to facilitate appreciation, as well as to raise awareness about local environments and
local science practices. In addition, they will feature local individuals who work in STEM or STEMrelated careers.
These VR expeditions will be available to the whole educational community in Malta, with the content being freely accessible for all.
These VR experiences will be accompanied by a set of lesson plans that will be developed and
piloted as part of this project. These would be specifically related to learning outcomes from the
local Primary Science syllabus, from year 3 to year 6. These lesson plans will reflect a STEM
approach, through their integration of robotics, as well as other digital and pedagogical approaches.
This will enable educators to employ a more cross-curricular project-based learning approach to
science education and help our learners develop both scientific skills and 21st-century skills, such as
collaboration, critical thinking, creativity and computational thinking skills. These lesson plans
would be tied to at least one Sustainable Development Goal, thus exposing our learners to the
importance of eco-concious and sustainable living, help them appreciate our local environment and
raise their awareness of diverse STEM or STEM-related careers in Malta.
In line with this, project STEMMersion will also host and offer Continuous Professional Development
session(s) to educators towards the end of the project, to disseminate both the digital content and
pedagocical approaches used throughout the project.
To further encourage the use of these VR experiences beyond those by Primary Educators,
additional learning outcomes pertaining to other local STEM-related subjects across middle and
secondary school years, which link to the aforementioned digital content, will also be included. This
will enable and encourage other educators, as well as their students, to make use of such content in
their class.
