Project "Give your shool a new tool!" is implemented by partner organizations from Bulgaria, Lithuania and Poland. Its aim is to support 45 teachers of students aged 6-10 from Poland, Lithuania and Bulgaria in the use of the FlippedClassroom method and digital tools for distance learning during the project, through their substantive and technical preparation and the provision of the necessary digital tools. The specific objectives are: to familiarize participants with the FlippedClassoom method and ICT tools adapted to young learners; mutual inspiration of project participants; increasing digital and educational content creation competences among project participants. The project aims to help teachers of the youngest students to ensure that their remote education and mixed education are as effective as possible, involve their parents as little as possible, and that the transition from stationary to remote mode does not result in a change in the quality of education. As part of the project, we will create a training program in the field of the FlippedClassroom method and ICT tools. We will also create a platform that will help teachers implement this method in their classrooms and use it to engage students in educational processes. We will use the resources of our organization of technicians, educators and teachers, which will allow us to comprehensively implement the planned activities and achieve the assumed results. The project will have an impact on popularizing the FlippedClassroom approach both in our countries and at the European level. The groups of teachers established as part of the project will be the initiator and showcase of the possibilities of this approach.
The main objective of our project was to support 45 teachers working with pupils aged 6-10 from Poland, Lithuania and Bulgaria in the use of the 'Flipped Classroom' method and digital tools for distance learning during the project by preparing them substantively and technically and supplying them with the necessary digital tools. The specific objectives were: - to familiarise participants with the 'flipped classroom' method and ICT tools adapted to young learners; - to inspire each other among the project participants; - to increase digital competences and educational content creation competences among project participants. In the project we wanted to prepare teachers to use the flipped classroom method in their lessons and to use commercially available tools in their lessons. We wanted teachers to feel more confident. Our intention was also to help the project participants individually, especially in the area of making their own videos. We wanted them to create their own content - so that their students could hear their voice, see them and benefit from their own teacher's way of interpreting.
We planned our project shortly after the outbreak of the pandemic and after the schools were closed. At the time, our research and observations indicated that teachers found it difficult to teach remotely, especially in the younger grades of primary schools. This was due to the fact that many of them had no previous experience with remote teaching. We diagnosed such problems in the countries of all partner organisations, i.e. Poland, Lithuania and Bulgaria. Therefore, as part of our project, we wanted to increase teachers' ICT competence, especially in the area of various commercially available applications that can be used for learning in the younger grades. We also felt that it would be very valuable to introduce teachers to the flipped classroom method, which is popular in the United States and may be the answer to making lessons more attractive. We wanted to focus particularly on teachers of younger children, as we felt that they needed other tools - ones that children could handle easily. We wanted to use our previous experience to improve the educational situation, which was taken by surprise by the pandemic.