Only in recent times schools have arisen the awareness of how important it is to train students in the use and application of computational thinking within their educational and didactical approaches and area. With technological progress the competence in computational thinking acquires equal degree of basic skills (reading and logical mathematical ability), but still many schools have to overcome obstacles to find effective ways towards this direction. The project proposes an educational pathway for the development of computational thinking as a premise to activities with coding and to the first applications of robotics. The undisputed protagonist is Leonardo Da Vinci, of whom this year marks the 500th anniversary of his death, and acts as guide for teachers and young people entering a fully digitalized world. Leonardo has excelled in multiple fields of knowledge thanks to his ability to work and think in an engineering way through the use (unconscious but effective) of computational thinking, codifying his thoughts in an orderly and systematic way. By doing so, how many problems he has worked out! How much creativity he has transfused in his works! Starting from the profile of Leonardo Da vinci, with an innovative and transversal approach to school disciplines (ICT, mathematics, English, art, history) the project aims to apply computational thinking in the school curricula of students aged 11 to 13 years (in correspondence with the starting years of the second cycle of education) to carry out coding and robotics activities, pursuing these objectives: 1. integrate the use of computational thinking into teaching and learning processes; 2. rediscover and enhance the profile of Leonardo Da Vinci European humanist and scientist, inventor, guide and teacher, through the creation of didactic resources dedicated to him; 3. prepare teachers to explore and fully exploit the potential of digital technologies in teaching. The aim is to consolidate the teaching and professional development of teachers through the targeted and wise use of digital technologies (coding and robotics) and innovative teaching methods (storytelling) for the development of digit competencies, communication and social skills in the school curriculum. Student groups at schools and during mobilities have the opportunity to know each other better, learn about the characteristics and works of the great master Leonardo through school lessons, workgroup, cultural tours. Through the transnational cooperation carried out during the 4 planned mobilities students refine their work and produce three issues of the E-magazine (first product), publish on the Twinspace Leonardo's storytelling realized with Scratch (second product) and using computational thinking, design and build the automaton of Leonardo (third product), making the benefits of digital technologies their own. In doing so they develop three of the five key areas of digital competences: “communication and cooperation”, “develop digit contents”, “problem solving” (see European digital competences framework for citizens). With the use of digital technologies the focus of the teaching process shifts towards the learner. The teacher takes on the role of mentor and guide who designs new ways to support learners individually or in groups. This increases the motivation to learn, stimulates understanding, reflection, critical spirit and collaboration in the students. Through the project, permanent and stable forms of collaboration are set up between schools involved in the digitalization processes of teaching. Teacher training on computational thinking is consolidated, with particular attention to the age group of younger students (11-13 years) where the coding activity is not yet consolidated for them . During the last mobility each national group will compete in the assembly of the 4 automata. Coming home with their robot will be a very interesting challenge for kids. In the realization of the automaton students will apply computational thinking as they will physically create a robot that they will have to program according to the logic of a computer that reads in input and returns an output making use of a simplified programming language. English, history, ICT, maths, science and arts teachers will be involved from each partners. All of them had already experience in international projects. The project will include during the 2 years: - 4 periods of 3 days for students mobility (+ 2 days for travel). 7 students will be involved from each school each journey; - opening the twin space and exchange of experiences and materials of students and professors (forum, events) - dissemination activities at local level - cultural tours - production of didactic resources.
Introductory note: The drafting of the final report has been shared with partners. For this reason, the product is written and published in English. With technological progress the competence in computational thinking (i.e., the ability to take a structured logical approach in the formulation and solution of problems supported by technologies), acquires equal degree of basic skills (reading and logical mathematical ability), but still many schools have to overcome obstacles to find effective ways towards this direction. The project proposes an educational pathway for the development of computational thinking as a premise to activities with coding and to the first applications of robotics. The undisputed protagonist has been Leonardo Da Vinci of whom the year 2019 marks the 500th anniversary of his death in 2019, who acted as guide for teachers and young people entering a fully digitalized world. Leonardo has excelled in multiple fields of knowledge thanks to his ability to work and think in an engineering way through the use (unconscious but effective) of computational thinking, codifying his thoughts in an orderly and systematic way. By doing so, how many problems he has worked out! How much creativity he has transfused in his works! The partner schools implemented an innovative and transversal approach to school subjects (ICT, Mathematics, Physics, English, History, Art) based on collaborative and peer-to-peer-learning, flipped classroom, project-and-inquiry based learning and teaching and allowed students to work both in presence and in virtual mode within national and transnational groups, using the European TwinSpace platform and other shared platforms. The fruit of these activities was the design and production of multimedia products in all partner languages over the two years of the project. The students produced films, took part in reading groups to learn about the life and works of Leonardo Da Vinci, carried out artistic activities, produced two issues of the digital magazine "Last news about Leonardo" (first product), and then moved on to coding and robotics activities, firstly by building short scratch stories narrating the life and works of the great master (second product), and finally Leonardesque automata (third product). The products created by the schools enabled the students to acquire innovative skills in coding, robotics and storytelling,; the teachers involved experimented with innovative ways of applying digital technologies in teaching (coding and robotics) and innovative teaching methods (storytelling) for the development of digit competencies, communication, and social skills in the school curriculum. In doing so they have developed three of the five key areas of digital competences: “communication and cooperation”, “develop digit contents”, “problem solving” (see European digital competences framework for citizens). The teachers took on the roles of mentors and guides who design new ways to support learners individually or in groups, especially during the pandemics. This process has increased the motivation to learn, stimulated understanding, reflection, critical spirit, and collaboration among the students.This didactic method is distinguished by the contamination between several different disciplines such as ICT, History, Art, English, Mathematics, Science, providing the students with a concrete example of multidisciplinarity within an innovative digital context, that attracted pupils' interest in STEM (especially from the female audience) and develop critical thinking skills. English, History, ICT, Physics, Science, Mathematics and Arts teachers were involved from each partners. Most of them had already experience in international projects. The project has enabled the activation of forms of permanent collaboration between schools engaged in the digitalization of teaching processes. Overall, teachers’ experience and background benefited from the project, while the training of teachers on coding has yet to be consolidated. The credential to access the eTwinning platform, where the entire project development is shown, are: Username: supervisore.report Password: etwinning2021