Category Archives: Professionals Go Back to School

“No Dream is too far: The Rakia Mission as a bridge to SPACE & STEM”

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The activity took place between April 4th and April 6th and further

Author: Stella Magid-Podolsky

This activity is a long-term activity and consists of three parts:

 1. An educational field trip of two hours for 7th grade students (100 students) to the “Check Point “company where they visited the control room of the “Rakia Mission” to Space a few days before Israel’s second Astronaut Eithan Stiva took off towards the International Space Station. The trip took place on April 4th. Twelve and thirteen old students participated in this activity

 2. A school activity about Space Careers at School. This is a 2 hours long activity which contains two lessons. During the first lesson there was a summary of our educational Field trip and during the second lesson students had an activity about SPACE careers (with an emphasis on Jessica Meir’s Female Astronaut career) . This activity was taught by me 4 times at 4 classes of 25 students.

 3. A Home activity during the Holidays-Keep Track of the Rakia Mission. The Rakia mission started on April 8th. Between April 7th and April 23rd Israeli students had their Passover Holidays, so they got a homework assignment to keep track of the Rakia Mission and report it to the teacher.

All students that took part in this activity had some previous knowledge about SPACE issues because two months prior the activity Israeli Space week was mentioned in Israel and all students had a Space activity where they played space games and solved spaced Trivia.

Israeli Apace week activities

The description of the activity:

  • Educational field trip: this activity took two hours. Students were exposed to the real control room of the Rakia Mission, watched a short movie about the Israeli second astronaut Eithan Stiva , learnt about the connection between first Israeli Astronaut Ilan Ramon (who died with all his crew 19 years ago while coming back  from Space to Earth on the Colombia shuttle) and Eithan Stiva. The two of them were friends and trained together. Stiva continued Ramon’s scientific experiment in Space that began 19 years ago. This experiment is about Lighting storm. Also, students were exposed to the 35 scientific experiments that Eithan Stiva was about to conduct in Space ( some of these scientific experiments were proposed by Israeli High school students and others scientific experiments which was proposed by universities and Research centers) and had an opportunity to do some experiments during their visit.
Students during their trip To Rakia Mission control room
The experiments that Eithan Stiva did in Space
Students make experiments during their visit to the Check Point company
  • A school activity about SPACE careers and summary of the visit to Rakia Mission Control Room

First lesson: This lesson was based on The STEM Alliance Guide for Schools http://www.stemalliance.eu/documents/99712/452773/Booklet+schools+PGB2S/315d1227-837f-46ad-adc2-f259dd79f437

After the Educational Field Trip: Collect feedback and impressions from students, it was converted to a classroom exchange activity. For example, students were invited to write down 2-3 things that they learned during the visit and share them with their peers. After that, we had an open discussion about our visit to the Check Point Company.

Second lesson about Space Careers:

This lesson was based on two resources:

*The STE(A)M IT Guidelines on how to present STEM jobs in classroom http://steamit.eun.org/guidelines-on-how-to-present-stem-jobs-in-classrooms/

Before the lesson, the teacher (me) prepared a story about a certain profession (Astronaut), The main character of the story is Jessica Meir (American female astronaut). I mentioned specific information about the profession through Jessica’s story, for example: • Who am I, what are my skills? • What are my advantages and disadvantages? • Where was I educated, what have I learned / done during schooling? • Where am I employed, what do the preparation for my workday looks like? • What my workday looks like? • What does my work environment look like?

After hearing the story about Jessica ( based on the following site:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgVDmVNB4Bg ), students are instructed to try to imagine themselves in the role of a character from the story (Jessica) that was read. They are then given a worksheet on which students use the SWOT analysis method to write impressions of the profession from the story from their perspective, for example:

 • Strengths – what are my characteristics that would make me good in this profession?

 • Weaknesses – are there any shortcomings to deal with this occupation that I could work on?

 • Opportunities – what are my goals, what would I get if I pursued this occupation?

• Threats – what challenges would I face if I pursued this profession?

Students who wished to do so shared their analysis in front of other students

The video about Jessica Meir
Students are exposed to Jessica’s Meir story

After this activity students were exposed to *The STEM Alliance / STE(A)M IT Career Sheets http://steamit.eun.org/category/stem-careers/

The class was divided into groups of 2-3 students. Each group had to find one career related to SPACE, discover it and then present it to their peers. The examples of such careers are:

Space psychologist, space mission specialist, Aeronautical meteorological technician….

A home activity

During the Passover holidays students had to keep track of Rakia Mission in space and participate at least in one virtual activity for students from International Space Station that was broadcast by Eithan Stiva. For example: Learning about lack of gravity, exposing to experiment about growing Humus in Space…..

Also, students had to report about their participation in the activity to the teacher (to me).

Learning outcomes from the activity: Students were very interested both in the Rakia Mission and in SPACE Careers. During one discussion students even discussed future SPACE careers that do not exist today. They made some suggestions and were asked to assume which profession could be real and which profession would stay “the fruit of their imagination”.

