Spotlighters – Illuminating paths to resilience with the science of stress Erasmus Project

Project Title

Spotlighters – Illuminating paths to resilience with the science of stress

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 : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Inclusion – equity; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education

Project Summary

Spotlighters (2018-2021) brought together experts in neuroscience, psychology, educational technology, and pedagogy to develop a series of open educational resources (OER) for educators. The project aimed (1) to create tools for educators to support student stress management; and (2) to educate students and teachers about the science of stress and stress management techniques. The Spotlighters OER reach educators through lesson materials to use with their students, online materials and activities that can complement their classes, teacher professional development, and an innovative technology to use with their students. Participants in Spotlighters included the project partners (5 HEIs, 3 social enterprises); 10 associate partners (primary and secondary schools); teachers, students, and administrators (primary, secondary, tertiary schools); and the scientific community (researchers).
O1: Spotlighters Teachers Toolkit for Student Lessons helps teachers teach the lessons produced by Spotlighters. The aim of the content is to educate students about the science of stress and self-regulation. The Toolkit contains lessons for primary, secondary, and tertiary students. Materials such as slides, teacher notes, and activity sheets are available in EN, ES, GR, PT, FI, and DK (http://www.spotlighters.eu/).
O2: The Science of Stress & Self-Regulation (free online course) is a self-paced, online course for high school and university students available at https://tidex.upf.edu and available in EN, ES, CA, GR, PT, FI, and DK. The course helps students learn about how stress can be helpful and harmful, how it causes changes in our bodies, and how we can learn to manage it. The international team of instructors guide students through common stress management techniques that can be used by students for the rest of their lives. Further, in response to COVID, a Spotlighters YouTube Channel was created. It features a series of videos that teach students self-regulatory practises such as progressive muscular relaxation, square breathing, and pursed lip breathing. Teachers are able to play these videos for their students in class. Videos also introduce the online course, ClassMood App, teacher symposiums, and to share reflections from teachers and partners about the project and its efforts.
O3: ClassMood App (https://classmood.upf.edu/) is a free social and emotional learning tool for teachers to make teaching and learning more enjoyable. It allows teachers to visualise a map of their student moods and discover mood changing activities for students. The tool helps educators teach students about emotion regulation and provides opportunities to introduce self-regulatory activities such as breathing exercises and cognitive reappraisal. The tool is available in EN, ES, CA, GR, PT, FI, and DK and has been presented in academic conferences and publications.
O4: Spotlighters Teacher Workshops are two 120-minute professional development workshops for educators. The workshop materials are available on the project website and include videos by Minna Huotilainen, professor of educational sciences at University of Helsinki, Cognitive Brain Research Unit, CICERO Learning Network, University; and Eveliina Holmgren, Senior Lecturer at the School of Wellbeing, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.
Two extended training events for educators were held: 1 virtual and 1 presencial. The virtual LTTA was spread across 2 weeks and hosted by Advancis. There were 15 participants including pre-school, elementary and secondary school teachers, educational psychologists, HEI professors and researchers (PhD students). The presencial LTTA was a 3-day event hosted by Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona and attended by 12 participants. Participants included school teachers, school psychologists, university lecturers, and post-graduate students. Moreover, both virtual and presencial symposiums for educators were held in five countries (Finland, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Greece) with over 150 participants in total.
In the project, 30 sets of pilot lessons with university, high school, and primary school students were run. Over 1000 students directly participated in the classroom lessons. Over 1300 learners (teachers and students) participated in the online course. There were 120 YouTube channel subscribers; 258 Facebook followers; and more than 4000 users of ClassMood App.The materials have been integrated into courses for continued use at secondary schools, universities, and teacher professional development programmes. Spotlighters also led to scientific publications and new initiatives that directly build upon the efforts made in the project including European projects: Illumine (https://illumine.upf.edu/) and ReMIXED (2021-1-ES01-KA220-SCH-000032801); and local initiatives BEAM (https://www.upf.edu/web/beam).

Project Website

http://www.spotlighters.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 411212 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Boon Unipessoal, Lda.
• LOOP.bz
• HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
• ADVANCIS-BUSINESS SERVICES, LDA
• PANEPISTIMIO DYTIKIS MAKEDONIAS
• METROPOLIA AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU OY
• UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA