The aim of our project is to develop, test and disseminate new innovative, deeply trans-disciplinary pedagogical methods in teacher training of the fields of STEAM and beyond.  Based on a recently developed Poly-Universe tool we intend to build a new, module-based educational framework of improving disciplinary and transversal skills of future teachers, and stimulate a kind of visual paradigm shift in teacher training higher education in various programme and partner countries. The aim of PUNTE consortium is to make a significant step towards establishing long-term impact of this approach through systemic introduction of this tool into the framework of teacher training higher education.

The main technical and methodical tools of this educational framework are based on the recently developed, revolutionary educational game called Poly-Universe (http://polyuniverse.com/).

Our specific objectives are to collect best teaching practices of applying Poly-Universe in various fields, with special emphasis on

  • social inclusion and interdisciplinarity;
  • to create and test a theoretical and practical methodical framework of reducing transversal skill-gaps of teachers and teacher training students by Poly-Universe;
  • to promote excellence in teacher training through introducing the new pedagogical framework to regular teacher training higher education curricula and stimulate methodical paradigm shift through this method;
  • to develop, adjust and publish open source teacher training materials supporting various forms and paths of teacher training higher education (distant learning, modular forms, blended learning etc.);
  • and finally to disseminate and exploit the results in the European Higher Education Area and involve policy makers to further support long-term systemic change in this field.

Among the field-specific priorities, in this project we are TACKLING SKILL GAPS AND MISMATCHES in teacher training education through developing new, module-based curricula that better meet the learning needs of teacher training students. Based on our approach students as future teachers will acquire a skill-set more relevant for this wide labour market and ultimately for the entire society through higher level of education system. Our approach is inherently trans-disciplinary: although the first applications of Poly-Universe tool have been associated to Mathematics, the primary objective of our project is extend the usage of this tool to a much wider set of fields, encouraging inter- and trans-disciplinary approaches.

The project was supported by the European Commission. Published in the Communication does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.