My advice to other teachers planning to introduce their students in STEM career orientation: Use the resources which are provided by STEM Alliance and STE(A)M IT project and create the framework short or long-term activity according to the cultural & scientific aspects of your country

Teaching outcomes: I really enjoyed organizing this activity. I think that the Educational field trip had a great contribution and impact on student’s interest and motivation to learn about the Rakia Mission and Space Careers. It was important to me to make a connection between a very important occasion for my country (the Rakia Mission) and a very important issue for my students-exposure for STEM careers in general and Space careers in Particular. May be, one day one of my students will be one of the Astronauts in SPACE or will have SPACE related Career….I have fulfilled my role as a teacher and my students will make their choice of Career in the future and I hope they will choose a career that will make them happy…..

To Smoke or Not To Smoke? It’s Not Questionable!

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Hey you! Throw away that cigarette’s butt. Of course, put your cigarette out before tossing it in the ash catcher! It will take you a little time to answer the following questions. As a teenager, do you think youngsters are aware that cigarette smoke inhalation is a completely unnatural behaviour? Are they aware of the lethal mix of substances within cigarette smoke? Do they know how Tobacco production and consumption undermine the achievement of several targets related with Sustainable Development Goals of the Agenda 2030?

Well, on the basis of the results of the project we carried out in the last month, our answer could be summarised in this way: not enough!

We would like to raise students’ interest in Tobacco-related hazards. Not only those that directly affect smoker’s health, but also the ones that threat their families, their communities and people involved in tobacco farming. We would focus on the complexity of the problem rather than provide students with a reductive approach. Our Big Idea is that to find effective and suitable solutions, future scientists should also be able to face complexity.

OUR TEAM

We are a team of teachers from the Upper Secondary School “G. Galilei” in Jesi, a Technical Biotech School in the province of Ancona, in the Marche region. The school community vision is always leading us to contextualise learning in real-life. By means of a well-developed network at both local and international level, we are always provided with riveting opportunities to develop students’ and teachers’ abilities to cope with the challenges we are facing nowadays.

TEACHERS’ TRAINING

It all started in September, when a Professional Development Course to spread the use of Inquiry-Based Science Teaching was organized by the National Association of Science Teachers (ANISN). Under the guidance of two trainer teachers, Chiara Garulli and Luigina Renzi, we enhanced our capabilities to plan and implement our project. We also got the opportunity to deepen our knowledge in the field of Tobacco Hazards inviting experts from the Polytechnic University of The Marche Region. They also provide career guidance. “Professional Go Back to School”, the activity we used, is just one of the many ways to present STEM jobs in Classroom. Teachers can find plenty of resources in the guidelines developed by STEAM-(IT) / Stem Career Advisers Network. Finally, spellbinding ideas to promote active learning where grabbed from the MOOC “Active Learning and Innovative Teaching in Flexible Learning Spaces and the related Guidelines in learning space innovations | Unesco IIEP Learning Portal

INQUIRY BASED LEARNING

Students were asked to solve a problem in group of four. They should prove which kind of cigarette was the most poisonous among several samples available for the comparison. They were provided with an apparatus for cigarette tar extraction, an analytical scale, lab glassware, laboratory oven, dryer, solvents, nicotine standard and other materials to perform Thin Layer Chromatography.

According to the different steps of the Scientific Method, students must form a hypothesis, a prediction based on observations and /or previous knowledge, avoiding any use of web search. The next step was to plan an experiment to prove their prediction right. The two steps were carried out using a think, pair and share activity. Each group should come up with a shared experimental plan. The following plenary discussion was aimed to present groups’ speculation and plan. No feedback was provided in terms of wrong or right answers but, teachers had the opportunity to guide them asking sense-making questions. The discussion helped the groups to improve the experimental plan. The experiments were implemented. Data were collected and analysed. Each group drew its conclusions and summarised the whole study using a scientific poster to give a presentation. Finally, findings were discussed in plenary to better understand weaknesses and strengths in each experience.

At the end of the day, students agreed on the best way to compare samples. It consists in a quantitative comparison, the gravimetric analysis of extracted tar from different samples. Further qualitative information could be gathered by means of thin layer chromatography based on the comparison of eluted tar samples and standards.

The final activity was aimed to explain features of tobacco first, second and third hand smoke and the effects of exposure on the human body. Information was provided about the carcinogenesis process induced by nitrosamine and benzopyrene metabolism, which is mediated by Cytochrome P450, a superfamily of enzymes responsible for oxidizing xenobiotics. Consequently, the concept of polymorphism was contextualized to explain the occurrence of altered or enhanced metabolisms that can lead to different health conditions among smokers. Last but not least, teachers make clear that no evidence were shown about the innocuity of Tobacco Heated Products and Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems.

