The first challenge addressed by the project are poor basic skills that affect one fifth of EU pupils. Basic skills provide the foundations for learning, gaining specialised skills and personal development. The ET 2020 framework acknowledges the increasing importance of individual skills in the era of the knowledge-based economy. The second challenge addressed by the project is a fast ageing, creating conflicts due to the distribution of economic resources into the social power that each generation has. The generational gap is defined as a deep cultural gap between the generations. Multigenerational learning represents one of the most important means of overcoming this gaps and leads in solidarity and trust between generations. The project aims to provide opportunities for an early start of basic technological scientific skills and interest for technical profession development with multigenerational learning. Project main target groups are preschool children, preschool teachers, adult education providers and senior and volunteer mentors. The overall project objective is to develop and pilot Chain Experiment in preschools through multigenerational learning. Preschool teachers, adult education providers and senior and volunteer mentors will in a project, trough learning from each other, sharing ideas, practices and methods develop and implement an innovative activity: Chain experiment in preschool. Activity will be tested in pilot implementations for preschool children. Preschool children will under a guidance of a mentor - senior with natural science and technological knowledge and experience) pre-school teachers and volunteer parents/grandparents build different contraptions in which are installed interesting phenomenon and compose those constructs into a chain. The Chain Experiment consist of mechanical contraptions that are put into the motion in a sequence- resembling well- known toppling rows of dominoes, but using the metal sphere as a linking element. Preschool children with Chain Experiment develop basic technological scientific skills and interest for technical profession. Work on the devices also develop manual skills (nailing, basic design…). Connecting not only two different sectors of education - preschool and adult education but also ten partners from five different countries will bring innovative solutions for facing the common challenges in the fields of early basic skills development and multigenerational learning. Transnational dimension of working in the project will allow participants to get in touch with completely new visions and ideas – combining them will lead to solutions that could newer happened in just one national environment.
With the project "Chain experiment in preschool", we addressed two challenges, namely the poorly developed basic skills of young people and the lack of intergenerational cooperation. The aim of the project was therefore to provide opportunities for the early start of the development of basic technological and scientific skills through intergenerational cooperation among preschool children. Working with preschool children in the project required special pedagogical knowledge and work methods for building chain links that are adapted to the abilities of preschool children, and the implementation of intergenerational activities must take into account the characteristics and abilities of the elderly. Therefore, in the project, we trained adult education providers, senior mentors to work with children, and preschool teachers to work with the elderly. Preschool children, under the guidance of senior mentors, built a chain experiment in the project. Chain Experiment consist of mechanical contraptions that are put into the motion in a sequence- resembling well- known toppling rows of dominoes, using the metal sphere as a linking element. The previous article triggers the operation of the next according to the principle of dominoes. The chain consists of independent links, in which many interesting phenomena and physical laws are embedded. As a connecting element between the individual links is a metal ball. The manual Chain Experiment in preschool developed in the project and published in English, Croatian, Italian, Slovenian and Polish, together with numerous dissemination activities, provided good potential for carrying out activities in the wider area.