The Blue School team of our school, Gymnasium of Anthousa from Greece, cares about ocean life without plastic.
For this reason, our school supported the 2022 STEM Discovery Campaign. As a contribution to the campaign, we participated in the live event in April 12th 2022 with the tittle: “UNDERSTANDING AND ACTING FOR A HEALTHY PLASTIC FREE SEA”. The working language of this event was English.
The event focused on examining and understanding the paths of plastic pollution, the impact on marine ecosystems and new technologies for observation and removal. Students also refered to different sectors of the blue economy, in a circular economy perspective, by spreading a message.
The contribution of our school are the following activities.
1. Let’ s play the board game Snakes and Ladders “without plastics in the seas!”
The main purpose of this board game (Snakes and Ladders) is to raise environmental awareness, which concentrates on ocean life without plastic.
When a player lands on a ladder, moves to a square with a higher number. This action represents that he/she did something good for the environment. When a player lands on a snake’s head, moves to a square with a lower number. This action represents that he/she harmed the environment. There are also some squares that make you move some steps forward or backwards, depending on the player’s environmental actions. The participants of this board game can be at least two.
The board game Snakes and Ladders about healthy seas
2. We CLEAN beaches – We RESPECT our environment!
On Monday 11/4 our school visited the beach of Rafina, which is located 17 km close to Anthousa. During our school program, the students – members of the Blue School participated in an action which was about cleaning a beach.
At first, the were students divided into groups. Each group received a folder, which included a map of the area and a worksheet. At this worksheet the students wrote down the types of rubbish that they met, annotations and questions.
They not only wrote down the types of rubbish that they saw, but also took pictures, observed the beach and orientated themselves. Since at that day the weather was unsettled and windy, the next day at school, they placed on a paper the rubbish they collected and observed their types. These were mostly out of plastic and they hat as origin the land. The majority of them were for a long time on the beach or in the sea.
One of the students volunteered and was “tied” from the other students with a thin rope, in order to be in the place of an animal that is trapped at fishing net. She felt panic, despair, being trapped and fear. She mentioned that after hours she would feel hunger and the danger that a predator might attack.
Collection of rubbish on the Beach
Examination of the rubbish
Being in the place of a trapped fish
3.A video titled: POLLUTION IN THE MEDITERANNEAN SEA
Within the framework of the blue school project in our school “Gymnasium of Anthousa Attikis” in Greece, the students created a video about the pollution in the Mediterranean Sea. This video participated in a competition organized from The Hellenic Centre for Marine Research and won the first price, during the school year 2020-2021.
Imagine a house that grows when we want it and shrinks when we don’t! What is ergonomics? Is it possible to design an ergonomic house? With STEM yes!
Student age:13-14
Subjects: math, engineering, technology
Objectives:
Calculates the area of a rectangle, using square centimeters and square metres.
Solves problems that require calculating the area of a rectangle.
Explain the importance of ergonomics in product design.
Express that functional differences lead to structural differences in architectural design.
Express the relationship between engineering and design.
Designs an ergonomic house using the engineering design process.
Makes sketches for design.
Converts draft drawings into three-dimensional visuals with the help of computer.
Creates the model or prototype of the design.
Materials that can be used: Computer, scissors, cardboard, Pvc foam board, plexiglass, clay, ruler, pencil, glue, etc.
Abstract: First of all, I explained the subject of field in mathematics to the students. Then I focused on the concept of ergonomics and showed examples from daily life. I started with the subject of architectural structures. We brainstormed and discussed ergonomics in architectural structures. Based on the information we obtained, I asked the following question: “If you were an engineer, what kind of ergonomic house would you design?” Students designed an ergonomic house using the Tinkercad web 2.0 tool. Later, they made a model or model of the house they designed with materials such as Pvc foam board, cardboard, plexiglass, clay, etc.
While implementing the house model, the students made use of waste materials as much as possible. They drew attention to small details such as doors, windows, fences in the garden, swings, etc. When designing small details, for example, they used 3D printing on flowers in the garden. They took care to design collapsible systems. They designed a portable balcony, terrace, roof, etc. Here are some examples;
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.
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.)
“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.
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.
Summary: Air pollution is a very important problem today. Electric cars do not cause any harm to the environment. They are environmentally friendly. Eco-friendly electric cars have no exhaust fumes.They do not cause noise pollution. Electric car video was watched with children.We painted different car pictures.
Goals:
To draw attention air pollution,
Emphasizing the importance of environmrtally friendly vehicles,
To draw attention to noise pollution,
To create the sensitivity of the the students to nature,
Activity 1: Activity 1: Watched the video about global warming. A video about air pollution was watched. We chatted with the children. “What do you think has been done to prevent air pollution?” We tried to find an answer to our problem by showing pictures.
Activity 2: Before the design, a Fishbone is drawn on the board. Children’s ideas about the design are taken. Ideas are written on each line of Fishbone. Children are given pen and paper. They are directed to design for the electric car.
Activity 3: He shows the electric car he has prepared to the children. They examine it together. Shows the materials to the children.
Children are curious and they begin to know and perceive the world at an early age. From the moment they are born, they tend to explore the environment by observing. In the “concrete operations” period, children tend to learn information with the help of materials. The information of children that learned through material becomes more pernament and open to discuss so that’s why we designed a rocket from bottle that will work with water to help our students to improve the interest that they have about space in our eTwinning project “STEM in Space”.
First, we cut a conical cap and glued it as the tip of our plastik bottle and we made support legs from thick cardboard because our bottle was upside down. Then, we placed the relief valve in the cork stopper in such a way that water does not leak into the mouth of the bottle. Moreover, we put about a quarter of the water in the bottle. After that, we pumped air into the bottle with a bicycle pump. The plastic bottle jumped upwards in ten seconds.
To sum up, as we are awere of the importance of using materials during education period and we want to raise the interest of our students in STEM in Space topic, we desinged a rocket that can work with gas pressure. We hope it will be useful for my fellow colleagues and their dear students. I wish you an education life which is full of material learning eduation and of course space interest.
