Enhancing technological and digital literacy of children and young people

28.11.2022 l Latest news 

The municipalities of Fredericia, Lemvig, Frederikshavn, Brønderslev, Tønder, Vordingborg, Thisted and Allerød are receiving a total of DKK 43.3 million to set up makerspaces and train teachers. In so doing, VILLUM FONDEN is now supporting students’ scope for technological learning and exploring and for creating products in one-fourth of Denmark’s municipalities.

The core of this year’s makerspaces is to take a critical and constructive approach to technology and provide hands-on explorations of the many options provided by technology. Grants from VILLUM FONDEN enable eight municipalities to establish makerspaces and launch processes that enable students to explore and learn about digital technologies. The makerspaces provide a work space for children and young people for hands-on learning and exploring of various materials and technologies and using these to resolve real-life problems:

“We can see that many municipalities want children to acquire the skill sets to navigate a digitised world skilfully and responsibly. They’ve started working on this – even without the support of the foundation. That’s why we’re pleased to be able to nudge a trend in which municipalities – both with and without a grant from us – are including makerspaces in their educational activities,” says Jette Hundahl Mikkelsen, VILLUM FONDEN’s funding specialist in the area of children, youth and science:

“We’re particularly interested in ensuring that the learning process in a makerspace involves both boys and girls. All children and young people must experience the learning process as relevant and motivating, so they – regardless of gender – learn something about technology, understand how it affects our society and democracy and see it as part of their future.”

The applications received this year represent a wide variety of ways to bring digital technologies into play in a learning environment. Makerspace initiatives encompass a variety of approaches and methods, depending on the individual municipality’s strategies, goals and visions.

The eight municipalities to receive funding in this round of applications are Fredericia, Lemvig, Frederikshavn, Brønderslev, Tønder, Vordingborg, Thisted and Allerød.

Fredericia Municipality will establish makerspaces at all fourteen of its schools. The municipality wants to establish a structure in which all children, regardless of gender and background, have the opportunity to learn about and explore technologies both during and after school:

“Setting up makerspaces at all of Fredericia’s schools gives us a fantastic opportunity to provide work spaces which motivate children and young people to enjoy creative problem-solving and making things together. All our girls and boys – regardless of background – must have the best opportunities to prepare for a world in which digital technologies are both challenging and basic prerequisites. That’s what they’re getting now,” says Kia Skovbo Ehlers, Project Manager, Department of Children, Youth and Culture, Fredericia Municipality.

“Makerspaces for Everyone” gives students easy access to learn about technology both during and after school to enhance equal opportunity in Fredericia Municipality. The municipality will establish creative, inspiring learning spaces featuring digital and analogue technologies at all of the municipality’s fourteen schools.

The project will lay the groundwork for promoting technological literacy both during and after school so girls and boys from all backgrounds will learn how to solve problems, experiment and be creative with their peers in projects related to everyday life. The project brings particular focus to bear on strengthening girls’ self-image in relation to their own technological skill sets and their interest in STEM subjects.

The skills enhancement of the teaching staff and training of STEM counsellors, STEM educators and STEM student agents will be launched to establish a strong maker culture in which students are educated and trained to take a critical, constructive and co-creative approach to the world – both analogue and digital.

VILLUM FONDEN is granting DKK 5.6 million to the project, which runs over a four-year period from 2023 to 2027. The project will be run by the Department for Children, Youth and Culture, Fredericia Municipality.

Makerspace Lemvig focuses on creating climate-aware children and ensuring that all children and young people have a basic understanding of technology

The municipality wants to use the project to teach students to work together, be proactive, investigative and capable of reflecting on their own abilities. The project builds on local collaboration across the private and public sectors.

Each of the municipality’s seven schools, as well as its school for young people and 10th grade centre, are involved in the project. Local makerspaces will be set up at all of the municipality’s primary and lower secondary schools and 10th grades. One third of the municipality’s teachers will be trained in technology literacy to help infuse the individual makerspaces with life and qualified academic content. The skills enhancement process will be managed by CFU (the Teaching Aids Centre).

VILLUM FONDEN is granting DKK 5.7 million to the project, which runs over a three-year period from 2023 to 2026. Lemvig Municipality is coordinating the project and has entered into binding collaboration with Lemvig’s Upper Secondary School, 10th grade centre, School for Young People, Climatorium and a wide range of local businesses.

Frederikshavn Municipality wants to provide the prerequisites that will enable all children and young people to lead rewarding lives in childhood and adolescence. The ability to navigate a digital world is a focal point of the municipality’s scholastic vision.

The municipality’s strategy for digital learning and literacy aims to strengthen the technological and digital literacy of children and young people in day care, schools and evening youth schools, as well as after school clubs. These initiatives include the setting up of three makerspaces at three selected schools, and teachers have begun their skills enhancement processes. In 2022, the municipality allocated funds for the establishment of makerspaces at eight more of its sixteen school departments.

The grant will be used to train 48 makerspace drivers, 90 specialist teachers and 100 graduating students as co-drivers to establish the best prerequisites for enabling all children and young people to boost their level of learning in terms of technological literacy.

For setting up makerspaces as practical, hands-on learning environments, the municipality has established a so-called business playmaker scheme, aimed at creating learning processes for primary school pupils in close collaboration with the business community and in so doing move the learning space out to local businesses.

