The Drones4STEM initiative marks a pioneering step in enriching STEM education by integrating drone technology into secondary school curriculums. This innovative approach provides educators with easily deployable tools and custom-designed instructional scenarios, significantly enhancing the teaching and learning experience. The initiative is exploits compact, low-cost and user-friendly drones combining their use with a comprehensive ‘Drones4STEM’ floor mat kit, offering a hands-on, interactive learning platform. By simplifying the technological aspects, Drones4STEM allows educators to focus more on educating and inspiring students about the multifaceted applications of drones in various sectors. This paper delves into the specifics of the Drones4STEM kit, its practical applications in educational settings, and the structured Drones4STEM e-course for educators. Through this initiative, educators are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to foster an engaging and dynamic STEM learning environment, preparing students for the technological advancements of the future and inspiring them to explore diverse career paths in drone technology and its applications.

In this systematic literature review spanning the last five years (2018–2023), the role of poetry within the ‘A’ for Arts in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) education is examined. Specifically, the primary purpose of this study is to delve into the integration of poetry and Artificial Intelligence into the STEAM teaching method. The research objectives which guide this study are to understand the methods and depth of including poetry in STEAM and evaluate how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can enhance poetry's role in STEAM. Using the PRISMA methodology, an extensive search was conducted in key databases such as Scopus and Google Scholar. This search identified 26 crucial papers, then analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Current STEAM teaching approaches focus on merging literary expressions with essential scientific disciplines. A large part of the findings points to new teaching methods that bring together poetic elements and the usual STEAM subjects. These methods increase student participation, bridge the gap between arts and sciences and encourage creative problem-solving. In the realm of STEAM education, the significance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing. The findings suggest that AI can boost teaching methods centred on poetry in STEAM. AI allows for lesson adjustments based on students' engagement with poetry, creates platforms for more student participation, and offers feedback to help educators improve their teaching methods. However, there are challenges in merging the exactness of AI algorithms with the complexities of poetry, especially when trying to maintain poetry's essence. As STEAM education moves towards a more integrated model, the interplay between AI's technical abilities and the nuances of poetry calls for further scholarly research based on these findings.

The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has created a growing demand for integrating IoT technologies in educational settings. While technical expertise in IoT engineering is essential for developing IoT skills, it is equally crucial for educators to possess pedagogical skills that enable them to effectively teach their students about the diverse range of available IoT systems, hardware, and software components, through properly designed STEM activities early on during secondary education. However, recent studies suggest that most IoT engineering curricula need specifically adapted and properly designed pedagogical frameworks. This paper presents an experimental research study conducted as part of the evaluation stage of the PARADIGM project, a European-funded collaborative initiative under the auspices of the Erasmus+ programme. The project aims to design an e-learning course on pedagogical issues, develop an IoT environmental observatory to provide hands-on experience and establish a citizen science platform as the PARADIGM Virtual Maker Space and Repository. The specific research objective is to assess the impact of PARADIGM tools on educators' pedagogical and technical knowledge of IoT. Fifty educators from secondary schools in Greece, Spain, and Cyprus participated in the study. Pre-and posttest were conducted to measure differences in mean scores, and t-tests were used to analyze these differences. Despite the relatively small sample size, it is noteworthy that this study was part of a larger collaborative initiative involving multiple institutions and stakeholders, which increased the generalizability and external validity of the study and reduced the potential for bias or confounding factors. The results indicate that the use of PARADIGM tools significantly improved educators' knowledge scores in IoT. Furthermore, the findings reveal a statistically significant correlation between educators' knowledge of IoT devices and their hands-on experiences using the PARADIGM observatory IoT devices. These results highlight the need for further research on IoT education programs to enhance educators' skills in IoT devices. In conclusion, this paper contributes to advancing knowledge on IoT education by emphasizing the potential of PARADIGM tools to enhance educators' pedagogical and technical understanding of IoT. The study recommends integrating PARADIGM tools into IoT curricula to equip educators with the necessary skills to teach their students about IoT effectively.

Students have always been main targets for museums with clear learning strategies between schools and museums that contribute to a reinforced student learning experience. Although several museums offer virtual experiences (also available for schools), these cannot be easily manipulated or combined with other resources to form curriculum-focused learning activities. This study aims to explore the views and expectations of teachers on the use of Virtual Museum Tours (VMT) in their classrooms. Main findings from an online survey with 101 teachers (with or without VMT experience) shed light on their motivations and challenges when engaging their classrooms in such activities. Statistical analysis and visualisations were used to present teachers’ experiences and expectations, and a binary logistic regression analysis was employed to indicate the factors that associate with teachers’ decision to join VMTs in their classrooms. This study’s observations have implications for the design of customisable VMTs for schools, for how museums develop VMTs that facilitate school participation, and how game designers develop virtual gaming apps used in formal education settings.