DiDIY, education and research

The introduction of DiDIY-related technologies as educational tools, spanning from primary schools to universities, is generating new teaching and learning approaches within the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) domain. This process can be interpreted as the progressive emergence of an “understanding by building” educational method, which allows teachers and students to address STEM topics through activities of design and production of objects – rapid prototyping, 3D modelling, robotic modelling, etc.

The DiDIY Project  intends to develop these investigations on the use of DiDIY in education and research with regard to the European education and research systems by taking six innovative steps:

1. influence of DiDIY on the dynamic interconnections between education and research;
2. negative aspects and potentialities of the introduction of DiDIY-related technologies in education and research;
3. current transformations that DiDIY is producing in education and research;
4. European and global trends and strategies related to the introduction of DiDIY-related technologies in education and research;
5. ‘external’ exploration of the use of DiDIY-related technologies in education and research with an ‘internal’ level of inquiry;
6. guidelines for European policy-makers able to maximize the positive impacts of DiDIY on the quality of European education and research systems, and to minimize the negative ones.