Information and communication technologies (ICT) represent one of the fastest growing fields and the main generator of economic and society developments. However, learning outcomes connected to the ICT and to the development of key digital competences are still underrepresented as parts of the school curricula, especially in primary schools across Europe. In June 2016, the European Commission launched a New Skills Agenda for Europe, with digital skills as a key component. According to The DigiComp Framework, digital content creation represents one of the five major competence areas which includes the competence of programming described as the ability to design instructions for a computing system to solve a given problem. This area is particularly neglected in schools where students are not given enough opportunities to explore programming and learn algorithmic thinking and coding skills. Algorithmic thinking helps solving various problems that reflect real issues and in which the application of the knowledge from other areas, especially science, mathematics and logical disciplines is necessary. The learning outcomes related to the coding should be represented not only in school subjects directly related to ICT but also integrated into the daily learning through other school subjects starting already with the youngest age students, for example by using digital serious games. The general goal of the project is the development of algorithmic thinking of younger students which will improve students' attitudes towards coding and in the long term contribute to reducing the "fear" towards programming and to increasing students' interest in the selection of future career in the ICT and STEM areas. In order to achieve the goal it is necessary to develop students' digital content creation competence already from the first grade of primary school, and it can only be conducted by the teachers who have been trained for it. The main objective of the project is encouraging the integration of coding and algorithmic thinking into the daily teaching through different subjects in students' younger ages in a fun and attractive way. It will be achieved by further professional training of teachers including the acquisition of the contemporary knowledge and skills connected to different innovative teaching methodologies. Special focus will be on using educational strategies of Game Based Learning (GBL) and gamification in order to foster creativity, logical thinking, and problem-solving skills. The project consortium brings together European experts in the field of didactics of informatics, e-learning, and GBL who will work on the development of the syllabus and learning materials for training course aimed to the Croatian primary junior grade teachers but it can be applied to all teachers across Europe. During the project period, 20 teachers gathered in the focus group will take part in workshops, which will be designed according to the blended model of e-learning. The key part will represent f2f lectures at three sessions which will be held in Croatia while the online part will take place through the online learning system. Experts from partner organizations will help teachers to use the new acquired knowledge on using GBL in teaching the concepts of coding and algorithmic thinking for developing learning scenarios. They will implement the learning scenarios in classes with their students. An important element will be a collection of teachers’ and students’ opinions through surveys and interviews which will be used as a feedback to improve the designed workshops. The result will be the final enhanced version of syllabus with the learning materials and the best examples of learning scenarios in Croatian and English language. All resources will be available on the online platform for e-learning, which will also provide a community to exchange ideas and experiences for teachers. It will be possible to use the syllabus and other resources in the future for the organization of informal, non-formal or formal primary junior grade teacher training or study programmes at the institutions that educate future teachers in Croatia, partner countries and beyond. During the project, a series of activities for the dissemination and popularization of results will be continuously carried out in all participating countries, including the final video conference where project's outputs will be addressed to teachers and all relevant stakeholders in partner countries. It is therefore expected that teachers from Croatia, and from all the countries involved in the project as well as other European countries, will show interest in attending new training programs. In that way progress towards the development of algorithmic thinking and improvement of students' attitudes towards programming will be made which will have a long-term impact on the increase of their interest in the selection of the future occupations in the ICT fields.
Information and communication technologies (ICT) represent one of the fastest growing fields and the main generator of economic and society developments. However, learning outcomes connected to the ICT and to the development of key digital competences are still underrepresented as parts of the school curricula, especially in primary schools across Europe. According to the DigiComp Framework, digital content creation represents one of the five major competence areas, but this area is particularly neglected in schools where students are not given enough opportunities to explore programming and develop algorithmic thinking and coding skills. Algorithmic thinking helps solving various problems that reflect real issues and in which the application of the knowledge from other areas, especially science, mathematics and logical disciplines is necessary. The learning outcomes related to the coding should be included not only in school subjects directly related to ICT but also integrated into the other school subjects starting already with the youngest students. The general goal of the GLAT project is the development of algorithmic thinking of younger students which will improve students' attitudes towards coding and in the long term contribute to reducing the "fear" towards programming and to increasing students' interest in the selection of future career in the ICT and STEM areas. In order to achieve the goal it is necessary to develop students' digital content creation competence already from the first grade of primary school, and it can only be conducted by the teachers who have been trained for it. The main objective of the project is encouraging the integration of computational and algorithmic thinking, problem-solving skills, logic and creativity into the daily teaching through different subjects in students’ younger ages in a fun and attractive way using Game Based Learning (GBL). One of the main activities of the project was the organization of education for primary junior grade teachers in the form of a blended learning e-course. The GLAT educational model combines three f2f workshops with online learning and has been related to innovative teaching methodologies such as Game Based Learning (GBL), Problem Based Learning (PBL), and Inquiry Based Learning (IBL). During the project period, 20 teachers gathered in the focus group participated in education conducted by the experts from the project consortium. In the context of the project, syllabus which includes schedules for all workshop sessions with learning outcomes, topics, evaluation methods, and tasks for participants (teachers) has been prepared as well as presentations for the sessions of the workshops, guide for teachers, and a set of learning scenarios that serve as examples of good practice. The guide for teachers brings lessons about topics related to algorithmic thinking and basic programming concepts as well as those about teaching and learning strategies that can be used for the development of algorithmic thinking and learning programming. Learning scenarios have been prepared by the teachers – participants of the GLAT education and implemented in classes with their students. After each workshop, teachers prepared learning scenario for chosen subject and topic within the subject. Learning scenarios were developed for primary school subjects: Croatian language, Mathematics, Science, Music culture, Fine arts, etc. The scenarios are, as examples of good practice, integral part of training materials prepared for the GLAT education but can also be used independently as a stand-alone materials and ideas for teachers who would like to modernize their teaching. All learning materials for GLAT education are available within Moodle e-course "Games for Learning Algorithmic Thinking" as Word and PowerPoint files that lectures of future educations can easily revise and modify. All resources are freely available in Croatian and English language and it is possible to use them for the organization of informal, non-formal, or formal primary junior grade teacher training or study programs at the institutions that educate future teachers in Croatia, partner countries and beyond. From the very beginning of the project, dissemination activities have been carried out to inform target audience about the project and to raise interest for project activities and results. The project disseminated the results to large number of different stakeholders at local, regional, national, EU and international level. It is therefore expected that teachers from Croatia, from all the countries involved in the project, as well as other European countries, will show interest for GLAT results. In that way progress towards the development of algorithmic thinking and improvement of students' attitudes towards programming will be made which will have a long-term impact on the increase of their interest in the selection of the future occupations in the ICT fields.