VILLUM FONDEN is granting DKK 2.2 million to the project, which runs over a three-year period from 2023 to 2025. Frederikshavn Municipality is the project coordinator with UCN as its partner.

The grant will be used to develop experimental, creative learning environments to provide more opportunities for children and young people to participate both during and after school. The project will enable schools to build up scientific capacity, technological literacy and common practices. The municipality wants to develop forms of educational processes that support students’ learning, are based on students’ diversity and include their skill sets, knowledge and experiences across subjects, school and after school activities.

In collaboration with UCN, 11 resource staff, 90 science teachers and two resource staff from the School for Young People will be trained to build up skill sets for facilitating courses that promote the interests of all students – including courses that particularly motivate girls in the teaching processes and promote gender-inclusive practices.

The grant will be used to establish local makerspaces as learning laboratories at the municipality’s eleven schools.

VILLUM FONDEN is granting DKK 4.4 million to the project, which runs over a four-year period from 2023 to 2026. Brønderslev Municipality is collaborating with UCN and Brønderslev School for Young People on the project.

The goal is to integrate technology and digitisation into the educational activities of all children and young people in Tønder Municipality both during and after school. Accordingly, the municipality is gathering a number of stakeholders in a coordinated effort to ensure that children and young people can engage in continuous, structured learning processes in its makerspaces, giving priority to local content and real-life problems.

Daycare centres, private schools, preparatory basic study programmes for young people and youth study programmes will be involved to raise awareness about the project among as many people as possible. After school, children and young people should have the opportunity to play and create in makerspaces facilitated by libraries, schools for young people and voluntary communities.

Stationary makerspaces will be established at all ten primary and lower secondary schools in the municipality, featuring a variety of technologies, materials and work spaces. Basic preparatory study programmes for young people and private schools can use a mobile makerspace, while Mind Factory by Ecco will be the setting for the physical environments for the youth study programmes and the municipality’s 10th grade offerings.

The process involves the training of at least one technology literacy counsellor at all municipal primary and lower secondary schools and the training of a number of key employees across grades and subjects.

VILLUM FONDEN is granting DKK 6.7 million to the project, which runs over a five-year period from 2023 to 2027. Tønder Municipality’s School and Daycare Department is project coordinator and will work together with Tønder School for Young People and Mind Factory by Ecco.

The primary purpose of the project is to give teachers skills for boosting students’ lasting skill sets in technology literacy and school involvement. The municipality will use the grant to establish one makerspace and train a resource team at all schools. The Teaching Aids Centre (CFU) at University College Absalon is responsible for enhancing the skill sets of the 45 teachers who make up the schools’ resource teams.

The makerspace and technology literacy initiatives will revolve around experimental and student-centred learning in order to enhance students’ skill sets and opportunities for further learning and education in a society with a wide variety of digital arenas and technologies.

 The project includes local partners who contribute authentic design challenges in an annual learning process for students in forms 3 to 8. A maker festival will also be held each year for all the schools in the municipality.

Students in the teacher training programme will be trained as makerspace hosts. They will take part in specially designed internships at the makerspace schools and will be offered study jobs in which they will staff makerspaces after school.

VILLUM FONDEN is granting DKK 5.9 million to the project, which runs over a four-year period from 2023 to 2027. Vordingborg Municipality is collaborating with the Centre for Teaching Aids, University College Absalon, on the project.

Thisted Municipality will establish makerspaces at the municipality’s fifteen schools and develop a common didactic model that will be used as the basic structure at the individual makerspaces.

Skills enhancement must ensure that the physical spaces ‘flow’ into the existing subjects, so that these are supported to an even greater extent by the technology and demands encountered by students after leaving lower secondary school. At the same time, the spaces must flow into the students’ activities at their after-school recreation schemes where the students themselves are hosts during school breaks. The skill sets of 45 head teachers, 50 superusers, 350 teachers and 100 students will be enhanced in collaboration with Aalborg University, UCN’s Teacher Training Programme and CFU (Teaching Aids Centre).

The project is linked to local businesses and stakeholders who provide case studies, knowledge and residual materials. The business cooperation also forms close ties between students’ efforts at the school’s makerspace to their local community, and uses current and future problem areas encountered by the businesses as the point of departure. Local businesses accessed through a collaboration project with Thy Business Forum.

VILLUM FONDEN is granting DKK 6.9 million to the project, which runs over a four-year period from 2023 to 2027. The Department of Education and Daycare of Thisted Municipality, University College and UCN are partners, and a partnership has been entered into with the National Testing Centre for Full-Scale Turbines.

The municipality wants to enhance the education of children and young people through playful, innovative learning processes involving technological literacy. Learning environments will be created in new makerspaces that prioritise a sense of community and equal opportunity. Experimenting, project-oriented learning processes will be worked out with STEM, innovation and design processes.

The municipality will use the project to establish local makerspaces at the municipality’s four primary and lower secondary schools at seven sites and implement the skills enhancement of employees, head teachers and management. The skills enhancement process will be embedded in Allerød Municipality’s Knowledge Centre, which is a shared skills enhancement development centre for the municipality’s entire school and daycare area.

The project focuses on getting the administrative staff to work together with school managements and academic networks of staff close to the students and practice.

VILLUM FONDEN is granting DKK 5.7 million to the project, which runs over a three-year period from 2023 to 2026. The project is coordinated by the School and Daycare Department in Allerød Municipality.