Today the ProgeTiger programme has developed into technology programme widely targeted at engineering sciences, design & technology and information & communication technology (ICT).
Programme is aimed at preschool, primary and vocational education in effort to integrate
technology education
into curriculum, offering teachers educational resources and training
opportunities, financially supporting kindergartens and schools in acquiring
different programmable devices.
The role of Information
Technology Foundation for Education (HITSA) in the ProgeTiger programme is:
- Information services and promotion for target groups – teachers and heads of schools;
- Development of learning materials and training courses;
- Supporting educational technologists;
- Development of methodology and methods on how to integrate technology into the curriculum;
- Organizing competitions, seminars and conferences.
ProgeTiger programme is supported and funded by the Estonian government through the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research.
Curricular support - in primary education we have a national cross-curricular
theme called “Technology and Innovation” which requires all teachers to
implement technology in their teaching. That means that teachers have to
integrate technology in their subjects in different fields (for example using
Scratch in mathematics, music programs in music lessons and so on). It does not
say what to use or how to use technology specifically. Teachers can choose
themselves how they want to do this. Also we have different national
optional curriculas and schools own subjects in technology education (programming,
robotics, 3D graphics, computer science, informatics etc.) which schools can choose
to add into their school programme (approximately 67% of Estonian
schools have one or more optional lesson in their programme).
At all educational levels we have extra-curricular activities in our kindergartens and schools. Also there are many voluntary initiatives and children have a chance to be involved in different recreational activities (like robotics, coding clubs etc.).
Here are
some examples what our teachers do in schools:
- In preschool, teachers teach and use LEGO WeDo, Kodu Game Lab, tablets (apps), programmes to make animations etc.
- In primary school, teachers teach and use Kodu Game Lab, Logo MSW, Scratch, LEGO Mindstorms EV3, mobile app making programmes and environments, many different programmes and environments which are used for teaching various subjects (music, mathematic, physics, biology), e-labs etc.
- In high school and vocational education, teachers teach and use different programming languages (Python, JavaScript etc), Codecademy.com courses, 3D graphics, robotics, programmes to make games, web-pages and apps etc.
Read more about ProgeTiger programme:
Watch the video “Technology Education in Estonia“:
