The International LUMA StarT Awards will be awarded for the second time this year. The StarT gala is organized by LUMA Centre Finland, a network of all Finnish science and technology universities with a common goal of promoting science, mathematics and technology education on all grade levels.
In 2017-2018, 500 project teams and 100 best educational practices from 20 different countries have participated in the StarT programme of LUMA Centre Finland.
The winning projects have provided ideas on how mining accidents could be prevented by programming a safe helmet, and on how students can educate each other on climate change through their own club. One of the winning projects showed how kindergarten children can actively learn about history by doing same things people in the Stone Age did, during all of the school year.
The winning best educational practices showed how to make true real-life connections in secondary school mathematics, how kindergarten children can be real researchers and gave an example of creating a culture of scientific and technological learning in a country.
In their evaluation criteria, the StarT jury has focused on innovativeness, interdisciplinarity, collaboration and creativity.
“The key to success is curiosity, creativity and collaboration. They are needed to conquer the difficult problems of our times. The participants of the Start projects have demonstrated all these characteristics and skills which will benefit them in all areas of life in the future.” Director General for the Finnish National Agency for Education, Mr. Olli-Pekka Heinonen
The public’s most voted favourites and the most active countries will also be awarded at the StarT Gala. In addition, the Finnish National Awards will be handed. The media is warmly welcomed to the StarT gala, which is organized at the main building of the University of Tampere (auditorium D10A) on the 5th of June at 14:00. The programme for the StarT gala can be found here: https://start.luma.fi/en/start-gala-2018/
Additional information
- The comments of the StarT jury can be found here.
- The composition of the StarT jury 2018 can be found here
- Pictures of the awarded teams for the media can be found here
- The best of the national Finnish StarT can be found here.
- Read more about StarT here: https://start.luma.fi/en/
- Read more about LUMA Centre Finland here: https://www.luma.fi/en/centre/
Contact us
Director of LUMA Centre Finland and StarT Professor Maija Aksela, LUMA Centre Finland / University of Helsinki, info@start.luma.fi
StarT International Project Manager Anette Markula, LUMA Centre Finland / University of Helsinki, anette.markula@helsinki.fi
StarT National Project Manager Outi Haatainen, LUMA Centre Finland / University of Helsinki, outi.haatainen@helsinki.fi
International LUMA StarT Award 2018 (best projects by students)
- “Baret_Care”, students Halil Ataberk Bakırcı, Ahmet Efe Bakırcı and others, Turkey
- “EcoChange”, Agrupamento de escolas de Alcanena, students Bárbara Correia, Catarina Naia, Guilherme Santos, José Coutinho and Maria Farinha, Portugal
- “Jump into the life at the Stone Age: Winter” (Hyppy kivikauden elämään: talvi), Day Care Center Piilometsä, Finland
International LUMA StarT Education Award 2018 (best educational practices of instructors and teachers)
- Innovation for Creativity Development Association, Suraaya Ayyad, Jordan
- MEF Middle School, Simge Sohtorik, Turkey
- Preschool group Puuhiset Satulaiva, Kirsi Rehunen, Finland
The public’s favourites
Public’s favourite project:
- “Waste Busters” with their project “Lemna grinder”, students Zeynep Sude Çetin, Bora Özkan, Zeynep Eyüpoğlu, Berfin Elçin, Kerim Berber, Umay Eskialp, Melike Damla Özdemir, Aslıhan Eşkin, Gizem İdil Tunçbilek and Bilgesu Gökçenur. Turkey.
Public’s favourite best practice:
- “StarT Day in S.O.S. Project Schools” S.O.S. Project Schools, Turkey.
The most active countries
The most active countries out of the 20 countries participating in the StarT were Turkey and Estonia. Turkey has registered the most StarT projects, and Estonia has organized a national StarT Science Festival.