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.
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.
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 roomThe experiments that Eithan Stiva did in SpaceStudents 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
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.
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 MeirStudents are exposed to Jessica’s Meir story
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…..
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;
Digital education materials are very important. Students cannot see space and planets up close in real life.However, it is possible to travel to space with virtual reality glasses. Student can study planets as if they are in space thanks to virtual reaility glasses. For this reason, I designed a digital game for my students that can be played on smartphones and computers. Game editing and voice-overs belong to me and my students.
Project purpose: To give students a realistic experience with STEM. To create an original digital material.
Application stages: Unity Game Engine is used for this application. Unity is a three-dimensional game engine, especially suitable for digital games and simulations. Textures similar to the images of space and planets were determined.Original sound recordings in which the planets introduced themselves were created and converted into a suitable form with the ‘audio-converter’ program. The spaceship was designed with the Blender three-dimensional modeling program.With mathematical calculations, the size of the planets and the distances between them were determined. Joystick control provided. By making a selection from the selection screen prepared to go to the desired planet, movement to that planet was provided with the spaceship. Added pre-made audio recordings to planets. The application was tested by different people and corrections were made according to the feedback. Between April 25 and April 30, 6th grade students practiced. They took turns wearing virtual reality glasses. They also practiced on the digital board in the classroom.
Conclusion and evaluation: The ‘Solar System and Planets’ unit was taught to the students in a shorter time than in the lesson plan. Students learn permanently by concretizing knowledge. It’s fun because it’s game-based material. The subject of Science was discussed. Mathematical calculations have been made. Software programs are used in the field of technology. Designs were created in the field of engineering. An original STEM project has been created. This project has been used in the classroom activity.
Students’ average success before the event is 64 percent. After the event, the students’ average success is 92 percent.
Activity execution time in class: 40+ 40 minutes
Grade level: Secondary school 6th grade
Materials: Smart board in the classroom, virtual reality glasses, joystick, smartphone
This course, which is in the “Visual Communication and Formation” learning area within the scope of the 7, 8, 9 and 10th grade “Visual Arts” course in the Turkish education system, and which is suitable for the acquisition of “Uses art elements and design principles in visual art studies.” In our study, it is aimed that the students make an artistic work by using a different technique than the usual.
Glass beads, metal boat, paper and acrylic paint were used to reveal the targeted product. Our event was held face-to-face with our students in a classroom setting.
First of all, the balls we will use are placed on a metal tray with high edges by putting paper in it so that they do not roll out from the floor. Whatever type of work he wants to do on the edges of the paper in the tray, the appropriate colors are squeezed. Then, the marbles placed on the sides are moved quickly from left to right so that they hit the opposite sides of the tray to form the basis of the picture. What kind of painting the student wants to paint is determined in the second stage according to the color to be used and the direction of movement of the marbles. For example, the landscape painting is completed with the image of the reeds made by moving it up and down with black acrylic paint sprayed on the bottom of the tray on a sunset background created by moving it left and right.
Others should use this method in order to make the student comprehend that artistic works can be created out of just conventional materials and to help students develop their vision, comprehension, thinking and application capacities through artistic work, together with their aesthetic attitudes, from where they are. This method can be used to obtain abstract works by using different colors in one direction, as it will be difficult for children to move the marbles in different directions at the primary school level.
As a result, it is important that the child’s motivation, self-confidence and the contribution of the process he/she goes through to the development of the child’s motivation, self-confidence and the development of a work that they will be dealing with in a very short time, maybe for days.
The Scientix Project was conducted by our MEV College Private Büyükçekmece High School teacher Şennur HAN and MEV College Private Büyükçekmece Secondary School teacher Şensin KARATAŞ with the participation of 6 students in 4 different classes, 2 middle schools and 2 high schools, within the 7, 8, 9, AND 10 Grade Visual Arts course. It was held face to face between March 2022 and 29 April 2022.
In this context, the course work was as follows:
• Scientix project competition was introduced in Visual Arts 7,8,9 and 10th grade classes, and the roadmap to be followed was determined together with the students.
• First of all, the materials to be used are introduced to the students.
• How the work will be done and what needs to be taken into account are shown through the application.
• It is ensured that the student does the work step by step.
What results are obtained at different grade levels? Which levels enjoy or get bored with this work? In this study, which we had our middle and high school students do to analyze these, the feedback we received from both groups was that they enjoyed the application very much.
