Winners of the Eco-STEAM Challenge Competition

We have the young winners of the first regional Eco-STEAM Challenge Competition. The Competition was dedicated to the adaptation of schools and their immediate surroundings to changed climate conditions.

The winners are the elementary schools "Sveti Sava" from Kikinda (Serbia), "Petar Preradović" from Zadar (Croatia) and "13. September" from Jajce (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

SEE Eco-STEAM Challenge for carbon neutrality

The competition was organised as a part of the Scientix project network. Partners from Southeast Europe are the Center for the Promotion of Science (Belgrade, Serbia), in KARNET from Croatia and the University of Mostar from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The program included teams of mentors and students.

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The competition raised awareness about the climate challenges that are increasingly affecting Southeastern Europe and possible mitigation measures. A total of nine schools from the three economies got acquainted with the topic of the project. The emphasis was on the current impact of climate change and future climate and weather predictions, and concrete steps in the future.

Preparing the future generations

Teacher-mentors (climatologist Vladimir Đurđević – PhD and meteorologist Nikola Vikić-Topić) and their students measured basic weather parameters, such as temperature and humidity, and recorded weather phenomena in the immediate school environment for three weeks. The obtained results were then compared with historical data, and based on the newly acquired knowledge, proposals were made to adapt to the changed conditions and mitigate the negative consequences. All received proposals were evaluated by the project partners, on the basis of which three winning proposals were selected.

All winners will receive valuable equipment needed for teaching and further project activities. In October 2022, the winning teams will participate in the CUC 2022 conference in Šibenik. This will be a valuable opportunity to present their proposals for adapting school environments to changed climate conditions.

Eco-STEAM Challenge Competition proved to be an innovative way to educate youth about the future climate challenges. This could be food for thought for similar initiatives throughout the Western Balkans.