This project is developed to meet the strategy of the EU Commission for 2020 the aim of which is to improve basic skills of new generation for a better future of the European Union. Necessary basic skills in Science, Mathematics, Language and Technology need to be developed by transforming activities into plays. As the project team, the coordinators of the partner schools, we discussed the issue (how to improve lack of basic skills in pre-school curricula) and stated the needs in our schools taking teachers 'observation into account. Lack of practical knowledge/training became the main problems according to our study that needs to be promptly solved. As both practical knowledge and theoretical knowledge are important phases of learning, they need to be combined to provide children with effective learning at an early age. It is not enough to remember given data and gain technical knowledge as learning is a difficult process which produces relatively permanent changes. Our working methodology aims at creating/developing practical experiments/ activities/real situations for theoretical knowledge given in kindergarten curricula. We aim to connect both types of knowledge and provide holistic learning. Since this is a kindergarten level project, there will be basic level of activities. Kids are our major target groups and that is why clubs activities will be transformed into plays to make their learning more enjoyable and memorable. Teachers will be the main actors in the project. They will develop practical experiments and activities for kids and prepare a systematic education programme depending on our approach in the project. We will teach our kids about science, maths, technology and language in a very pleasant, simple and accessible way. CLUBS AND ACTIVITIES (Kids will be selected into the clubs according to their talents) SCIENCE CLUB -Providing/planning and practicing experiments (games) for basic knowledge -Leading kids to play games as if they were scientists -Preparing and publishing SCIENCE MAGAZINE FOR KIDS -Introducing famous scientists and their products to children - presentation at school. MATHS CLUB -Providing Maths games for kids -Organizing chess tournament (in kids level) -Preparing numerical games for kids -Observing geometric shapes outside -Organizing orienteering activities for pupils LANGUAGE CLUB -Preparing theatre play in English -Song contest in the target language -Role play activities -Memorizing lyrics of songs in English -Organizing cinema days in English -Inviting foreign famous people to school TECHNOLOGY CLUB -Organising educative computer games for kids -Organizing webgame competitions -Creating the project website -Creating e-twinning accounts and running partnership (by teachers) The project includes 4 short term exchanges of teachers and there are 20 mobilities for each school. The project team will observe activities, products and performances so they will decide who will participate in these meetings. OBJECTIVES -Creating an active pre-school environment inside/outside the classes -Providing holistic learning -Developing ICT, Language and Digital skills of kids -Developing interest of the kids through mathematics, language, science, technology -Improving self-esteem NUMBER AND PROFILE OF THE PARTICIPANTS Students: indirect 80X5:400 total: 400 Teachers: Direct 16X5:80 indirect 5X5:25 total: 105 Administrative Staff: 2X5: 10 Families: 150 Local Community: 100 RESULTS AND IMPACTS Through the project the five partners intend to create both short-term and long-term tangible and intangible results and to achieve the biggest possible impact as leading teachers to increase the quality of education and improve our kids’ basic skills and provide holistic learning as an innovative practice. The project website will provide a continuous access to the general information of the project activities, progress and results and will amplify our collective impact on participants.
Context/ Background to the Project This project was developed to meet the strategy of the EU Commission for 2020, the aim of which is to improve basic skills of the new generation to develop a better future of the European Union. Necessary basic skills in Science, Mathematics, Language and Technology need to be developed by transforming more formal learning activities into play. As the project team, the coordinators of the partner schools, discussed the issue (how to improve lack of basic skills in pre-school curricula) and stated the needs in our schools, taking teachers' observations into account. Lack of practical knowledge/training became the main problems according to our study that needed to be promptly solved. As both practical knowledge and theoretical knowledge are important phases of learning, they need to be combined to provide children with effective learning at an early age. It is not enough to remember given information and gain technical knowledge as learning is a difficult process which produces relatively permanent changes. Children learn best through practical experiences and when they are having fun. Description of Activities Undertaken Since this is a kindergarten level project, the level of activities were basic but still had some element of challenge to promote thinking skills. The children have had focussed learning through clubs in science, maths, technology and language in a very enjoyable, simple and accessible way. As a group, we decided to include all children in this project rather than target groups of children. This way, we could make the biggest impact on the largest number of children. SCIENCE CLUBS All teachers prepared activities with practical experiments for the children to take part in. The children became scientists, carrying out their own experiments. Each partner studied a chosen scientist with their children. Presentations of this work were given to the children in Portugal. Each school prepared a magazine all about the science work completed with the children. Samples from each magazine were taken and compiled into a collective Science Magazine for our children. In Portugal, the children carried out some experiments for us all to observe and an experimental workshop was set up for teachers to take part in. MATHS CLUB All teachers prepared activities with practical maths activities for the children to take part in. These were presented to all partners at the meeting in Italy. All partners attempted to teach chess to our very young children but what we discovered was that it was just too complicated for our children to grasp. This was the only unsuccessful element in the whole project. All teachers took maths outdoors and into the wider environment. We have looked for geometrical shapes outdoors. In Italy, we observed the children completing various practical maths activities and took part in a practical activity with a specialist teacher based on geometrical shapes, using clay. We also took maths out into the environment and completed a maths hunt in the supermarket. LANGUAGE CLUB The children worked hard to create a theatre play in English. As English is the mother tongue for the UK group, the children produced a long reenactment of a traditional story for the children in the partner schools. Each school chose one song to record and present to the children in Latvia. We have spent time learning new songs in English. Role play is a very important aspect in language acquisition. Children can reenact things they see in real life. All partners gave their children lots of role play opportunities in their classrooms and outdoors. This work was presented to partners in Latvia. The children have watched cartoons and programs/films in English to help them to learn the language. TECHNOLOGY CLUB Many educational computer games for children were introduced. Favourite websites were used for educational games also. As a group, we were in agreement that Technology was not only computers and gadgets but building/architecture, food technology, design and creating also. All of this work completed in our schools was presented by partners in the UK. Partners took part in an outdoor technology activity led by an external outdoor specialist teacher and had the opportunity to observe various technology activities carried out with the children. The project website was created as planned and e-twinning accounts were set up by all partners. The project includes 4 short term exchanges of teachers and there were 20 mobilities planned for each school. OBJECTIVES -Creating an active pre-school environment inside/outside the classes -Providing holistic learning -Developing ICT, Language and Digital skills of children -Developing interest through mathematics, language, science, technology -Improving self-esteem Impact We achieved all objectives set out at the beginning of this project. Digital competence has improved as well as basic skills across the 4 areas.