Design a technology which integrates better elderly European in the contemporary world. Vocational schools should take into consideration not only on the skills and knowledge acquired by students, but also on their personality and the European Citizens they are becoming. The aim of the project, regarding elderly people in Europe, would be to design products, services or environments more inclusive, which would more integrate old people. In consequence, our students who are often ignorant of Europe building should be more conscious of old people who live in our continent by studying the troubles they can have with technology and resolve it By this way they should know more elderly Europe population and their needed. So this project could make an opportunity to regain the links between generations. By another hand people who will benefits who should be more confident about the using of technology to make their own life better. This is why a group of young people in vocational and technological training in the industrial sector, wanted to give another dimension to the future trades they are preparing such as electricians, environmental services, boilermakers, by wishing a project useful to their elders. Indeed, these future artisans or actors in services, will work locally in their region of origin, where the population is made up of a large number of elderly people. They are students of a European English biotechnology health environment class and are asked if other high school students have the same ideas abroad. To make possible the fulfillment of this project, four schools are going to work together. They are situated in Germany, Spain, Portugal and France. The first stage of this project is to study precisely the needed of elderly in Europ. This part will be driven by the students and teacher Germans who are, due to their specialty (social & political studies) able to synthesis of work done by all partners. Then the studies allow writing functional specifications which will use to realize in Spain, where the second partner will manage the ICT part of project. The target of this part is to build Free android apps websites to help elderly people. Regarding Portuguese School (Agrupamento de Escolas 2 de Beja) it will be the place where by using microocontroller lab the specific programs will be written. The last step will take place in France where a fablab with 3D printers and lasercut allows to make models which use to implant microcontroler codes wrote in Portugal and test them. Eventually, some production of this project can be given to retirement houses and the others parts can be used to inspire companies which want to design some products in this area. To strengthen interpersonal and social skills, various activities around common virtues will lead students to reflect on what would make our world better by promoting intergenerational solidarity. The creation of word cloud, a tree of values, posters offering exemplary quotes will develop cultural sensitivity and expression. Exchanges with partners will allow us to work on values such respect and tolerance. These are planned on the TwinSpace eTwinning forum.
The unifying idea of the KA229 project was to imagine and create a technology that better integrates elderly people in our modern world . To achieve this, the skills of the students from the 4 partners of the project ( Germany,Spain , France and Portugal) were requested and developed in a chronological and logical order corresponding to a project approach .In spite of a difficult context of sanitary crisis requiring a one-year amendement and a virtual mobility, some of the initial goals were achieved especially the awareness of our students coming from small towns or rural areas of the existing community of elderly people within Europe . They also became aware of the usual and common problems those elderly people have to face in their daily life. Thus both our students’professional and academic skills were improved and our students realized they were European citizens involved in a project that went beyond national borders and that needed a mutual support from the European partners. Additionally, linguistic skills necessary to the project construction were improved through the use of English as a communication language and Spanish as well. The first step was to lay the foundations of a dialogue between students from the 4 countries thanks to the use of e.Twinning .Then, students from the 4 countries took part in a contest of the best logo supposed to symbolize the project .That contest took place in each country, and each country selected one logo . Finally, an international vote selected the German logo. After a meeting of teachers from the 4 countries in France , one year after the project was accepted, in september 2021 ,the first mobility took place at the end of January 2022 but virtually because of the sanitary context. Germany, represented by BBS11Technik Kaiserlautern organised this meeting with the help of Bigbluebutton to share tasks. The evaluation of the questionnaires, written by Portugal , aimed at elderly people and submitted to each country as an upstream work as well as a study of statistical ressources provided by the Eurostat site allowed to understand that the main problems met by elderly people were mobility and health .Works were tabled on Taskard accessible through a hyper link on e.twining . The second mobility in Spain in May 2022, gave the opportunity to discover an available accessible on-line technological design software and to imagine technical solutions in the form of mental maps to answer elderly people’s needs.In order to present those ideas to a politician ,an interview with the Sangueto mayor was organised . Additionally, an anthem written before the mobility and dealing with the relationship between generations was sung by the french students and gathered participants from the different countries. In January 2023 , the meeting in Portugal was dedicated to the creation of a pill dispenser and the creation of well-balanced meals for elderly people. During those 2 meetings , the activities that were initially planned when the project was being written were modified especially the creation of mobile applications that were supposed to be created in Spain but that were finally created in Portugal.Nevertheless the main goal was achieved and most of the works and 3D impressions were continued and used during the first meeting in France at the end of March 2023 . During this last meeting, a 1:25 scale-model of the ideal and perfect village for elderly and disabled people was created ,built with 3D printed parts All the week, some elderly and retired people from our local retirement house were invited, they shared and discussed their opinions about all the final outcomes ( mobile applications, the village, the pill dispenser, the menus ...) , they also had the opportunity to do gym exercises that had been imagined by the students. To conclude a questionnaire aimed at teachers allowed to assess the full support and commitment to the project from partners and showed a will to renew and share such a successful experience. It is important to mention that people from outside were involved in the project during each mobility either because they were interested in the topic or because they felt concerned having elderly people within their own family. This allowed to broden the dissemination of the topic of the project and to enhance the feeling of a European community and membership . In addition, some press articles were written and our work and posters showing the story of the project are permanently displayed in our school and outside school as a way to initiate a project extension.