The word « Robot » was created in 1920, it is a Czech word meaning "chore". For years the robot has been considered an enemy, nowadays it is seen as an industrial opportunity to do things that are both sustainable and fulfilling, while creating value. Robotic learning is essential if we want to deploy it in industry and in our societies. A project like this will help participants (students, parents or teachers) to understand and appreciate how robotics can be useful in their lives. The use of robots at school will increase student motivation. They are scalable, innovative and creative educational tools that allow students to use digital technology as an enjoyable way to solve the problems they face. The multidisciplinary approach of robotics also makes the involvement and expression of all easier. Thus, students will be able to increase their knowledge and develop their curiosity as well as their communication skills. Students will also improve their science skills. Interculturality strengthens creativity and develops a growing taste for foreign languages, with concrete opportunities to practice them. Robotics is a good way to develop a thirst for entrepreneurship. Firm visits, testimonials from entrepreneurs and a simulation game to create and promote a business will immerse students in a work environment. We want to give them the opportunity to get a glimpse of the real world and feel more secure and confident as for their future career choices. Each activity will be thought and developed to include a European dimension of education. The number of partners in this project (six) makes it complex but also extremely rich. The range of activities is diverse as all the partners have made their contribution to the global program. Some areas of expertise have emerged: organization of European projects, coordination, electronic twinning, robotics, entrepreneurship, environmental protection, cultural actions. Each partner has taken responsibilities of a specific area. We have decided to work in pairs so that a school in which teachers are experts in one of the different fields can tutor another institution in need to improve their knowledge and skills about it. Each of the partners being experts in different ways, we will all learn from each other. In the process, the pairs will have the responsibility to organize the activities within their areas of skills. The group is composed of schools from different countries in Europe. Thus, it offers the possibility to discover and understand a wide range of social and economic contexts. The use of the eTwinning platform (presentation, mobility preparation, mobility, post mobility) will help students’ interaction. Audio-visual productions will testify. The live broadcast of a play organized in the Czech Republic will be a fantastic moment to share. Two periods of staff mobility are planned. Six periods of students’ mobility are scheduled: - Presentation and discovery of robotics - Robotics and protecting the environment - Assembling and programming robots: mechanical and artistic fields - Robotics competition: junior Robocup - Entrepreneurship, Robotics and Culture (Theater) - Robotics Challenge and Entrepreneurship For students, the objectives are diverse. Some assessments will be conventional. Linguistic, creative thinking, problem-solving, robotics and programming acquisitions will be assessed according to targeted skills. A common frame of reference will be created and shared. Other objectives are less obvious: progress made on the desire for entrepreneurship or the discovery of European citizenship. Teachers will pursue a dual objective: to reinforce "pupil-centered learning" in order to develop the autonomy and independence of the learners, and to discover the educational systems of the partners as well as improving their language skills. This project will allow us to seize the opportunity to improve our educational methods in order to adapt it to social realities. This, to lead our students to have a better understanding of the world they live in. To sum it all up, we aim to: - Develop a long-term relationship between partners to help students socialize discover different cultures and practice English. - For the teachers, to improve professional skills by sharing national teaching practices. - Increase the knowledge of environmental problems, robotics and develop a thirst for entrepreneurship. We think these 3 objectives are tightly linked and necessary to develop a will for a better future in which Europe must take its rightful place. We want to help our students seize this challenge in the future.
For years, robots have developed and played an increasing role in our society. Nowadays they are used in many different fields and are also present everywhere in our daily life. That’s the reason why, in our project, we chose a multidisciplinary approach to try and understand how robots and more precisely robotics can be useful in our lives. We also wanted to develop the use of robotic learning in our schools and offer our pupils the opportunity to participate to many different kinds of activities with diverse objectives. One of the main objectives was to reinforce pupil centered learning so as to increase their motivation and autonomy. All these activities also aimed at allowing them to solve different problems, improving their science skills including robotics and programming, their communication skills, developing their creativity and a thirst for entrepreneurship. Moreover the project involved schools from 6 different countries (Spain, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and France) with pupils aged from 13 to 15. This diversity offered pupils and teachers a wonderful opportunity to discover and share enriching cultural knowledge and strengthen the European dimension of education by discovering and sharing national teaching practises. Each partner has taken responsibilities in the organisation of the activities during the mobilities, according to a defined program. During the COVID 19 pandemic, we were determined to continue the project and then made the decision to extend the project and re organise it so as to maintain most of the activities planned in the initial project. Two periods of staff mobility were organised. The first one whose main objective was to teach teachers some basic skills and knowledge on robotics and programming, took place in Greece at the beginning of the project. The second one, organised by Hungary at the end of the project, was virtual and allowed teachers to draw the last conclusions on the project, share concrete ideas on how to use robotics in our teaching methods in different subjects and to speak of a possible collaboration in the future. As for the six students’ mobilities, only the first one in France and the second in Hungary permitted students and teachers to physically meet. Poland, France, Spain and Czech Republic had to create virtual activities. The main objective was to link robotics to national and regional presentation, to environment and sustainable development, to culture, art and literature, entrepreneurship and programming. The final productions are as diverse as the activities: pupils made PowerPoint presentations, online quizzes, recorded different kinds of videos, took parts to diverse art workshops, adapted and played a part of a theatrical play, challenged each other on robots or drones programming, led scientific experiments, cooked and tasted recipes from different countries…. We can say we fulfilled the main objectives of the project. No doubt we also developed a long- term relationship between partners to help students socialize, discover different cultures and practice English. For the teachers, the whole project was a chance to improve professional skills by sharing national teaching practices.