CO-Develop E+ Generations Erasmus Project

Project Title

CO-Develop E+ Generations

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

The project “CO-Develop E+ Generations” (CODE+) will create a network of schools across Europe to develop the 21st century skills such as creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, digital competence, teamwork and collaboration in virtual teams, multiple languages and cultural awareness.
Our aim is to develop and share good practices and innovative educational ways to use coding and new technologies at school, for students from 10 to 15 years old, in order to create a computational thinking vertical curriculum.
Italy, Turkey, Lithuania, Romania, Poland and Serbia will be partners in this project: they have different backgrounds and they will bring their experience and expertise in using coding and computer programming in the daily activities.
It is a fact that students who take technology training at an early age even if they do not continue their studies in the software field, it will also contribute to their success in other areas. Therefore the goal of the project is to learn from each other and experience together new activities and methodologies to develop critical and computational thinking. Our students will share online and offline coding activities, they will use programming platforms and applications like Scratch, Scratch Junior, Lego Mindstorms EV3, Kodu Game Lab, GoAnimate, Makey-Makey and many others; they will also develop video games and digital storytelling and they will have a first approach to robotics education, as well.
Our goal is to help children turn from technology consumers into technology producers, fighting disengagement in the formal education as well as creating an environment of collaboration and healthy competition among them. One of our main aims is to build a Teachers’ European CODE+ community, where we can share good coding and computer science practices that we are currently using in our classrooms. Therefore we are going to crate a CLIL platform which will include all the applications and digital tools we will have used throughout the project, which will be freely accessible to all users and also contain downloadable materials resulted from our project activities. This way we intend to promote children’s healthy development and learning through sound ICT skills and schemes.
The 5 short term exchanges of pupils in Lithuania, Romania, Turkey, Serbia and Poland will develop methodologies and strategies to improve skills for 125 students in using programming, online coding platforms, developing games and digital presentations, creating eBooks and collaborative writing. The students will also be taught how to make smart use of their own phones and tablets, learning that they aren’t only limited to playing games, but there are a lot of innovative tools that can be used to create mobile learning. They will thus learn how to be productive and creative with the tools they have on their own phones and tablets. Discussions on the problem of cyberbullying and how it can be prevented/avoided will also be carried out.
We will also include teacher training, focusing on developing digital inclusive methods and tools in class and implementing computational thinking activities to connect the students to future career choices. In this respect, 25 teachers will attend workshops on digital storytelling and knowledge network, research and statistics (STEM and modern society), case study analyses to improve communication and consultative decision making strategies through coding and computer programming to be used in class.
The benefits of the project will be enhanced expertise for teachers of all ages, increased motivation and competence in using coding and ICT tools for students, improved awareness of the multiple uses and benefits of coding for policy makers and local communities and a large range of materials and digital products to be shared with all educational factors connected to the partner schools, but also to other educational institutions interested in the project and its results.
The project will pay special attention to the inclusion of students facing social or financial difficulties. The participants will have the chance to meet their European peers from different backgrounds and cultures, with whom they will learn about mutual respect and understanding, making them their friends while learning together. This will build up their self trust and self esteem.
The CLIL platform and a magazine “CODE+ Best Practices” (2 editions) will be two of the project most important outcomes displaying what the students and their teachers have learnt spanning over the two years. They will be freely accessible on all project platforms and social networks used to disseminate our results and to involve an increasing number of digital users in search of innovative learning contents and contexts. We will also work online in a virtual classroom, using eTwinning and Google platforms for education to learn together and connect.

Project Website

https://codevelopegenerations.wordpress.com

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 188200 Eur

Project Coordinator

ISIS GRAMSCI KEYNES & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Suadiye Barbaros Ilkokulu
• SCOALA GIMNAZIALA DUILIU ZAMFIRESCU FOCSANI
• Kauno Panemunes pradine mokykla
• SZKOLA PODSTAWOWA Nr 1 im. Bohaterow Westerplatte w Starej Wsi
• Heroj Radmila Siskovic