25 Serbia
In Serbia STEAM is not recognized by the official curriculum, instead teaching science is divided into specific subjects such as mathematics, physics and chemistry. Therefore, all STEAM organisations and initiatives come from informal educational programs.
Centre for the Promotion of Science
The most prominent institution offering STEAM activities in Serbia is Center for the Promotion of Science (CPN) – a public institution, established in 2010 by the Serbian Ministry of Science and charged with promoting science and technology (www.cpn.edu.rs/en/).
A special part of the CPN´s program activities are interactive STEAM workshops for schools. These workshops are organised every month in the premises of the Science Club and Makerspace, for primary and secondary school students, and since 2017, while special workshops for preschoolers have been organised once a week. During the workshops, the facilitator introduces the participants to a popular science topic of the day, and participants have the opportunity, with his or her guidance, to try out the technology available to them, do experiments, or use the acquired knowledge and make something with their own hands. This type of work provides children with the opportunity to cooperate, think and find new, creative solutions. This approach makes it easier for children to learn and understand various scientific fields, simplifies access to scientific topics and breaks down prejudices about “difficult” sciences.
CPN is the NCP for Scientix project in Serbia, and together with Scientix ambassadors CPN organises regular trainings for teachers in order to strengthen their STEAM competences. Moreover, CPN organises conferences and meetings for teachers with focus on STEAM.
Science Festival
When it comes to the civil sector, the most important organisation offering STEAM activities is “Festival nauke” – “Science Festival”. The founder and organiser of the Science Festival is the Art-Production Group “Museum Night”, which was founded in 2004 in Belgrade. The Science Festival was created with the desire to point out science to the general public as an inseparable part of everyday life and at the same time to provide an inspiring, new and fresh look at various scientific fields. The main goal of this manifestation is to arouse interest and to point out to the curious of all generations the importance of science and technology, but also the excitement and complexity of the scientific vocation. Whether it is interactive scientific settings, zones with experiments, scientific shows or exhibitions, the guiding idea is quite clear – science is tangible, ubiquitous, exciting, never the same and always equally important for all members of society.
