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About marinastmircic

Italian and Civics Teacher, Scientix Ambassador 2020-2022

Digital Learning Day with Empatico partners from USA

Author: Marina Stanojlovic Mircic

On 27th February we celebrated Digital Learning Day with our Empatico partners from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, USA. American peers are three years younger than my students and they attend fourth grade.

Empatico is a free tool for educators to connect their classrooms with others around the world. We make it simple for virtual connections to exist in classrooms by combining everything needed in one platform: live video, file sharing, a partner classroom, and activities.

Thinking about what we could prepare for this day, we decided to organize for them an “unplugged” code activity. The main objective was to prove to them that anyone can code! My students created bracelets that represent the first letter or short diminutive of the names of American peers with the binary alphabet.

Our activity had several short phases:

  • Introduction of the binary system
  • Representation of the alphabet with binary code
  • Transforming the initials of their name into binary code
  • Realization, with different materials, of nice bracelets
  • Evaluation, students’ feedback, sharing impressions.
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The impact of plastics on the environment

This STEM Discovery Week’s event has dealt with the topic of problems in the local community within the school program of Civics for the 7th grade. My class chose the problem of pollution in the city of Zaječar, they also focused on the danger of plastic waste, since it takes from 100 to 1000 years to completely decompose in nature.

The main goal of this event is development of the relationship to environmental pollution of plastic waste and making items from already used plastic packaging.

Educational aim: Developing a report on environmental pollution of plastic waste, and training for active participation in the life of the local community.

Functional aim: Training for teamwork, developing communication skills necessary for collaborative behaviour, variery of attitudes and expression of opinion.

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