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The present paper examines the digital competences of secondary school students in Bulgaria in the light of the National External Evaluation of the 10th grade that has been held during the last years by the Ministry of Education and Science. There are ways to raise these competences and to improve the practical experience using the results of a specific experiment in a school in the city of Plovdiv. The main results are discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early STEM education has a great potential to support children’s development in constructing their own knowledge, in designing, discussing and testing ideas and finding solutions to different problems. Significant role in achieving the goals of STEM education is played by the teacher, who scaffolds the learning process, builds a creative learning environment, provokes children with open questions and guides them to test their hypothesis as young scientists, mathematicians, engineers and technology users. Preschool teachers’ knowledge and perspectives could seriously influence their practices in STEM education and respectively, the fulfilment of STEM learning outcomes. It is very important to explore in depth teachers’ views and experiences thus to plan and provide appropriate courses for their academic preparation or continuous professional development. While reviewing some popular misconceptions for STEM education amongst teachers, this paper presents the results of pre- and post-interviews conducted with teachers from Bulgaria in the framework of the European multilateral Erasmus+ project №2018-1-TR01-KA203-059568 “STEM for Pre-schoolers and Their Families” (PARENTSTEM) (2018–2021). The overall goal of this project was to increase family involvement in the STEM education process of early childhood children specifically coming from low socio-economic status. As a part of this goal implementation, the project aimed to extend conceptual and pedagogical knowledge of early childhood teachers on STEM. In the frame of the project the preschool teachers-participants in the study were provided with three teacher trainings (two international and one national) and were additionally supported with the intellectual outputs of the project. This paper attempted to identify teachers’ preliminary knowledge, awareness and attitudes towards STEM conceptualization and pedagogy and to describe the relative influence of the project teacher trainings and activities on them. The results of the research unambiguously demonstrated the need for training of preschool teachers in terms of STEM education, outlining the main focuses to be considered when constructing STEM courses intended for preschool teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contains the team selection tests for the team of Bulgaria at the Junior Balkan Math Olympiad 2021 as well as an overview of the team results. The included materials can be useful for the math contest preparation classes in Junior high school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the winners of the 2021 Awards to Teachers in Mathematics and Computer Science given annually by the International Foundation “Sts. Cyril and Methodius” for high achievements in identifying and developing gifted students in the last five years. The winners of the annual awards are determined jointly with the Union of Mathematicians in Bulgaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today’s single market, standardization helps integrate market requirements and reduce costs, and standards ensure compatibility, quality, safety and efficiency. The impact of standards is highly dependent on the level of knowledge among the workforce. Knowledge, skills, attitudes and experience in standardization add value to professions and roles in many fields. The rising awareness and spread knowledge about standardization are globally-recognised as a powerful tool to assure public safety having a proficient workforce, bring new technologies to market and drive future businesses. The paper presents the main results of research aiming to identify what is the expectations and requirements of the lecturers and students of five EU countries, namely Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Latvia, and Romania, for a standardization course. What are opinions, and attitudes of the faculty staff as well as the students regarding the standards focused education? How the integration of the standards’ focused training into HE could be facilitated and improved? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on the results of an empirical report prepared in the context of the European project MAR.CH. and a review of the literature on the use of ICT in school. An original study on the role of the teacher in contemporary online (interactive) teaching is presented. The effectiveness of interactive methods for education was analyzed with the help of original online questionnaire. Our results contribute to understanding the effectiveness of interactive education in secondary schools in Bulgaria and Europe, as well. The conclusion is that in online lectures or distance learning via multimedia presentations, it is preferable to have good visualisation of the material. Furthermore, this type of teaching is mostly preferred by the students as a mean for self-training and to research additional information rather than as a primary method for learning new material. The role of the teacher’s actual appearance in the videos and multimedia presentations does not seem to be crucial to the teaching of the material. Much more important though are the technical characteristics and the postprocessing of the video, ensuring good visibility of the slides with the material. We also stress that, based on our research, distance learning is generally not preferred as a the principal method for teaching. The results, published here for the first time, have lead to a successful defense of a Master’s Thesis at the Faculty of Physics at the Sofia University in July 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper are presented observations of meteor showers from 2015, 2016, and 2017, made during the National astronomy and astrophysics camp, Beli brezi, Ardino, Bulgaria. Concepts of meteor, meteor shower, and radiant are defined and the basic features of the meteor showers: Perseids and Alpha-Capricornids are explained. Additionally a description of the way observations are made according to the International Meteor Organization - IMO in Germany for the exchange of data is discussed and a comparison between the gathered data and the summary data from other observers is made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results and their analysis of a recent attitude questionnaire, intended to measure the attitude of 13 - 14-year-old students towards science in non-formal educational framework. The questionnaire was filled out by students, participating in the Summer academies (July - August 2018) of University for Kids Foundation in Drenta, Elena Municipality, Veliko Tarnovo District of Bulgaria. The main tool of the research is a specially constructed atitude questionnaire, which includes 8 questions with open - and close-ended questions. The participating 40 students are from all over Bulgaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main theme of this article centers on the international contests in Informatics. The article details the key events preceding the initiation and organization of the First International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), held in Bulgaria in 1989, and provides supporting documentation. The path, leading to this Olympiad and the events between the First National Olympiad in Informatics (NOI) and the First IOI are discussed as well. An outline of the international contests in informatics held in Sofia (1987), Bratislava (1987), Varna (1988), and Nova Gorica (1988) is offered. In the beginning of 1989, in Netherlands, UNESCO held a consultative meeting to discuss various issues related to international Olympiads. The invited participants were the leaders of the well-established International Olympiads in Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry. The author was invited to introduce the Olympiads in Informatics and to present the plan for the organization and inauguration of the First IOI in Bulgaria. Next the paper discusses the progress of our talented students, winners of the Bulgarian NOIs. Subsequently, a few, as university students, participated in the world’s most reputable completion -the ACM International Collegiate Contest (ACM ICPC). There is a brief presentation of the student team from Sofia University “St. Kl. Ohridski”, which participated in this contest in 1996 and placed first in Europe and fourth overall, among the 1001 teams from universities around the world. Due to its factual nature, the article contains an extensive list of references, including text excerpts, citations, photos, and other relevant materials, supporting the historical facts related to the competitions in Informatics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the key events leading to the ideation, initiation, and establishment of the first programming contests for high school students in Bulgaria. The competitions preceding the First National Olympiad in Informatics (NOI) are presented in detail. More specifically, they include the programming contests, initiated by the author and held in Shoumen, Plovdiv and Pazardjik in 1982, 1983, and 1984 respectively. At the time, the main programming language used was FORTRAN for IBM/360 compatible computers. Next, the first NOI is discussed at length. Some of the subsequent NOIs are also outlined. The paper also includes facts about the Winter Mathematics Competitions and the high school student competitions held during the Spring Conferences of the Union of Bulgarian Mathematicians. A brief historical data about the Spring Tournament in Informatics is also presented. Due to its factual nature, the article contains an extensive list of references, including text excerpts, citations, pictures, and other relevant materials, supporting the historical facts related to the competitions in informatics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]