The Future of STEAM Education

Joanna Hoffmann
Chair of Art & Science Node (PL/DE) – host & moderator
Joanna Hofmman is an artist, academic, curator, Chair of ASN, Professor (dr hab) of the University of Arts in Poznań, where she leads the Studio for Interdisciplinary Projects & Research at the Faculty of Art Education and Curatorial Studies. Her artworks were presented internationally including Centre for Contemporary Arts in Warsaw, Dana Centre/Science Museum in London, European Patent Office in Berlin, Transmediale Festival in Berlin, WRO Media Art Biennale, MUSE New York and Hiroshima Prefecture Art Museum among others. She was a special guest of the European Congress of Biotechnology in Kraków 2016 and FEBS 2019. In 2020, she was awarded with the Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.

Przemysław Wojtaszek is Professor at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology of the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań, where he is also Vice-Rector for Research Projects and Doctoral Studies, Head of School of Natural Sciences & Head of Doctoral School. Professor Przemysław Wojtaszek is a member of the Biotechnology Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the deputy chairman of the Molecular Biology Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
He is a founding member of the Polish Society for Experimental Plant Biology. He was the president of its Main Board between 2003 and 2005, then – board member (2005-2009, 2011-2015), chairman of the Main Audit Committee (2009-2011), and for the 2019-2021 term he has been active as the Vice-President of the Main Board.

Nina Czegledy is an independent curator, scientist, media artist, researcher, and educator based in Toronto. She is Board Member of Leonardo/ISAST, co-chair of Leonardo Education & Art Forum in 2009 and co-chair of the LASER events in Montreal and  in Toronto, and a founding member of the independent Pandemic Provocateurs (PPP). She contributes regularly to the Journal of Virtual Creativity as well as to Leonardo Journal, published by MIT Press.
Her recent publication Eco Art: Art is life and life is embedded in nature is available in ‘Ubiquity, The Journal of Pervasive Media’ (2020).
Nina is Adjunct Professor at OCAD University in Toronto; Senior Fellow at KMDI of the University of Toronto; Research Collaborator of Hexagram International, Montreal. She curates and collaborates on art & science & technology projects around the globe.

Marlena Lembicz is Professor at the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań. She is a botanist, plant ecologist and academic teacher. Marlena’s research focuses on the ecological and evolutionary effects of interactions between endophytic fungi, plants and animals. She was twice a member of the EU Action COST Management Committee, as well as manager and/or contractor in numerous grant programs, including one funded by the National Geographic Science. Marlena is the initiator and coordinator of the Creativity and Entrepreneurship classes at the Faculty of Biology; Chairwoman of the mycological section of the Polish Botanical Society in Poznań and the nationwide section of Mushrooms in the interactions of the Polish Mycological Society. 

Anna Marie Nicoaysen is doctor of Philosophy, medical anthropologist and Senior Researcher in Agroecology at the Department of Plant Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). Her research is focused on political and socioeconomic forces affecting topics including food aid in Ecuador, mental health services, injection drug use, and drinking behaviors of migrant farm workers in the U.S., as well as sustainability and food security among small farmers in India. Currently, apart from teaching ‘Agroecology: Action learning in farming and food systems’, she is also involved in two research projects related to urban agriculture: ‘Cultivating Public Spaces’ (CPS) and a H2020 project ‘Nextfood: Educating the Next Generation of Professionals in the Agrifood System’.

Piotr Słomczewski is Assistant at the Studio for Transdisciplinary Projects and Research at University of Arts in Poznań. As an artist, he works with various media and technologies, from sculpture, drawing and painting to interactive, technologically advanced projects. Piotr runs artistic workshops for children (and parents). As a person with synaesthesia himself, he develops new, friendly and universal formula tests for detection of various types of synaesthesia for children, to enhance their learning and creative abilities. Expert and collaborator in eTwinning EU projects.

Tomasz Ordza is a teacher of science and vice-director at the Kazimierz Nowak Primary School in Dąbrówka (PL). He graduated from the Faculty of Biology UAM Poznań. He is the ambassador of the eTwinning programme and synergies between eTwinning and Erasmus+a; co-organiser of eTwinning projects awarded with Quality and European seal. Tomasz is the founder of the interdisciplinary “Science – I like it!” competition, as well as initiator of numerous field workshops between pupils and scientists. He co-managed the module for students of the Faculty of Biology of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. He cooperates with the magazine “Biology at School”, propagating STEAM practice. He belongs to the group of “Superbelfrzy RP” (Superteachers of Poland).

Seda Göçhan is a teacher of Social Studies at the Türkiye Gazeteciler Cemiyeti Secondary School in Istanbul. She graduated from Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Istanbul Yıldız Technical University, Department of Educational Sciences, Educational Administration. Seda is engaged in eTwinning, Tübitak and Erasmus projects. Her eTwinning projects received the national quality label award and the European quality label award. At the International eTwinning conference in France in 2019, she received the recognition as one of the most successful eTwinning teachers in Turkey. She was awarded with the 2021 European Prize in the category of Peyo Yavorov.

Helena Cristina Carvalho Pires graduated (MS) from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Portugal. Helena is continuing Teacher Training, Specialization Area in Biology and Geology, at the University of Minho, Portugal. She is a teacher at the Grupo de Escolas de Álvaro Velho, Barreiro, in group 520. Coordinator of the club “Ecoamigos da Natureza/ Ecoescolas” and of the Erasmus KA2 project. Helena is an enthusiast of projects related to Environmental Education and eTwinning projects, some of which have been awarded with the Quality and European seal and National award in the category of the Year 2020: Climate change.

Daniel de la Torre is the student at Werner von Siemens Gymnasium Berlin. Before that he finished International Schule Berlin (Kant Schule). 
Intern at Art & Science Node