REPORT OF SPAIN MOBILITY
An amazing new adventure has just come to the end for our Erasmus+ group, engaged in the mobility in Spain. Italy, Romania, Turkey and Greece were amazingly hosted in the town of Mula, in the region of Murcia, in the south-east of Spain, to continue working for our Erasmus+ project “Skills to catch the Future”. It was an amazing experience that took place from 3 to 8 of March 2024.
There are so many things to say but we try to sum up the main activities we did with our partners, about real life and digital skills using the Computational Thinking skills with the importance of Coding. Coding can motivate learners to use programming and computational thinking skills to create digital and physical realities based on their personal interests.
REAL LIFE ACTIVITY: visiting Cartagena, dealing with pollution and collecting garbage at “Playa de Los Nietos”
The first day we visited Cartagena, a sea town in the south of Murcia. In this palace we did a real life activity, in which students and teachers were asked to reflect about the pollution on our planet. We had the honor to meet the association “Alianza Mar Menor AMARME”, (“Association Alliance Mar Menor AMARME”), an outreach group composed of volunteers whose task is to disseminate the problems of the sea and its basin to anyone around the world, in order to take care of our planet.
Firstly, we went trekking at El Monte Minera, a mountain where students and teachers discovered the environment and the importance of savage and not-contaminated nature. Students were asked if they could find any garbage around, to sensibilize them to not dump waste on the ground. From the top of the mountain, the Spanish guide Julia showed us the Mar Menor, a contaminated sea in the region of Murcia.
Once we got down the mountain, we went to the seaside, where the students could see directly the pollution around it. There, it was made the first activity. Students used computational thinking principles to find a way to save the beautiful area of “La playa de los nietos, Mar Menor” from intensive agriculture and huge urbanization and contamination. They were asked their expectations and then they started collecting garbage from the coast.
Together with volunteers’ group of the association of AMARME our students discovered the problems of the area and clean the beach from the rubbish according to the rules of recycling.
1ST ACTIVITY: REAL LIFE
“Save the environment in Cartagena-Playa de Los Nietos, Mar Menor”
PURPOSE: Find a way to save the beautiful area of “La playa de los nietos, Mar Menor” from intensive agriculture and huge urbanization and contamination.
The association of AMARME helped us with volunteers to discover the problems of the area and to clean the beach from the rubbish.
PRE VIDEO activity
Students were asked what they were going to do and their thoughts about the activity.
POST VIDEO feedback
DIGITAL SKILLS: SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
The second day we went to “Cristo Crucificado” school, in Mula, our Spanish school. It was made an opening ceremony with the participation of all partners, teachers, students and the two Spanish headteachers. Students started their activities and teachers held some Erasmus+ meetings in the Erasmus+ room.
From the beginning, students were divided into three groups, one per each activity they continued doing till the end of the mobility.
Activities dealt with:
- Robotics with Arduino;
- Programming with Scratch;
- 3D printer.
Students groups alternated and worked on a specific task changing every hour.
WELCOMING AT THE TWONHALL OF MULA
Teachers and Students were weloming from the major of Mula at the Townhall.
ARDUINO: robotics program
The usefulness of Arduino: focus in STEM teaching and learning
PURPOSE of the activity
How to program Arduino, an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. Arduino boards are able to read inputs – light on a sensor, a finger on a button – and turn it into an output – activating a motor, turning on an LED, publishing something online. You can tell your board what to do by sending a set of instructions to the microcontroller on the board. To do so you use the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring), and the Arduino Software (IDE), based on Processing.
This activity focused on helping students learn problem-solving skills and develop logical thinking. These skills allow students to tackle real-life problems and become familiar with abstract mathematical tasks, thereby creating a sound mathematical foundation for computer careers.
PRE VIDEO activity
Students were asked what they were going to do and their thoughts, their expectations about the activity and if they have never used it before.
COMPUTATIONAL THINKING SKILLS
Thinking like a robot after creating and programming it.
POST VIDEO feedback
Rabbits, keyholders and letters were personally created.
Quick questionnaire at the end of the previous activities:
- Do Arduino- and Scratch-enabled interventions improve students’ overall CT skills?
- What are the effects of Arduino- and Scratch-enabled interventions on each dimension (concepts, practices, and perspectives) of students’ CT skills?
- What are the moderating effects of student grade level and the duration of intervention on the effectiveness of Arduino- and Scratch-enabled interventions on students’ CT skills?
3D PRINTER: how to create a 3D object
Nowadays, the ability to code is becoming increasingly important in industry and is often mentioned as a crucial skill for future employment. In maker culture, the ability to program along with other technical skills often exceeds this limitation and also includes fun activities through personally fabricated projects. Teachers and students examined computational design projects that are intended to be 3D printed and could potentially introduce coding learning actions. we argue that digital fabrication technology can give us great benefits:
- coding and programming;
- learning actions;
- highlight coding as a mode of creative expression;
PURPOSE
How to create a 3d object with the 3d printer and how to program it. 3D printing or additive manufacturing is a process of making three dimensional objects from a digital file.
The creation of a 3D printed object is achieved using additive processes. In an additive process an object is created by laying down successive layers of material until the object is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced cross-section of the object. At the end of the activity, students learnt how a 3D printer works. The objective is to learn how the tools of making such as digital fabrication machines can also support computing education and which design projects can provide computationally rich settings to explore computing science concepts, including coding.
PRE VIDEO activity
Students were asked what they were going to do and their thoughts, their expectations about the activity and if they have never used it before.
COMPUTATIONAL THINKING SKILLS
Give instructions to the 3D
POST VIDEO feedback
Rabbits, keyholders and letters were personally created.
ERASMUS+ MAIN ATMOSPHERE
Last but not least, students were hosted by their Spanish families. Each student of the Erasmus+ countries was combined with a Spanish partner, living their best lives with Spanish costumes and traditions, culture, food and foreign language. Students communited in English, but two of them, who are also learning Spanish at their school, talked in both languages.
The relationship between students, families and teachers were and continue to be so strong. In fact, Erasmus+ does not only mean sharing school activities, but also feelings, emotions and daily life, with both all the differences and similarities among the countries involved.