PROFESSIONAL GO BACK TO SCHOOL

Considering the rate of our school students that choose to enroll in STEM academic courses, we would like to offer guidance for STEM careers related with the topic. Internships and Orientation programs provide a wide list of interlocutors to whom ask support to help students to discover the more appropriate career according to their passion, attitudes, willingness, and skills.

Keeping updated with the continuous changes we are experiencing both in education and the job market, whether local or global, is extremely relevant for teaching professionals and students. This way, we can cope with a challenge of paramount importance: to develop students’ hard and soft skills, which are fundamental assets in higher job market demand.

In this experience we got in touch with three experts from Polytechnical University of Marche (UNIVPM), Professor Pier Luigi Stipa, a chemistry researcher in charge of Orientation program for UNIVPM, Professor Stefano Gasparini specialized in pulmonary diseases and respiratory physiopathology and, a PhD candidate Giulia Lucia, who is studying the effects of cigarette butts on the natural marine environment.

Due to Covid19 restriction, the activity was held online. One of our students was in charge of explaining the undertaken learning pathway and the results in terms of raise of interest in the field and gaining of expertise and skills.

Then, students could pose some questions inheriting the careers of involved STEM professionals according to curiosities raised during the activity preparation. The expert addressed the questions and then gave a presentation.

Information was delivered according to the specific discipline approach that experts use facing different aspects of the same phenomenon, the tobacco consumption.

CLIL: TOBACCO AND SDGS OF 2030 AGENDA

On top of that, the last part of the project concerned the interference of Tobacco farming and consumption with principles of equity, prosperity, and sustainability contemplated in 2030 Agenda’s SDGs. In groups the students were involved in the production of a podcast pilot episode. The aim was to raise awareness among their peers on the topic. Students were provided with original material from World Health Organization and  from another acknowledged project Sustainable Development or Tobacco – unfair tobacco. According to activity described in the picture, they had the opportunity to explore the materials and agree on the answers to relevant questions. The process enabled them to highlight the main facts they should use to raise awareness among peers.

EVALUATION

Students’ transferable skills were assessed by means of ongoing observations based on criteria such as participation, accountability, and time management. Hard skills assessment was carried out during laboratory experiments by means of observations and then through the evaluation of poster contents. Knowledge assessment was carried out using open ended and multiple-choice questions.

CONCLUSION

The activity addresses a topic that is meaningful for the students. They are quite curious about the effects of such products. We spotlighted some misconceptions that must be confuted. According to the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, awareness about the hazards related to Tobacco consumption is one of the most important measures to control the spread of this plague.

The activities the students carried out were not only an opportunity to contextualize their previous knowledge and abilities but also to test and develop new competences.

Authentic learning is an umbrella term that encloses all the different methods we used during this incredible journey. As in life, both of us students and teachers have experienced some problems facing new situations but, at the end of the day, we were all able to find solutions, to communicate with each other and, finally, to manage to become a better and upskilled version of ourselves.

Thank you for reading!

Touristic trip and challenges towards the ecological city

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The development of technology and industry has shifted the concentration of population in urban areas, adding to the challenges for architects and designers in managing urban areas for a sustainable city and a secure future.

In this SDW22 our students will continue to investigate and to understand how important the combination of technology is in creating a healthier, more sustainable city for the planet. Students continue to raise their voice in the community and society about the importance of a friendly, green and healthy city.

We have integrated two themes: technology and architecture.

Our activities are based on the basic concepts of coding through Microbits, computer activities, as well as the importance of computer science and the introduction of new tools and approaches, such as visual programming tools, detached activities and coding for all subjects.

Learning objectives:

  • Creating a more sustainable city for the system, for human health, economy and sustainable world.
  • Increasing children’s motivation to learn STEM.
  • Improving ITC skills.
  • More mathematical knowledge.
  • Using online applications to demonstrate results.
  • Creating a good environment for STEM study within subjects, careers and other professions.

Expected results

– Know the basic concepts of coding and understand why it is important in contemporary education.

– Explain why coding and computer science are important to students.

– Learn and think in a creative way.

– Recognize innovative tools and approaches, such as visual programming tools, detached activities, robotics, and coding for all subjects.

– Develop key competencies related to the importance of the global environmental problem and improve knowledge in their areas.

– Understand how cities can be more sustainable.

– List the elements that make a city more ecological.

– How these elements, such as renewable energy, food, affect our health and environment.

– Writing and drawing materials, for ecological city plan.

– Present the theoretical information and create an ecological city carpet in a creative way.

Demonstrate integrated ICT skills in their curriculum

1. Learn to integrate simple coding in cross-curricular learning topics, such as climate change and ecological city.

2. Recognize various unplugged activities, as part of group collaboration.

3. Understand how to create a specific problem-solving task.

4. Possess cognitive skills, for what students should apply, in order to solve the problems of the environment, climate change, and topics related to the ecological city during a certain task.

5. Have a good application of digital technology learning by developing digital competencies and skills, in order to improve them through the analysis of better data education.

6.Design and implement a lesson plan using recyclable tools in building an ecological city, various ideas and digital resources.

Content description

The event guides students through technology to help them, motivate and build strong knowledge on different topics. Many coding games have been created that can be used to create and interpret computer software – at any age, without a specific background and even without a computer.

Visual programming and unplugged activities offer a wide range of choices that break down any access barrier, having educational value and activating computer programming.

Technology is evolving in our daily lives. But this technological development must be in harmony with the environment.

The purpose of our event is to promote the tourist spots of our small country in Albania by simulating a trip of the robot Edmodo. This trip starts from the Fier city after Edmodo chooses one of the A or B buttons of the microbial tool. Microbit is programmed to display a city after each button that will be Edmodo’s next destination.

But this trip is not easy for him, since to get the ticket for the next trip he has to go through the challenges that are programmed in each city. These challenges are set as QR barcodes after travel tickets.

Developing students’ understanding of the algorithm and the “(IF-THEN-ELSE)” and “(IF, IF ELSE)” commands, the Edmodo tour goes further if it overcomes the challenge or otherwise receives the penalty by going back to the previous city.

The tourist has with him a map of Albania, or uses the web that we have created, which indicates in the travel itinerary and options A and B according to the selected destinations.

A digital map has also been created, for informational purposes, on the attractions of the cities of Albania: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/1505572517476040706

If the trip is as short as possible towards the ecological city, this makes the Edmodo a winner.

The game starts from our city Fier, (an Albanian city) in the direction of the alternative ticket selected A or B. If ticket A is chosen, the destination is, for example, the city of Shkodra. Else if the ticket is B, the destination is Vlora.

Shkodra city – the game challenge is in MAZE (students can create their Maze game with different roadblocks for the different levels). At the end of the labyrinth, there is ticket A (Vlora), else if student does not choose ticket A, then the ticket choice is B (Tirana).

City of Tirana – Challenge: Internet network, find the minimum number of paving stones that need to be used so that you can get from any house to any other house. In the end, the city is written, and the destination of the movement (Ticket A – Vlora or Ticket B – Shkodra).

City of Vlora —- Challenge: The puzzle game. If the emoji comes out J the player goes to the city on the Durres, if the emoji is L student returns to the city in Start (Fier city).

Durres city — Challenge: message in bottle. A challenge awaits them in this city: to decode the message in the bottle, which will orient the player to the next destination, Tirana or Berat city.

City of Berat—- Challenge: to complete cryptographic input-output, for example with input code 001000 find the output code 001010. If the player does it correctly, then they will choose the ticket A that leads them to the Ecological City, if not, they choose ticket B, and returns to Start, at Fier city.

City of Fier. — Challenge: quizzes. If the tourist answers correctly, he will get the ticket A that will take them to Berat/County Z, if they do not answer correctly, they will get the ticket B that will take them to Tirana/Country S.

The winner is the  tourist who has discovered the fewest routes and cities,  to the ecological city.

While the student continues the journey, a student of the class writes on the blackboard the itinerary that the student has followed and the number of routes to the end of the journey.(Challenges can be different in each city, they can be quizzes with information on the culture and tradition of each city, or coding games.)

ASDEF (Architecture, Science, Design, Engeering Fair)

“Marin Barleti” University organized the ASDEF fair, the first #STEAM fair, in our country, Albania, where the students of vocational and general high schools presented their projects from different fields such as #architecture #engineering #biology #design #robotics #art ,etc. The evaluation committee announced our school project “Edmodo tourist trip to the ecological city” as one of the 10 winning projects.

This project integrated two very important issues: coding that develops in students computer thinking and environmental protection through ideas and innovation in creating an ecological city. This victory gives the opportunity to the students of our school to participate in the international fair Tekno Fest 2022 in Turkey.

#STEM #coding #Scientix #education #citycological #ecocity #climatechange #steamfair #teknofestistanbul #teknofest #scienceprojects #sciencefair #ecological #renewableenergy

STEM , Edtech-Parents and Teachers conference

In order to involve as many teachers and parents in the SDW22 campaign and to get acquainted with STEM education, Edu-ACT center in collaboration with Barleti University and Scientix ambassadors, we organized the conference, as a hybrid event with the theme: “Edtech-Parents and Teachers conference” .

My presentation focused on:

1. Understanding STEM education

2. The importance of STEM 3

3. Practical examples of STEM activities at home and in the classroom with the aim of involving parents, industry and University as collaborators.

“Build your Future – Financial Education“

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The analysis, of the latest survey on financial literacy carried out by the OECD, found that level of knowledge of the Italian adult population is lower than the average of the countries involved in the survey.

In addition the growing tensions in the economic macro-sphere arising first from Covid 19 pandemic emergency and then from the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Both highlighted how necessary it is to have a basic knowledge of economic and financial concepts, in order to build and live a more peaceful future life.

Description

The students of the IV and V class of the technical tourism course, on the occasion of the Global Money Week, held from 21 to 27 March 2022, participated in several online meetings organized by Global Shapers of the Naples Hub, with industry experts and financial educator for the in-depth study of topics concerning:

  • the operation of the economic machine
  • Inflation and money: concepts of real and nominal value
  • the simple and compound interest rate
  • the personal budget
  • the types of income

Global Money Week,GMW,is the annual event promoted by the OECD. The aim is of raising awareness among young people,from preschool age on the importance of acquiring the knowledge, skills and behaviors necessary to make financial decisions consistent with their own needs and possibilities.

http://www.quellocheconta.gov.it/it/news-eventi/global_money_week/

The disciplines involved are economics, mathematics, Italian, and law.

Teachers: Sabrina Nappi, Mario Di Fonza, Lucia Cozzolino, Imperatrice Natale, Krizia Rosa Aiese

Financial Educator: Felice Oliviero, in collaboration with: Giovanni Ciriello

Career Sheet: financial educator

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G8M_De4sgTbEpgaErRMBGEaiY-0SjB6z/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=111618423951476677651&rtpof=true&sd=true

The goal was the dissemination of the economic-financial culture among students, teachers, families, and sector experts, taking into account the guidelines of the Ministry:

http://www.quellocheconta.gov.it/it/chi-siamo/linee_guida/index.html

https://www.globalshapers.org/hubs/naples-hub

Financial Educator, in collaboration with teachers, involved students on the topic of financial education.
Through a simple and fun approach, with videos, interactive quizzes to check the mastery of the contents, the experts, in collaboration with the teacher, involved students in the topic of financial education, in order to explain to them how to manage their budget, learn how to use it responsibly as a useful resource to support future life choices.

Picture provided by the author (Attribution CC-By)

Through a quiz on mentimeter.com, the students wrote what they imagined in their future: starting their own business; buying a car; renting an apartment; studying outside the city; going on holiday

Basic concepts were thus introduced, starting from the functioning of the economy and, arriving at concepts of personal finance.

The experts, starting from basic concepts of microeconomics, such as the alternation of economic cycles and inflationary phenomena, use some examples relating to the effects of what happened on the global economy first as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic, then with the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

Financial educator explained how shocks were generated in the world supply chain, following the Covid 19 pandemic,and how expansionary fiscal, and monetary policies together,with the demand shock on global markets, led to inflation phenomena, then amplified by the outbreak of the Russian- Ukrainian conflict.

The concept of credit / debit is explained by the distinction between “good debts” and “write-downs”.

The students reflected on the costs and benefits of their choices when they buy a product, such as the latest generation smartphone, or a training course, and how these decisions affect not only their well-being but the economy in general.

The economic choices we make every day, knowingly or unknowingly, are fundamental skills.

Targets

  • Collect the connection between the disciplines: of mathematics, Italian, and economics, to activate cognitive processes and develop fundamental skills for the economic citizenship of the youngest.
  • Promote responsible choices in the use of money. These choices, must be linked to the implementation of environmentally friendly behaviors, in an equally responsible way.
  • Sensitize students to adopt a critical, and active style concerning the social and economic dynamics in which they are daily involved.
  • Saving education in the context of Citizenship Education

The project was part of the curricular learning units.

https://www.isiseuropa.edu.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2UDA-MATEMATICA-V-TURISTICO.pdf

https://www.isiseuropa.edu.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/1UDA-AREA-INDIRIZZO-V-TURISTICO.pdf

Activities: laws and savings

By reading/rereading some articles of the Italian Constitution, (article 1, article 9, article 32, article 34, article 41, article 47), students reflected on the fact that the choices they make today as “savers ”Determine their future.

Focus questions

  • Why is it important to save? Who saves? What do we save? What do we waste?

Assets: savings shares

Students, based on their personal experiences, brought examples of savings or waste actions, of managing their weekly pocket money, and report in groups on the social and economic aspects of savings in a concrete and daily case.

Example:

  • buying a more efficient refrigerator: cost/benefit
  • buy a more fashionable smartphone: Cost/benefit
  • buy a training course: Cost/benefit

Activity: data analysis

  • Reading of household expenses: bills, invoices, receipts
  • Analysis of Operations Research on the problems of choosing between two or more alternatives with the processing of the profitability graph.

https://www.servizioelettriconazionale.it/

Disciplinary contents

  • income, personal budget, family, fixed expenses, variable, occasional, attributed value, real, waste, costs -benefit analysis, savings.

Picture provided by the author (Attribution CC-By)

As individuals, the students reflected that saving translates into investments and benefits for both themselves and the community.
In the future as workers / entrepreneurs / investors / and that there is no easy money.

Focus questions

Why do you save?

What are the savings goals?

The concept of savings was studied in depth with behaviors to be associated with the term “savings”.

Turning off the light or taking a shower instead of taking a bath, for example.

The students thought about a concrete example of savings in various daily areas close to them in their preferred expressive mode, commenting on the value.

For example, someone said that even a purchase like a decoder for the TV, not particularly expensive, was possible because the necessary money had been saved.

The experts focused about precautionary savings, which help us in the event of unforeseen and unpredictable events, and they about savings to carry out a project, such as a vacation or a larger house.

They highlighted how the financial objectives are intertwined with those of environmental protection. For example, thanks to sustainable behaviors such as forms of sharing economy or shared purchases not only people protect the environment but can have significant savings.

Focus questions were asked to bring out the perception that students have of the management of the money,they have at their disposal, setting up the dialogue so as not to bring out differences in economic availability.can protect our environment with sustainable behaviors: forms of sharing economy or shared purchases, and we will have significant savings.

For example: what criteria do we use to decide if an expense is possible?

How do we choose the most important expense, if we have to do more than one?

What does budget balance mean?

Students provided examples of inalienable and deferrable expenses.

After having discovered the meaning of the term “budget” together, the attention of the students was focused on managing their budget.

They asked themselves:

What expenses do you consider important? fixed, variable, or occasional expenses?

Is shopping a fixed weekly shopping appointment? Do you usually travel by car or public transport?

Students were aware of their economic choices starting from the budget, a fundamental tool that helps to control income, expenses, and savings, to evaluate the costs/benefits of what is done in the present,and what is planned for the future.

  • The students To learn to manage daily income and expenses;
  • To Correctly evaluate your resources;
  • To Learn the value of savings to achieve a long-term personal project.

Group activity

As a group, students filled out a format on how to best manage their income.
investigation phases.

The students:

  • define the monthly savings share to be allocated to investments
  • monitor the costs incurred during the month
  • analyze the nature to understand whether or not they are “necessary” costs and where to act to increase the amount saved.

Constraints

It was taken into account to fix some sensitive figures, in order not to create a discriminating factor.

These data were taken by accessing the national average data www.istat.it.

The pupils in groups of 4 people intervened on the modifiable entries/exits that depend on choices.

Each team identified a typical family made up of 4 people: mother, father, son (18 years), daughter (4 years) who must carry out a purchase project within one year.

Each group prepared a list of expenses to be placed in three categories: fixed, variable, or occasional expenses and, the results were discussed together.

The aim was to

  • stimulate attention to equal gender opportunities (salary …)
  • empowering to manage the family budget

Final product in work

Students build a glossary of the economic-financial terms encountered and small video bits and/or presentations to share with other students.

https://www.canva.com/design/DAE8WR4mvm8/HKLakM9rmsKW5zS0kYkcgQ/view?utm_content=DAE8WR4mvm8&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

https://www.canva.com/design/DAE_kAyv7m8/bHnQDB2Yyh2gyCRBrPV7TA/view?mode=prototype#title-page

Cross-cutting objectives

Self-esteem, creativity, ability to ask oneself and solve problems, choose and make decisions, a spirit of initiative, entrepreneurship, orientation towards results, change, communication skills, and teamwork.

Deepening

Activities: Research on the reasons and consequences of the 2007/2009 financial crisis generated by the absence of proper use of credit, decline in the real estate sector

Crisis of subprime mortgages on the website www. Consob.it for the control and supervision of financial markets.

Conclusions

The concept of the economy,that was proposed to students, is the one that links personal responsibility with social and civil responsibility: calculations and information at the service of the ability to make decisions based on principles of fairness and sustainability.

Based on this, it is essential to convey to students a differentiation between the types of debt that the state produces.

There is a “good” and a “bad” form of debt.

The country, through investments, tax revenues, and acquisitions on an international scale, bridges the gap that is created between GDP and “public debt”.

Without forgetting that debt should not be understood only with the negative connotation of the term the state uses policies that are not designed to avoid debt but to balance it.

In-depth video for reflections on debt:

 https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLaBJRSQO4Q

Financial Educators, and teachers were mentors and facilitators of self-learning: they collected experiences and proposed concrete situations contextualized in school and extra-curricular daily life to make students reflect on the theme of conscious savings.

Pupils shared the learning outcomes and benefits obtained from the project through sentences on www. Mentimeter. it

Comments of students

F.F.

The course was very useful for today and tomorrow because it allows you to explore topics that you did not know, such as good and bad debts, because generally when you think of a debt you think of a negative thing. In the beginning, the experts used terms that were too “sectoral”; then the activities were more interactive and everything that the expert explained is clear to me, also because he was very attentive to our answers, our feedback, and offered us continuous food for thought.

In the beginning, the experts used terms that were too “sectoral”; then,the financial educator is very attentive to the answers we students give, providing us with continuous feedback, and new food for thought.

D. S. The course is very useful for my training, because it deals with topics of reality, like the increase in the price of gasoline and bread

S. M. Experts are available and, the use of examples related to everyday life, allows us to better understand the topics covered.

