The Project "Little Scientist" aims to motivate students for scientific research by working on problems that show the importance of science and particularly in mathematics in real life and are related to other subjects. We are looking for learning arrangements in which students can explore, invent or learn mathematics as active, creative learners with hands-on material (experiments), by using ICT and/or Mathematics software e.g. for simulations. Concrete research experiences will be organized with local research centers. These arrangements – often cross-curricular – will be drafted by teachers but also planned by students (collaborating via TS) , tried out in classes and then evaluated by partner students (and teachers). We mainly address to students at the age of 14 to 17. Each meeting has a real life topic e.g. architecture, games of chance, flowers, water ... We will take 5-6 students of each country to each of the five planned meetings. They will work in international teams related to the topic prepared before. They will compete in order to resolve the more efficiently the problematic. Finally, they will participate in “super-lessons” planned by Comenius teachers. Students will attend normal math lessons in the hosting school as well. In between the meetings international teams of students work on motivating activities that they, later may also "teach" or try out in their own or younger classes. The innovation of this project is that it will involve a local research center each time closed to the visited school, where a concrete scientific experience will be organize by a Scientist and the teacher. This will put the students in a real research situation where the communication and organization between them will be the key of success. All students' activities will improve their language skills since we will focus on CLIL methodology, as well as key competences. Teachers will benefit of the project, too by exchanging teaching methods that are highly cooperative, offering students own ways of learning. That broadens teachers' practice and raises the effectiveness of teaching. All participants will get to know a lot about different European cultures.
The Project "Little Scientist" aimed to motivate students for scientific research by working on problems that show the importance of science in real life and how science can be related to other subjects. We were looking for learning arrangements in which students could explore, invent or learn as active, creative learners with hands-on material (experiments), by using ICT and/or science software e.g. for simulations. Concrete research experiences were organized with local research centers. These arrangements – often cross-curricular – were organised by teachers and carried out in classes during Learning/Teaching/Training Activities. Each meeting had a real life topic: Light, Water and Renewable Energy Sources. The innovation of this project is that it involved a visit at a local research center, where a concrete scientific experience was organized by the scientist in charge, in cooperation with the school teacher. This placed the students in a real research situation where the communication and organization between them became the key to success. All students' activities were planned so as to improve both their language skills and key competences since we have focused on CLIL methodology. Teachers benefited from the project by exchanging teaching methods that are highly cooperative, offering students new ways of learning. That broadened teachers' practical methodology and improved the effectiveness of teaching methods. All participants became more familiar with the different European cultures. The following number of teachers and students were involved in each of the three learning/teaching/training activities: C1- Alcala de Henares, Spain Fechas Spain: 24 students, 12 teachers Cyprus: 8 students, 2 teachers Poland: 8 students, 3 teachers Turkey: 0 students, 0 teachers Switzerland: 8 students, 2 teachers C2- Lodz, Poland Spain: 8 students, 4 teachers Cyprus: 9 students, 2 teachers Poland: 25 students, 12 teachers Turkey: 0 students, 3 teachers Switzerland: 8 students, 2 teachers C3- Nicosia, Cyprus Spain: 8 students, 3 teachers Cyprus: 20 students, 3 teachers Poland: 7 students, 3 teachers Turkey: 0 students, 0 teachers Switzerland: 9 students, 2 teachers * Due to the political situation in Turkey, our NAs and websites of Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommended us not to travel there. Therefore, the order of the meetings will change. Consequently, the learning activity in Turkey is cancelled. The first Learning Activity (C1) will take place in Spain, followed by one in Poland (C2) and the last one in Cyprus (C3). The schools allocated their students and teachers between other learning/teaching activities so as to ensure the total number of student and teacher mobilities as planned in the application. Mainly, students of ages 12-16 were involved in the activities. They worked in international teams related to the topic prepared before and they competed in order to resolve the problem more efficiently. Finally, they participated in “super-lessons” planned by teachers. Students attended lessons in the hosting school as well. In between the meetings, international teams of students worked on motivating activities that they also shared in their school own communities afterwards, through similar experiencies. Two Transnational Project Meetings were organized. The first one was held in Alcala de Henares, Spain at the beginning of the project and the last one was held in Nicosia, Cyrpus, at the end of the project. 1st Transnational Project Meeting: C1 Alcalá de Henares del 7-11 de marzo de 2016 Spain: 6 teachers Cyprus: 2 teachers Poland: 2 teachers Turkey: 2 teachers Switzerland: 1 teacher The following topics were discussed in the first meeting: - Dates/Location of Meetings - Time management deadlines - Communication methods - Dissemination methods - Logo Contest - Methodology of teaching - Cultural Aspect 2nd Transnational Project Meeting: C2 Lodz (Polonia) 12-18 de junio de 2016 Spain: 2 teachers Cyprus: 2 teachers Poland: 1 teacher Turkey: 2 teachers Switzerland: 2 teachers The following procedures were implemented in the second meeting: - Finalisation of material uploading on the project's Twinspace - Coordination of the work on the Mobility Tool - Application of dissemination methods During the meeting sustainability of the project was also thoroughtly discussed. Despite the unforseen circumstances mentioned above, the implementation of the project went smoothly and all the objectives were achieved. The cooperation between the partners was effective and fruitful. Students interacted and communicated freely and eagerly. The activities helped the participating students to discover their new passion for science.