Nowadays less and less pupils choose natural science subjects during higher educations. There are fewer teachers of natural sciences (biology, physics, chemistry, geography). Interest has shifted into the direction of humanities. This fact is proven by survey results published also by European Schoolnet. The flow and exchange of information became faster. The pupils spend more and more time on digital and virtual environment. They are under-motivated regarding learning because of the old learning and teaching methods. We need a new method of teaching and learning. The students spend a lot of time playing computer games. We would like to have these facts to be of service of learning. We would like to awaken their interests for subjects of natural science. We organize such activities for them, where they would get to know the scientific phenomena in a playful way, by experimenting and discovering. With the help of ICT tools we can create an online learning community without boundaries. We devote a big role for games in teaching and learning. On the one hand we improve their social, problem-solving logical thinking abilities, their success-failer tolerating skills with the help of games, and on the other hand we exploit its motivating power. During the resolutions of the tasks the pupils are progressing according to their own abilities, they get scores, virtual money or they collect badges and get up to a higher level according to their performance. During the visits every international virtual community reports the tasks accomplished, and presents its work. We create the tasks from everyday life, this way they can get closer to the world of work, and life-long-learning. During completing these tasks our aim is to eliminate the boundaries between the different subjects. We concentrate on non-formal and informal learning methods and events. We would like to increase the students’ interest for science and maths, to try different ways for teaching and learning. We would like to develop 21st century skills for the students and their educators. We would like to make our educational staff aware of the new teaching and learning methods of Science and Maths. We would like to contribute to the quality of the education in the EU with sharing good practices, producing new techniques and methods to teach Science and Maths in a fun and exciting way.During the project visits we get the opportunity to practice foreign languages and to get to know each other's culture. It is an excellent occasion to share experiences personally and to build more international relationships. We will organise twice a 10 day-long summer camp, where we can improve the pupils' problem-solving and logical thinking skills with the help of boardgames and by actual scientific experiments. The 10 days are a great opportunity for developing close international friendships amongst the pupils and to start active communications. This also applies to the accompanying staff, as well. The pupils discover the experiences gained by playing together, and find a useful opportunity for spending their free time. During the actual scientific researches they will examine problems regarding: environment-protection, drinking water, how to measure polluting materials, air pollution, examine soil samples, observe and study flora and fauna. These non-formal occasions contribute to form the pupils' environmentally conscious behaviour and to awake their interests towards natural sciences. The online work-groups and learning communities created during the project will learn to exploit the optimal digital techniques in order to reach a common goal. Their communication, foreign language and digital competence will improve. They will learn to work in a team and all such attributes that are essential in the world of work (keeping deadlines, working precisely, the team needs me and my work, they depend on me so I find myself important, etc.) They will learn to present their work and to evaluate the results, they will gain competences of the 21st century.
Five partners participated in the project (Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland). Of the partners there are 2 non-governmental organizations and 3 public education institutions. The Turkish partner is in a fortunate position to choose the most talented students in the area and to deal with them as a small group. The Hungarian partner also deals with small groups of students, but they are not selected based on grades, but they choose these occupations voluntarily. The Bulgarian school works with 100% Roma pupil composition. It is very hard for them to keep the students in school. The Romanian partner is the school of a small settlement where there is a lack of pupils. The Polish partner is a big institution. Although we are structurally very different, we are struggling with the same problems. The students don’t like natural sciences and mathematics. In these areas, we have a problem with teacher’s deficit. There is no motivating force for students, they find these subjects boring and incomprehensible. We wanted to reverse this approach with our project. We have created interesting physics, chemistry, biology, and geographical experiments with students that can be easily done by anyone (parent, student, and teacher) and can make the lessons more enjoyable. We've provided some games that can be introduced not only in mathematics, but in any classroom and enrich the monotonous learning. These experiments and games were videotaped, and the description and instructions were prepared in 6 languages (in Hungarian, Turkish, Romanian, Polish, Bulgarian and English). From the experiments, a small online e-book was produced, which was taught by Adam Pálvölgyi during the first Learning / teaching / training activities. This simple online tool can be used by students and teachers for other project work and lessons. During international project meetings, students and teachers also learned to use new tools at all venues. In Poland, museums were significant which could be incorporated into geography and biology classes. In Bulgaria, the application of demographic analysis has surprised us. During the demonstration, students and teachers also realized that the population is decreasing, the young people are migrating, and they are setting up a family later. We have also prepared a questionnaire survey on this subject, which has supported the verbal conversation. In Turkey, working with robots was very interesting. In addition, working with clay has made everyone happy. The experimentation workshop and the visit and performance of the planetarium were interesting. In Romania, mathematics gained the leading role. We participated in a number of math games that the students participated very enthusiastically. During the Hungarian camp, we summarized what we tried during the 2 years and further extended our knowledge. We took part in code hunting, where we algorithmized, developed code and used GPS signals through mobile application. We have experimented with physics, manufactured rockets, played with robots, and learned new games that partners also like to incorporate into their lessons. Beside the experiments and games, we have come to know each other's culture, customs, food, traditions, folk music, folk dance, folk costumes. We organized storming cultural evenings, which broke down the borders, language and cultural differences. We want to continue the cooperation in the form of new applications.