R. R. the mathematics and finance course intrigued me for the various topics covered; I have learned many new topics thanks to the expositions of the experts and their PowerPoint performances, exhaustive and effective answers.

One of the topics that I found very interesting is “good and bad debts”.

It is a theme I did not even know existed.

D’A. R. This year with the school we started a course with two young professionals dealing with economics and commerce. I believe these topics explained engagingly can be very useful tomorrow.

G. G

I thought the topics difficult, then I must admit that by attending the lessons I changed my mind, everything is very simple and also interesting.

The issues are tackled simply with topical ideas, and it is easy, for us students, to interact with examples taken from our daily life.

More e-bike, no e-fake

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From the experimentation of the debate methodology to the verification of sources and data with the TAG method of the Open The box project.

The project brings career experts to the classroom on issues at the center of the digital debate:posts on social profiles, memes, short videos, and deep fakes.

Who we are

Let me introduce myself, I am Raffaela Auriemma, a student of I.S.I.S. Europa of Pomigliano D’Arco, class 2C technical address for graphics and communication.

This year the theme chosen for the UDA (teaching unit of learning) had as its focus the goal 11 of the 2030 Agenda: to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

https://www.isiseuropa.edu.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/1-UDA-CLASSI-II-GRAFICO.pdf

https://www.isiseuropa.edu.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2-UDA-CLASSI-II-GRAFICO.pdf

But, how can we help humanity by not having great powers to do so?

The answer is simple, never underestimate the strength of things of people who strive for the same goal.

In class, the theme is address in all disciplines, and each student, in small groups, studied a specific theme.

Me, together with Antonella and Jasmine, came across the following blog: https://ladradibiciclette.it/tutti-i-numeri-della-bicicli/ and we asked ourselves:

“Do bicycles meet our needs?”

To answer, we leveraged everything that was preciously learned, from the experimentation of the debate methodology , to the verification of sources and data with the TAG method of the “Open The box” project, a project that, thanks to a career, brings the topics to the classroom center of the digital debate

https://www.openthebox.io/.

Why e-bikes?

“When future generations, judge those who came before them on environmental issues, they may come to the conclusion that they “didn’t know”:

let’s make sure we don’t go down in history as the generation that knew but didn’t care.

” Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev“

Melting glaciers, deforestation, rising sea levels, pollution, endangered animals … THIS IS NOT THE WORLD WE WANT TO LIVE IN!

We have to change our lifestyle, for the better!

We start from everyday life, and we try to promote sustainable mobility solutions in line with the commitments that the States have taken on with the 2030 Agenda (Goal 11).

So, let’s start with a real problem, namely providing safe, sustainable, and affordable transport systems for all (Goal 11, Target 11.2), and to solve it, we propose a solution that we intend to discuss.

So, we are debating the following motion:

“This assembly argues that the state must finance the production of electric bicycles”.

To analyze the motion we used the “Keywords” method and the “Stakeholders” method, visible at the link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X6Pr8NbZcpMoctwMdH9UgULMNbRCL7a4cloUyBYO9w/edit?usp=sharing

With the mathematics teacher, we participated in the lessons of the “Open the box” project, and thanks to the experts: dr. Federica Arenare, project manager, and Nicola Bruno, project director, were led to the study and deepening of issues on media and data literacy.

“Open the Box” is an interactive training event, which uses live quizzes during which, we explore the different content formats we encounter every day online, such as posts on social profiles, memes, short videos, and deep fakes.

The pupils have the opportunity to discover tools, strategies, and methods to verify the reliability of the information sources found on the web while having fun on Kahoot

  • Can you recognize online content?
  • How do you go about verifying the reliability of a source?

Do you recognize when a content is manipulated?

The experience is shared by teachers and students to test their knowledge, and the degree of awareness. They have concerning the different types of content with which online information circulates.

The lessons are organizedI in the following way

  • quiz on Kahoot.it
  • a ppt presentation or watching a video, to provide the skills and tools useful to recognize and verify online sources.
  • activities to do at home or at school
  • a test to evaluate the skills acquired.

During a meetings with the experts, we students interviewed Dr. Federica Arenare who told us about her work.

Career Sheet: Project manager

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13s9HHsIX1lvlsZ-9QzxXG1r43jmF1SlL/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=111618423951476677651&rtpof=true&sd=true

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RtAmz-AzGVAFbOdxndNLbg5x-GMp4v84/view?usp=sharing

After analyzing the motion, we verified the veracity of the information online through the methodTAG After analyzing the motion, we verified the veracity of the information online through the method TAG of the Open the Box project presented by the experts.

CASE STUDY: E-BIKE

Below are the steps for verifying sources with the use of specific tools.

We start from the article found on the net:

Article In 2020, more than 2 million bicycles sold in Italy

https://ladradibiciclette.it/tutti-i-numeri-della-bicicli/

Media Literacy and application TAG method

  1. Find the primary source.

ATTUALITÀ 25 MARZO 2021

Nel 2020, più di 2 milioni di biciclette vendute in Italia

-Is the site name credible?

