Spacefest - Από το Διάστημα στη Γη

"<< Background >>A primary motivation for our collaboration was the exchange of educational experience between the organizations in the innovative educational approach of STE(A)M. The transnational cooperation framework simultaneously addressed the partners' common need to develop their European dimension and improve their school's European profile.The applicant organization, with the least experience in STE(A)M, sought for its educators to become acquainted with the new interdisciplinary STE(A)M approach, and for students to engage in cognitive and technical STEM activities within a European collaboration framework, specifically KA2 and eTwinning.Scoil Iosagain aimed to disseminate its best practices as a pioneering STEM school in its region, with the goal of continuously improving the organization in terms of enhancing school attendance and preventing school dropout.Ensuring equal access and academic success for all students was a key objective for Agrupamento de Escolas de Amarante. Additionally, the Portuguese school aimed to leverage e-learning and the eTwinning platform to strengthen the digital skills of both students and educators.All of the above objectives were served by the present plan.<< Objectives >>The Greek school wanted:- To benefit from the rich experience of its partners, gaining an in-depth understanding of the STE(A)M method, which is new to Greek education.- To examine the programs and strategies employed by European schools for inclusion and improving student performance through skill development, the use of new technologies, and Art.- Educators to strengthen their professional identity and, by utilizing the best practices of their partners, differentiate their teaching methods and classroom layout to benefit the students.- The school administration to be inspired to utilize school facilities with a STE(A)M orientation (e.g., Inclusion Class, school garden, physics lab, traffic park, classrooms).- Students to develop communication skills (teleconferences, twinspace forums, festival organization), digital skills (web2 tools, eTwinning, stop animation, blogs, augmented reality applications, and 3D printing), and collaboration skills by working in transnational teams on twinspace, as well as with students from other classes in the same school.- The idea of a STE(A)M festival to be adopted in schools.<< Implementation >>Short-term training activity at Scoil Iosagain (Ireland) titled: ""Sharing Good Practice in a STEM School of Excellence,"" aimed at introducing participants to the profile of an inclusive school that embraced students with fewer opportunities, from immigrant families representing 38 different nationalities, and the factors that led to the school's success and its distinction with a STEM award.Short-term training activity: ""Innovative Educational Environments"" Future Classroom tour at Agrupamento de Escolas de Amarante, aimed at introducing participants to the profile of a school that has invested in creating new learning environments using educational technology based on the ""Future Classroom Lab"" (FCL) model of European Schoolnet.Short-term training activity: summer school: ""Space Festival,"" aimed at introducing participants to the profile of an eTwinning school that has developed collaborations with local organizations, professionals, the municipal government, and volunteer associations for organizing activities both in the school and the city.SpaceFestival, a joint final dissemination activity, focused on Science, Technology, Innovation, and Art!e-Twinning project for remote collaboration among students.<< Results >>The concrete outputs and other results of the project were:- Teacher mobility for learning / exchange of good practices & STE(A)M experience- eTwinning project for students to cultivate communication, collaboration, language, and technology use skills- STE(A)M lesson plans- SELFIE (Self-reflection on Effective Learning by Fostering the use of Innovative Educational technologies) – Self-assessment of participating teachers for effective learning by enhancing the use of innovative educational technologies- Project website- Photos & videos from meetings and activities- STE(A)M festival- Creation of a collaboration network among our schools, which will further develop our partnership starting from the next school year."