The Savremena team, consisting of the Computer Science and ICT starters teacher, Ms Ira Tuba, and primary teacher, Ms Danica Nikolić, was announced as one of the winners of the international primary and secondary school competition STE(A)M IT, held as part of the “STEM Discovery Campaign” for the year 2021, organized by “Scientix”.

Among the vast competition that consisted of primary and secondary schools from almost all over the world, their project – “Economic and social benefits of recycling” – took our colleagues and Savremena to the very top.

Savremena was thus the only school from Serbia to rank this high.

Prestigious community of STEM educators

“Scientix” is a well-known international community dealing with science and STEM education in Europe. Through its initiatives, projects and competitions it promotes and supports the cooperation among STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) teachers, policy creators, and other researchers.

Secondary and primary schools from all over the world participated in this year’s STE(A)M IT competition. The teams had a chance to present their learning scenarios and successful STE(A)M educational stories to the international selection committee, while the winners were awarded with valuable certifications and prizes.

An original ecological STEM project

Across the region, Savremena is known as a truly “green” school thanks to a number of activities that its students and teachers actively take in order to raise awareness about ecological values and environmental protection.

This is why it does not come as a surprise that the winning project “Economic and social benefits of recycling” created by Savremena teachers was related to ecology. In this manner, there was a blend of two orientations that make Savremena unique: environmental protection and highly modern STEM classes held in the futuristic LINK STEAM Lab, with the use of LEGO STEM sets, as well as problem-solving and project lessons.

Within the winning project, students explore ways in which STEM knowledge can be implemented in order to overcome challenges and solve problems related to recycling. In this way, students were encouraged to take action and creatively apply contemporary technology in the field of recycling.

Owing to the importance of this topic, innovative implementation of STEM teaching and unique solutions presented by Savremena teachers, the international selection committee chose this project to be among the winning ones at the prestigious STE(A)M IT competition.

A victory that will further improve Savremena’s lessons

Hard work, innovation and Savremena’s support have made it possible for Ms Ira Tuba and Ms Danica Nikolić to be among winners of this year’s competition.

Owing to such a momentous result, the winning team and Savremena obtain a number of acknowledgements and benefits:

• the presented projects become part of the prestigious “Scientix” repository and the STE(A)M IT portal;
• VIP membership in STE(A)M IT Career Advisors Network – members of this network are given a unique opportunity to attend exclusive trainings, STEM events, and participate in workshops that will significantly improve the understanding of STEM and STEM skills in class;
• Savremena becomes part of the elite Scientix STEM community, which increases its visibility on a worldwide level, and it gains the opportunity to promote international STEM events;
• attending an important seminar together with STEAM Alliance professionals on the topic “Integrated STEM Teaching”.

Thanks to these invaluable benefits, Savremena will be able to further improve its STEAM lessons, and this will mostly be significant for its students.

Keeping up with the world’s best schools

The triumph achieved by teachers Ira Tuba and Danica Nikolić who represented Savremena is a momentous acknowledgement of their work, their efforts and devotion to their students, and also to their own improvement. At the same time, this is also an acknowledgement of the approach, atmosphere and high standards that are promoted at Savremena and that encourage each teacher to improve and grow in order to provide their students with high-quality lessons.

This victory is the best proof that Savremena cultivates the most contemporary teaching practice and that its teachers are equipped with the highest competencies which enable them to compete with teachers from far more developed countries.

At the same time, the initiative of our colleagues proves that the teaching staff that takes care of your child is willing to do everything for its progress and growth.

The international acknowledgement from “Scientix” confirms the fact that Savremena students attend world-class lessons where the most contemporary approaches are implemented, based on the world’s highest frameworks.

Congratulations!