It is a specialized blog, that is, a site that talks about topics related to the world of bicycles. On the site there is a “About me” section where you can find all the relevant information about the author: a journalist with a lot of experience in the travel industry, bike blogger and web writing expert. Our research shows that the author is also present on the social networks Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

– Is the URL address reliable?

 Yes, because the “https” protocol is secure.

– Who is behind the site?

Through the Whois Lookup tool, we verify that the information relating to the domain is present. The name of the person who registered the domain corresponds to the information in the About section of the site.

-What do the disclaimers say? https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disclaimer

The disclaimers tells which personal data are used, and the owner of the treatment of them.

The analysis shows the following:

Has the site been online for a long time?

Using the Wayback Machine tool, we have noticed that the site has never disappeared from the web over the years. Still regarding the source, we looked for the first contents published by the journalist on the site. The “home” screen was created on June 9, 2017, then the portfolio and biography dated June 14, 2017 are published.

– Which social pages show the contents of the site you used?

With the Crowdtangle tool we have detected social sharing by profiles related to the bike world.

2. Analyze the content

– Is the information contained in the article reliable?

We do not yet know whether the information reported can be considered reliable:

from the analysis of the source, some information appears to be incomplete but not entirely suspicious.

Already in recent years there has been a significant increase in the use of electric bicycles and the data reported indicates an increase in the production of E-bikes: since this information matches, the information could be reliable.

Among other things, the “boom” in e-bike sales of 2020 can be attributed above all to the government bonus that prompted many Italian citizens to buy one.

3. Look around.

– What do other sites say on the same topic?

Searching the net on other sites for the news, we found the correspondence of the data.

https://www.gazzetta.it/Ciclismo/25-03-2021/mercato-bici-2020-record-ebike-crescono-44-per-cento-4001766946820.shtml

https://www.lastampa.it/motori/ambiente/2020/04/13/news/la-rivincita-della-bicicletta-nel-2019-vendite-aumentate-del-7-l-ebike-traina-il-mercato-1.38708919/

Ancma, mercato bici: in Italia oltre 2 milioni di pezzi venduti nel 2020

Data Literacy Data reliability

We then focused on the accuracy and reliability of the data reported in the tables in the article. These are the estimates of Confindustria ANCMA, the National Association of Cycle Motorcycle Accessories, communicated on 25 March 2021 and reported below.

We observe that if we consider, for example, the year 2018 for the sale of bicycles, the figure is 1.422.000 calculating the increase of 7% for 2019, we would have 1.521.540, but this result is approximated to the whole number 1.518.000.

The relative increase is 96,000 / 1,422,000 = 0.0675, which in percentage corresponds to 6.75%, approximately 7%.

Proceeding in the same way, we note that also in other cases, the figures are rounded up or down.

In addition, the 209 % increase in the production of E-bikes is noteworthy.

Speaking of increases, the correct result is :

+ 109 %, because 109 % * 102.000 = 111.180, therefore, 111.180 + 102.000 = 213.180

If therefore, we consider the% as increments then we should write + 109%.

From a careful reading of the first table, we also note that in the last row “Cycle Sector Commercial Balance” the data relating to the years 2019 and 2020 are reversed.

Another very important aspect is that we are faced with a cherry-picking effect:

ignoring the evidence that would refute one’s thesis by highlighting only the information in favor. Newspapers tend to speak of a “boom effect” by altering the terms and titles of the articles, which is not entirely correct if we analyze the 2000-2020 trend.

A revision of the data is on “Statista”

For example, we can see that in 2007, almost 2 million were reached and then decreased in the following years.

Therefore it is correct to speak of records (in 2020 the maximum sales peak was reached), while speaking of the bicycle boom seems more forced.

The primary source

The data comes from Confindustria ANCMA: National Association of Cycle Motorcycle Accessories.

The source is reliable as ANCMA is a commercial organization of bicycle manufacturers and the data is not independent. There are no others on this subject from different sources.

https://www.confindustria.it/home/chi-siamo/sistema-confindustria/associazioni-settore/associazione?id=53FAF8917B7B2896C1257964004CE5D4

Datalink 2020:

Bici: 2020 da record, oltre 2 milioni di pezzi venduti

The end, we have analyzed the percentages in the table and reported in bold the percentages calculated without approximation

TABLE 2

Conclusion

We remain convinced that bike mobility is the solution to various problems for society and that the individual it is always important to provide correct data.

Conclusions to the internet public, which must pay attention to disinformation and fake news.

We thank the experts: dr. Federica Arenare and Nicola Bruno of the Open The Box project for having guided and supported us in our research.

Teachers: Prof. Sabrina Nappi, Mario Di Fonza, Maddalena Spiezia,

Students: Jasmine Giulia Romano, Raffaela Auriemma, Antonella Aiello,

Class: 2Ctg