This paper aims to raise awareness of the importance of education in economic growth and not just education in general, but mainly of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education. Such signals are always useful, in order to align ourselves with other countries that have already acquired experience in implementing STEM education and can measure positive effects for the economy. The present research proposes to approach STEM education through the perspective of the most effective strategies applied so far in various regions of the world and that can be adapted to the Romanian reality. This is also useful for the steps needed to implement the recently adopted project "Educated Romania" (2021), which essentially aims to support education based on STEM competencies. The micro-research in the second part of the paper is a quantitative one that verifies whether there is, at the population level of parents in general, an awareness of STEM education competencies. It was investigated in what extent people are familiar with STEM education, if they can describe it and how interested would be to encourage their children to learn science, technical subjects, engineering and math skills. Moreover, the respondents' perception regarding the impact that such an approach would have on the economic development of a country was questioned.

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Nowadays there is an international tendency of maths study encouragement, of the realistic/technical field generally, by the big amount of projects focused on students aa well as on their parents. There is, in today researches, a perment preoccupation in what regards the improvement of teaching and learning by different methods and instruments. Many researches have shown the fact that the assimilation of different knowledge, by their connections with ols, basic concepts, already learned is more efficient. The present research is aprt of an ample project and has as main issue the comparaison between the efficiency based on mind maps the teaching- learning process. Besides the leaning theories which support the efficient learning method through visual instruments and a literature review, the present research also assesses the opinion questionnaires (respects thequestionnaire length rules, its design, avoiding the halo effect)meant to primary school teachers. The research will also answer the questions: Is there a high level of receptivity in what concerns the maths lessons when are used mind maps?, Is it great the atractiveness of building and also of an active participation in teaching ? what are the use recommandation of mind maps during the maths lessons at primary school , what are the advantages and disadvantages of their use both in classical style and in the electronic one? What are the experiences and opinions of primary teachersregading the the teaching by mind maps? What are the platforms which could help modern teachers? At the same time, students will be able to present their ideas and concepts correctly assimilated.

Blended learning has produced over time many changes in the education process: regarding the degree of interaction in class, in terms of cost effectiveness, in the process of teaching and the learning experience adding some important informational content to the course, in the ways of interaction with others and also in both student and teacher's roles.The increases in importance of blendedlearning, which became an interferencebetweenlearningspace, technology, and media, is also proven bynumerous scientific papers that demonstrate its significant contribution to the processofteaching-learning-assessment. Complexrolesand responsibilitiesthat teachershavein theblended learning processare presentedfrom anational and internationalperspectiveand also in accordance withthe main principles that must be followed in developing the blended learningsystem.Electronic instruments shouldn't be just a part of the class, but all the parties involved in the teaching and learning process need to transform the computer in a real partner throughout this entire process. Therefore, there were formulated a series of rules that should be applied in blended learning in order to respect some basic didactic principles for building a fast and effectiveness teaching process. This requires a proper incorporation of ICTelements combined with certain key roles of the teacher who must improve the assimilation speed and student's interest, in order to facilitateknowledge transfer, encourage and increasing students' abilities and skills, mediate and monitor their actions. The most important contribution of blended learning is to stimulate students desire to continue learning beyond the physical boundaries of the classroom, school and to assess both individual and collective learningprogress. Keywords: blended learning, ICT, e-learning

Digitalization is an European Union Plan, which turns into reality in June 2022 for Romanian universities via the funds transmitted through NRRPs according to the degree of trust achieved by each university. For universities, digitalization is now a one-way street, which will be covered faster or slower depending on the financial possibilities obtained by each institution. The paper examines the perception of a smart learning environment of ten managers and professors from the University of Pitesti. Their opinions were extracted from ten semi-structured interviews. The perceptions of the faculty members were collected using questionnaires distributed directly or online. The final observations are that after this intense period of technology use (starting March 2020) teachers, managers and students admit the advantages of Smart Learning Environments (SLE) and are excited to be able to carry out activities that are more effective for final assessments. The Moodle platform used so far does not have built-in spyware and objective assessment has been one of the major challenges for the online exam session. Even though the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, opinions inhibiting the use of Smart Learning Environments, which can also be observed, are not statistically significant. The findings of the study led to further observations on the need for technological development, customization of the digital environment for learners and teachers and adaptation of pedagogical methods for the new smart environment. All of these lead to a direct effect on the quality of the teaching-learning process, economic growth and development of a country.