The partners of our Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships project “How to Raise an Inventor. Technology and Engineering Learning Materials for Schools”, Fundacja ECD from Gdansk, Poland held a multiplier event in Gdansk.
Purpose of the event: to present the results of the project and to introduce the intellectual output to the educational community in Poland; to give teachers a hands-on experience about the modules. Partner Fundacja ECD together with RoboCamp, an associated partner in the project, organized the event. It took place at Gdańsk Science and Technology Park. The target audience was school principals and teachers from different schools. Some of the teachers already teach STEAM during classes or extra-curricular activities, while others had little prior experience. Audience also included representatives from out-of-school education institution Youth Palace.
The event was divided into two parts: theoretical and practical. In the first part, coordinator from Fundacja ECD Katarzyna Gliniecka presented the project’s background, goals, structure, partner responsibilities, main activities and outcomes. She showed all four modules and provided information, where and how they can be accessed. Insights from the research were presented. They included statistical data about pupils’ attitude and skills towards STEAM and feedback from the focus group discussions.
The second part of the event was organized in the form of a robotics workshop, where participants could try out the intellectual contribution created by Fundacja ECD – The Art of Making module. It teaches how to build and program robots using LEGO Education Mindstorms EV3 robot kits to perform specific tasks, focused mainly on art. During the workshop, participants built and programmed the spirograph from various sets of LEGO bricks, while having fun and asking lots of questions. The guests were very interested in the results of the project and admired the enormity of work and lesson materials produced.
The culmination of the event was a lottery for participants where they could win a Lego set for their school. This prize was established by event organizers. A teacher from a school in Gdansk was the lucky one. Each participant received a certificate stating knowledge gained during the workshop.
After the official part, informal communication continued over snacks and coffee. This has given a chance to get to know teachers in person and discuss the use of the project’s results in their schools.
Main outcomes of the event:
- the event was visited by more than 30 participants;
- project‘s results were disseminated to teachers and school representatives on a personal level;
- teachers obtained information from module developers about the use of the training tool in classroom;
- attention of the public was drawn to technological education in schools and innovative STEM tools.
Dissemination of the event was organized by inviting teachers. It was decided not to have pupils as target audience for this event as main emphasis was on teachers as most likely to bring project’s material to schools.