Digital transformation is changing our everyday lives. Therefore, educational actors have to face this change in their schools and to deal it with appropriate teaching and learning environment. Career opportunities depend on digital education and the acquisition of digital skills. Students need to have a sound digital education and other basic skills and key competencies to keep their career and life opportunities. Teachers, too, need to evolve in their digital education for the best support of their students. MINT competencies are to be trained at an early stage and, above all, girls' reservations about technology, scientific content and digital media should be reduced. The close connection of early years education with professionel education is important in order to pave children a good way into the future. Attention should be payed on the fact, that children come early in their lives to recognise that Europe offers so many ways to be gone and that the childrens flexibility is built up. Reservations against other countries should not be created or dismantled. Teachers should gather valuable input from other European school systems and integrate it into their teaching and the development of their schools. In order to take this approach into account, this project has brought together two VET technical high schools with their upper and lower secondary school students from Germany and France and three primary schools from Bulgaria, Germany and Portugal to work together on this Erasmus + project. Students and teachers gain, expand and deepen their skills in different areas of digitilization, including programming with different platforms at different levels. In addition, especially the students, but also the teachers basic skills and key competiences such as language skills, teamwork, empathy and networked thinking skills, are acquiredand expanded. In total, about 20 teachers and 180 students are involved in the project. There are different age levels in the project who work together, the range is 6-30 years. The students from Portugal are children and adolescents with learning disabilities. Most of the participating teachers have experience in working on international projects and digital skills that they both enjoy to share with others and want to expand. The focus is on getting to know programming / applying various platforms and the comparing of platforms such as Arduino, Calliope, Micro: bit and Raspberry. On the basis of this knowledge, the digital capabilities of all participants should be expanded. Each school creates teaching and learning arrangements about the platforms they use and thus broaden their knowledge. Secondary school students and their teachers support elementary school students and their teachers in acquiring programming skills from video tutorials for platforms they don't know yet. Students in Portugal get to know different platforms, use them with the support of their teachers and, in the end, be able to create easy programming for the platform which is the most suitable platform for their degree of learning disability. In order to provide a motivating access to these topics, the students develop this within the learning environment "Survive on Mars". They consider what is needed for the colonization of a planet and develop appropriate ideas and programming (lamp control, moisture measurement, etc.). At the same time, students acquire knowledge about astronomy. Finally there are going to be created teaching units for different programming platforms, in particular for primary schools, which can be used all over Europe. A comparison of different programming platforms and their effect on different groups of students can be useful. Video tutorials and an ebook with programming suggestions are going to be created, as well as a multilingual (german, english and french) dictionary for technical terms. The project results should be available with the website created for the project and on eTwinning. An evaluation will reflect the effectiveness of the project for digital competence enhancement. Each school aims to get long-term benefits from the project by the digital advancement of their school. The results should be usable throughout Europe via the website, the Erasmus + portal and eTwinning to be a source of inspiration and help other schools, teachers and students in the development of digital literacy and other key competencies.
Digital change is changing our everyday lives. Schools counter this change with appropriate teaching and learning environments in order to increase the students' career and life chances by acquiring digital skills. Pupils need to have a sound digital education, basic skills and key competencies in order to maintain their career and life opportunities. Teachers are evolving in their digital education to support their students in the best possible way. MINT skills are trained at an early stage with the aim of breaking down reservations about technology, scientific content and digital media, especially among girls. Pupils are brought into contact with Europe at an early stage and thereby break down reservations about other countries. This creates flexible attitudes. Teachers collect valuable suggestions from other European school systems and integrate them into their teaching and the development of their schools. In order to take this approach into account, three primary schools from Bulgaria, Germany and Portugal have joined forces in the project to work together. They were partially supported by a German vocational school, which helped the elementary school students to get to know the different programming platforms and microcontrollers and enabled them to get in touch with the children's vocational training at an early stage. After the changes made necessary by the pandemic, the focus of the project was programming with various platforms and microcontrollers and evaluating their applicability and usefulness as well as motivation in the various age and performance levels in the individual participating countries. Pupils and teachers gained, expanded and deepened their skills in various areas of digitization, e.g. through programming with different platforms at different levels. In addition, the students in particular, but also the teachers, have acquired and expanded basic skills and key competencies such as foreign language skills, the ability to work in a team, empathy and the ability to think in a network. Altogether about 9 teachers and 80 students are involved in the project. A wide range of ages come together, from 6 to 19 years old. The students from Portugal are children and young people with learning disabilities. The focus is on getting to know, programming/using and comparing different platforms such as Calliope, Micro:bit and BOB3, in parts Arduino and Raspberry. This was used to expand the digital skills of all participants. The schools programmed with the platforms they used, presented them to the other schools and thus spread their knowledge. The students of the vocational school and their teacher supported the elementary school students and their teachers in getting to know the possibilities of the Calliope and Arduino microcontrollers. The students in Portugal got to know different platforms, applied them with the support of their teachers and the school's robotics club and were partly able to create easy programming for them depending on their learning disabilities. In order to create a motivating approach, the students worked on this within the learning environment "Survive on Mars". They considered what is necessary for the colonization of a planet, developed corresponding ideas and programming (e.g. moisture measurement). The students learned about astronomy. At the end of the project, the advantages and disadvantages of the microcontrollers used became apparent and various experiences with the programming platforms were gained. An evaluation showed the effectiveness of the project. It turned out that almost all students and teachers were very satisfied with the project, got to know new programming platforms and ways of programming and new technologies. The main expectation of the project, namely to further advance students and teachers in digital education and thereby expand interests and opportunities, was definitely fulfilled. It turned out that everyone involved had acquired or expanded programming knowledge. Especially girls felt attracted by the microcontrollers and platforms used and worked with Calliope and BOB3 with great enthusiasm. The programming platforms newly introduced in the respective countries will certainly find use in the future and the schools will derive long-term benefits from them. The results can be used across Europe via the website, the Erasmus+ portal and eTwinning to provide inspiration and help to other schools, teachers and students in further developing digital skills and other key competences.