The “Transformation through science” project has its roots and foundations in the identified needs and strengths of three schools that know well each other. All have science and STEM as some of their pivotal areas of learning, and all want to work on them under a cooperative and interdisciplinary methodology. The main and most ambitious objective of the project is to design an adequate platform and environment for the students to work and learn about different science fields under this previously innovative mentioned methodology. We plan to achieve this by firstly training the teachers on interdisciplinary and cooperative work in one of the centres that has a corroborated experience in this methodology. Varied science-based learning itineraries will be created for the students to work on over the following meetings. These itineraries will rotate around laboratory experiments, robotics and sustainability, which are some areas of expertise of the other two schools, and students will work on them in reduced cooperative groups. The participants of the project will be both, teachers and students. We plan to train teachers on innovative teaching methodologies and pedagogies and in laboratory activities and experiments to empower them with the right and effective tools to later on have a positive and constructive impact on the students participating in the project. Around 20 teachers will be involved, being mainly science and English teachers. The total of direct participant students will be around 100. The designed activities are varied and sequenced. The project will start by training the teachers on innovative methodologies. Then there will be robotic workshops, water and sustainability related activities, laboratory experiments, an approach to Photonics and the science of light, 3D designing and printing, most of these named activities will be worked by participants under cooperative group strategies and dynamics. These activities and others will be designed, implemented and led by specialised teachers, collaborators from universities and recognised professionals. They will also be complemented and connected to different and varied visits to outside companies, factories and research institutes. A wide range of products or creations will come out from the activities: booklets, leaflets, presentations, handbooks, life-experiences diaries, science learning itineraries, posters, logos and more. Methodology is at the core of the project. It will gain leverage of the expertise of one of the schools in interdisciplinary and cooperative work. Most of the activities conducted will be influenced and carried out under these innovative learning methods. We firmly believe in a learning based on problem solving, so we plan create scenarios for the participants to achieve that by cooperating among themselves while using English as a vehicular language. By implementing the project rightly; we ambition to achieve some demanding results such as creating science learning itineraries for the students to work with in cooperative groups. These itineraries will be created by specialised teachers under the supervision of qualified pedagogues. Participants will improve their negotiation, problem-solving, communication skills while working and presenting in groups. Activities will have an impact on their science knowledge, abilities, and also settle some seeds to grow curiosity for science in a near future. We expect the project to have a highly positive impact on the participants and teachers and as an extension to the whole school’s communities. There are many teachers and personnel form the management boards involved, therefore the impact will spread around schools. An innovative methodology will be shared, implemented and experimented by students and teachers. This impact will have continuity once the project will be finished. We expect and plan to use its created products over the upcoming years. The science learning itineraries will be used by upcoming courses of students in the three schools and the same can be said for the laboratory experiments and activities and also for the robotic ones. We are convinced that we have followed the right steps in building and shaping up the project. We have met physically, identified our needs and strengths, discussed about our future priorities and agreed on how to connect these needs and strengths in order to develop an enriching, challenging and motivating project for our schools. This is why we believe in it and are determined to drive it ahead.
The “Transformation through Science” project has its roots and foundations in the identified needs and strengths of three schools that know each other well. All have science and STEM as some of their pivotal areas of learning, and all want to work on them under a cooperative and interdisciplinary methodology. The main and most ambitious objective of the project was to design an adequate platform and environment for students to work with and learn about different scientific fields under the previously mentioned innovative methodology. We achieved this firstly by training the teachers on interdisciplinary and cooperative work in the Olot Piarist School that has a corroborated experience in this methodology. A science-based learning itinerary with the topic “Air” was created for the participating students to follow over the following meetings. This itinerary rotated around laboratory experiments, measurements and sustainability, which are some areas of expertise of the other two schools, and students worked on them in reduced cooperative groups during the mobilities and at home. The participants of the project were both teachers and students. We trained teachers on innovative teaching methodologies and pedagogies as well as in laboratory activities and experiments to empower them with the right and effective tools to have a positive and constructive impact on the participating students. We planned to involve around 20 teachers, mainly Science and EFL teachers, but through dissemination activities and trainings we involved almost all teachers of the schools. The number of directly participating students totalled around 100. The designed activities were varied and sequenced. The project’s initial phase focused on educating the teachers on innovative methodologies. In addition, there were robotics workshops, activities related to air, water and sustainability, laboratory experiments, an approach to Photonics and the science of light, 3D designing and printing. Most of these activities were completed by participants through cooperative group strategies and dynamics. These activities and others as well were designed, implemented and led by specialised teachers, collaborators from universities and highly esteemed professionals. They were also complemented by and connected to varied visits to outside companies, factories and research institutes. Some end products were created: learning materials, presentations, videos, science learning itineraries, experimental results. Methodology was at the core of the project. It gained leverage of the expertise of one of the schools in interdisciplinary and cooperative work. Most of the activities were influenced and carried out under these innovative learning methods. We firmly believe in learning based on solving meaningful problems, so we created scenarios for the participants to achieve that by cooperating while using English as a vehicular language. In the itineraries participants improved their skills of negotiation, problem-solving, and communication while working and presenting in groups. Activities had a positive impact on their science knowledge, strengthened their abilities, and now provide a solid basis for enhanced curiosity for science in the near future. We think the project had a highly beneficial impact on the participants and teachers and, as an extension, to the school communities on the whole. There were a number of teachers and personnel form the management boards involved, which hence had a ripple effect on all the schools. Innovative methodologies were shared, experimented and implemented by students and teachers. This impact will have continuity in the schools. We plan to use the end products over the upcoming years. Science learning itineraries will be implemented in courses for students in all three schools. The same can be said for the laboratory experiments and different activities. Although problems occurred during the project throughout the pandemic, we could still complete it and were even able to grow through the challenges. We developed a working methodology for regular online lessons of the schools, we had innovative online activities such as workshops, conferences in an extended network, a virtual visit in the EMBL. The long-term mobility of pupils was interrupted earlier, but since then this has been a regular activity among our schools in Olot and Kecskemét. The SUMMEM methodology is adapted in a whole class in Elblag.