DiSTEMLaB
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DiSTEMLAB COURSES
REFRESHER COURSES FOR TEACHERS
@Milano-Bicocca, 10 and 17 October 2026
DiSTEMLaB offers two new refresher courses for teachers, full of ideas to bring into the classroom for the 2026-2027 school year:
LET'S PRETEND WE WERE ASTROPHYSICISTS
&
DISCOVERING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Where: University of Milan-Bicocca
When: 10 and 17 October 2026, 8:30-12:30
Registration deadline: 30 September 2026
Registration fee*: 25 euros
*includes access to both courses and a copy of the book “Let’s Pretend We Were Astrophysicists”.
Why DiSTEMLaB refresher courses?
STEM is pervasive in everyday life. Yet, the European Union is facing a shortage of over 2 million STEM professionals, with only a quarter of upper-secondary students in the scientific-technological field. DiSTEMLaB courses aim to encourage a positive experience of STEM subjects throughout the entire education cycle, making the discovery of STEM an everyday experience. Our courses aim to provide ideas for teaching activities to teachers who can leverage daily exposure to STEM to create a "continuous lab" where they can learn and explore mathematical, technical and scientific disciplines as interpreters of the reality around us.
Course program:
LET’S PRETEND WE WERE ASTROPHYSICISTS
In this course, together with Emma, a curious and resorceful child, we will discover what fungi and cosmic structures have in common, what sound dancing black holes make, or what color the Universe is!
After a short introduction to Emma’s story, we will try out together some of the activities proposed in the book “Let’s Pretend We Were Astrophysicists”, published by scienza express, due out in September 2026. Participants will be given a copy of the book, full of activities to use in class.
The course is aimed at primary school teachers, but several activities can be used, with adaptations, in preschool or with extensions (suggested in the text) in lower secondary school.
DISCOVERING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
In this course we will explore, in a simple and hands-on way, how artificial intelligence works, with project ideas to try in class the building and use of AI-driven systems, such as self-driving machines!
After a brief introduction to the core principles that define artificial intelligence systems, we will take a closer look at the elements that set an AI system apart from traditional programs. In the lab part, we will see how to program AI systems for automatic object recognition, and we will design and implement a self-driving system with educational robots.
The course is aimed at lower secondary school teachers, but it can also be offered, with adaptations, starting from fourth grade of primary school.
We recommend that participants bring a tablet or a laptop so they can actively try out the proposals.
Logistics and registration:
The courses will be held in person at the campus of the University of Milan-Bicocca on 10/10/26 and on 17/10/26, from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm.
The two courses will be offered in parallel on both dates, thus allowing interested participants to attend both over the two mornings.
The registration fee, set at 25 euros, includes access to both courses and a copy of the book “Let’s pretend we were astrophysicists”, Scienza Express, September 2026.
Register by 30 September at the link: https://forms.gle/MHA2Sm1PwmyuTaGp9
Payment details for the registration fee via the PagoPA portal will follow by email