New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Initiative category

Identify the award category for which this initiative is being submitted
Prioritising the places and people that need it the most

Email user
pauzademate@gmail.com

Basic information
Initiative title
Pauza de Mate

Full initiative Title
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Please provide a short, catchy description of your initiative to be used in communication towards the public.
Pauza de Mate (Math Break) is an educational platform born to support romanian students during the pandemic lockdowns. It provides math lessons and videos both on YouTube ( https://www.youtube.com/c/PauzadeMate ) and www.pauzademate.ro . With over 10 million views Pauza de Mate is constantly growing adding more and more lessons and educational videos for all students in need.

What was the geographical scope of your intiative?
National

Where was your intiative implemented?
Member State(s) and Western Balkans
Romania

If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
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Does your initiative address mainly urban or rural issues?
It addresses urban-rural linkages

Does your initiative refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Has your initiative benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
No

Has your initiative won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

Does your initiative has a minimum level of maturity? The minimum level of maturity is exemplified by stakeholder/ initiative promoter commitment to implement the initiative in practice and a clear methodology /approach.
Yes

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As an individual in partnership with other persons
Please provide the contact details for the intiative promoter (the individual or representative of the organisation authorised to represent the intiative).
- First name: Catalina Gabriela
  Last name: Dogaru
  Gender: Female
  Nationality: Romania
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Aleea Decebal, nr 17, bloc G8, sc A, et 3, ap 14
  Town: IASI
  Postal code: 700230
  Country: Romania
  Direct Tel: +40 761 444 856
  E-mail: asavei.catalina@gmail.com
- First name: Andrei Ionut
  Last name: Dogaru
  Gender: Male
  Nationality: Romania
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Aleea Decebal, nr 17, bloc G8, sc A, et 3, ap 14
  Town: IASI
  Postal code: 700230
  Country: Romania
  Direct Tel: +40 774 624 882
  E-mail: dogaru.andrei.ionut@gmail.com
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- URL: https://www.youtube.com/@PauzadeMate/
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #pauzademate
- URL: https://www.facebook.com/pauzademate/
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #pauzademate
In case my initiative is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my initiative in the channels of the European Commission.
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
New European Bauhaus or European Commission websites

Description of the initiative
Please provide a summary of your initiative
Pauza de Mate (Math Break) project started from our desire to help students/pupils with math classes during the pandemic period. The educational system was one of the most affected and both the teachers and their students were facing a new challenge by going away from schools and classes to home-learning or e-learning. The whole process happened fast and we all had to adapt to the new environment. Not all were prepared for this being by the level of online teaching abilities, right equipment or proper workspace. Families with more than one child in school had to prioritize the attendance on online courses. As a teacher, even myself couldn’t have full attendance, students were not able to connect all the time, missing classes. Facing this challenge, we created the first video lessons as a learning tool for those in need. This helped them by being able to access the lessons whenever they had the possibility, the time or the right device. On April 1st 2020, with the feedback we received from my students and more requests coming from their friends for access to the lessons, we started the YouTube channel Pauza de Mate. Since then, we published more than 500 videos with lessons, tests and informative content. Those were viewed more than 10 million times totaling around 900.000 watching hours. To better catalogue the videos, we also launched pauzademate.ro. The project continues now by publishing resources that can be used both at school by teachers and at home by students who want to better understand or go more in depth on specific mathematics topics and notions.

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with 5 key words.
education

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
e-learning

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
mathematics

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
accesability

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
inclusion

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of sustainability and how these have been/will be met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
One of the most important objectives is quality education, which is also on the 4th place in the set of 17 sustainable development objectives proposed by the UN. Pauza de Mate helps students with or without financial means to have free access to educational resources useful in preparing for national exams and beyond.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
Mathematics has always been regarded as a difficult discipline and some students have problems mastering it. Pauza de Mate wants to bring the students closer to this discipline by presenting the lessons in a friendly way, through an accessible language and by offering the emotional support and the positive approach necessary to overcome obstacles in learning.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
Through the available resources, we want to support all students regardless of their level of math knowledge, location or background. That's why all the videos are available on free platforms, easy to access, structured on different levels of difficulty, being accessible to everyone.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the initiative and civil society have been/will be involved in the initiative and what has been/will be the impact of this involvement on the initiative
Pauza de Mate came in support of tens of thousands of students. During more than 2 years of activity, the student and their parents have given positive feedback and most of them specify how important this help is for them or their children, especially in such difficult times, when many cannot afford additional private lessons to better prepare for school tests, national exams or college admissions.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the initiative.
The project is carried out by a team of two people as a private initiative. The design and the structure of the resources are made to replicate the school lessons as faithfully as possible.

Please explain which disciplines and/ or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and implementation of your initiative. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was
Mathematics is the main subject that can be found in the resources. Lessons are presented in an interdisciplinary manner, combining the notions of mathematics and physics, biology and geography.

Please highlight the innovative character of the initiative, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the initiative
Supporting students learning math and preparing for exams in the comfort of their own home, at any time and for free.

Please describe which elements of your initiative could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and contexts. This may involve, for example, aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings, etc.
The lessons are already used by teachers in the classrooms. The videos can be used as additional support to the classroom lessons, recap opportunities, home learning, support for the continued educational process in force majeure (lockdowns, quarantine) cases.

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your initiative.
Pauza de Mate, based on the official Romanian curricula for mathematics, creates videos to support students in class or at home. We design our videos as easy to understand, accessible lessons, tests, practical examples with interdisciplinary accents to better understand mathematical notions or theories.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the initiative addresses by providing local solutions
Quality and accesible education is the major objective of the project. A global event like Covid19 pandemic can disrupt the traditional educational process and block or make it more difficult. An online library of resources can offer an alternative or provide additional support to both teachers and students.

Please detail the scope of progress in the implementation of the initiative. This can include already demonstrated results/outputs related to the chosen Prizes category, and the already achieved benefits from the initiative for direct and indirect beneficiaries. This can also include a development plan of the initiative, with a particular attention to the steps envisaged in the year following the application, and including envisaged results and benefits from the initiative
In the two years, Pauza de Mate came to the support of tens of thousands of students, the resources having over 10 million views and approximately 900 000 watching hours.

Please provide documents that demonstrate the maturity level of the initiative and commitment to implement the initiative in practice (e.g.: evaluation report, final or mid-term initiative report, certification, publications, building permit, grant agreement, letter of support, partnership agreement, etc.)
Both
PDF
Web link
If relevant, please describe how your initiative contributes to developing new competences, especially in the context of the European competence framework on sustainability.
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Please attach at least 6 high resolution images or visual representations of your initiative to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below.
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By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed initiative has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the initiative and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their initiatives, initiative, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted initiative, initiative is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes