collaboration

Project Location

Country: 
Italy
City: 
Francavilla in Sinni (PZ)/ Basilicata

Organization

Organization Name: 
Istituto Comprensivo “Don Bosco”:Scuola Sec. Di I g. “Don Bosco”/Sc. Primaria “A. Ciancia”/ / Sc. Dell’Infanzia “G. Rodari”
Organization Type: 
School
Specify: 
The project has been developped during the curricular activities and didn’t need any funding.

Privacy Law

Consenso al trattamento dei dati personali
Do you authorize the FMD to the treatment of your personal data?: 
I do authorize the FMD to the use of my personal data.

Project Type

Education up to 15 years

Project Description

Description Frase (max. 500 characters): 

All types of school collaborate all together , through Music,around the same topic.

Project Summary (max. 2000 characters): 

The project idea and the aim had origin from the will of teachers of different grade of school to make work that unites all types of school (pre-primary, primary and low secondary school). As our Low Secondary School is a school music-oriented and our students are individually guided to learn to play 4 musical instruments, music will be the pivot of its various activities. Many teachers of our and of the partner schools are involved (Pietro Cantisani- Maria Rachele Ciancia - Beatrice David_:ICS "Don Bosco" di Francavilla in Sinni - Plesso Secondaria di I Grado, Francavilla in Sinni (PZ), Italia; Gina Antonietta Mango– Filomena Donato - Mariangela Placanico - Angela Maria Tricarico – Ciancia Innocenza – Martino Giuseppina: ICS "Don Bosco" di Francavilla in Sinni - Plesso Primaria "A. Ciancia", Francavilla in Sinni (PZ), Italia; Anna Maria Fortunato: ICS "Don Bosco" di Francavilla in Sinni - Plesso dell'Infanzia "G. Rodari", Francavilla in Sinni (PZ), Italia; K.Belgin Saka Üstünel :YENİ TURAN İLKOKULU, ANKARA, Turchia; Thomas Duggan: St. Brendan's N.S., Co. Kilkenny, Irlanda.)In its development some small melodies, inclusive of chord for the accompaniment , will be produced by the pupils. On these “shared notes” each partner will create rhymes, poems, games, sequences of words and numbers. The music , produced in digital format (midi or audio), may be also used as a background for animations of stories and tales.. Through all that, children are guided to achieve different abilities in various primary school subjects , the improvement of their taste and of their abilities in Music and to the functional usage of English Language and new technologies. The most innovative and creative elements of the project are the comparison with foreign pupils and teachers, the usage of ICT to communicate, as well as the usage of the twinspace .

How long has your project been running?

2013-02-27 23:00:00

Objectives and Innovative Aspects

vedi form allegato

Results

Describe the results achieved by your project How do you measure (parameters) these. (max. 2000 characters): 
The most relevant general result is the discovery of the possibility to pass all the subject knowledge related to the project topic using Music and English language and to share and compare everything with the foreign partners using English language and the new technologies. In particular we highlight: Refinement of the teachers capability to collaborate and to co-operate and interact with the other school operators and with other school methodologies. In particular, the improvement of their competences in Music and in the usage of the ICT and of English language. Motivation for the children that show interest for all the musical activities and discover the possibility to learn and achieve the subject objectives working around Music. Working at the project they also improve their abilities in English language and in the usage of the ICT, through which they compare their discoveries and interests with the partners. The criteria We used to evaluate the results is the observation of the improvement of children’s motivation in all the provided project activities and the consequent achieved abilities .
How many users interact with your project monthly and what are the preferred forms of interaction? (max. 500 characters): 

Monthly all the registered partners interacted with the project through the collaboration on the Etwinning platform.

Sustainability

What is the full duration of your project (from beginning to end)?: 
From 1 to 3 years
What is the approximate total budget for your project (in Euro)?: 
Less than 10.000 Euro
What is the source of funding for your project?: 
Other
Is your project economically self sufficient now?: 
No
Since when?: 
2015-08-30 22:00:00

Transferability

Has your project been replicated/adapted elsewhere?: 
Yes
Where? By whom?: 
The project has been contemporary replicated in all the partner schools through the collaboration on the Etwinning platform.
What lessons can others learn from your project? (max. 1500 characters): 

How to improve collaborations among different European schools , children’s motivation and abilities and to pass subject knowledge in a creative and easy way.

Are you available to help others to start or work on similar projects?: 
Yes

Background Information

Barriers and Solutions (max. 1000 characters): 
In fact we did not have particular difficulties, the project was easily implemented in schools and most of the partners have actively participated in various initiatives proposed. The only drawback: the lack of classroom technology equipment suitable for a more active and direct collaboration and communication between pupils from different schools.
Future plans and wish list (max. 750 characters): 
For the future we would like to continue with this project or activate a similar one and program and implement joint activities without charge due to technological deficiencies. We Need some small grant to equip the classroom tablet for pupils. Organizing physical exchanges between partner students and teachers would be, however, the main ambition.

Project Location

Country: 
Italy
City: 
Francavilla in Sinni (PZ)/ Basilicata

Organization

Organization Name: 
Istituto Comprensivo “Don Bosco”- Sc. Primaria “A. Ciancia”
Organization Type: 
School

Privacy Law

Consenso al trattamento dei dati personali
Do you authorize the FMD to the treatment of your personal data?: 
I do authorize the FMD to the use of my personal data.

Project Type

Education up to 10 years

Project Description

Description Frase (max. 500 characters): 

Children of all the schools prepare them to become responsible and open-minded citizens in Europe.

Project Summary (max. 2000 characters): 

The project idea has been conceived in collaboration with the partner school teacher and developed by the following schools: Gina Antonietta Mango -Filomena Donato: ICS "Don Bosco" di Francavilla in Sinni - Plesso Primaria "A. Ciancia", Francavilla in Sinni (PZ), Italia; Katarzyna Ernest-Małecka: Szkoła Podstawowa nr 11 im. Pabla Nerudy w Toruniu, Toruń, Polonia.
It was based on the theme “School of the Future” with the following objectives: Promoting consciousness of being European citizens and pupils-working together in the design of the school of the future-comparing pleasant school activities-improving Language competences–improving the usage of ICT. In a most wider educational contest, where they worked together to achieve common objectives, children of all the schools collaborated in the exchanges of experiences , information and ideas about their activities in a wide and without borders school that day after day, in a pleasant way, prepare them to become responsible and open-minded citizens in Europe. The comparison with foreign pupils and teachers, the usage of English language and of ICT to communicate and to make multimedia productions using the Twinspace and other tools available on web to share them were creative and innovative elements.

How long has your project been running?

2013-09-29 22:00:00

Objectives and Innovative Aspects

The purpose of the project was to guide the children to share information about their own school and to outline aspect and peculiarities of their school dream in the future collaborating with their pair in the other countries .
Objectives fo the project were:
Promoting consciousness of being European citizens and pupils - working together in the design of the school of the future - comparing pleasant school activities – improving Language competences – improving the usage of ICT.
The collaboration with the partners was intense and constant in all the phases of the project thanks to the usage of emails and of the twinspace. Students and teachers of all the schools worked together, both in a complementary that parallel way. Teachers collaborated in the planning of the modules and in the realization of the expected activities. Students from the two countries produced common works to share ideas and information about their own schools. In many particular cases , they exchanged each other letters and cards by snail mail. Finally everything has been exchanged and compared through the publishing on the twinspace of videos , images and little texts using different software and web tools.
In particular we took photos and produced drawings about all activities carried out, then we scanned and used them with voices and music to create videos using Windows Movie Maker that finally we uploaded on You tube and embed in the twinspace blog or web content tool. In detail the tools we used are : hardware( PC, scanner, Digital Audio Recorder, camera, Data traveler ),different software ( Paint, PDF, PowerPoint, Widows Movie Maker to make videos with video, photos and drawings), Publication on web ( You Tube, Tripwow, Animoto, Kizoa, Glogster…), TwinSpace ( blogs, web content, file archive, image gallery, wiki on which we create a space for common activities).

Results

Describe the results achieved by your project How do you measure (parameters) these. (max. 2000 characters): 
The most relevant general result is the discovery of the possibility for teachers and students to collaborate with other schools improving knowledge and competences. In particular we highlight: Refinement of the teacher’s class team’s capability to collaborate, co-operate and interact each other and with the other school operators and different school methodologies and organizations and the improvement of their competences in the usage of the ICT and English Language. Definitely positive results with the children: they outlined their dream school in Europe, described its aspects and its peculiarities, expressed their ideas and their expectations, shared and compared everything with the partners, collaborated with them using English Languages and the new technologies. Otherwise, Without any doubt the collaboration with the class partner enriched and improved the project whether for the most accurate organization or for the more variety of the activities and tools. The criteria We used to evaluate the results is the observation of the improvement of children’s motivation in all the provided project activities and the consequent achieved abilities .
How many users interact with your project monthly and what are the preferred forms of interaction? (max. 500 characters): 

Monthly all the registered partners interacted with the project through the collaboration on the Etwinning platform.

Sustainability

What is the full duration of your project (from beginning to end)?: 
Less than 1 year
What is the approximate total budget for your project (in Euro)?: 
From 10.001 to 30.000 Euro
What is the source of funding for your project?: 
Other
Is your project economically self sufficient now?: 
No
Since when?: 
2015-08-30 22:00:00

Transferability

Has your project been replicated/adapted elsewhere?: 
No
What lessons can others learn from your project? (max. 1500 characters): 

How to improve collaborations among different European schools , children’s motivation and abilities and to pass subject knowledge in a creative and easy way.

Are you available to help others to start or work on similar projects?: 
Yes

Background Information

Barriers and Solutions (max. 1000 characters): 
In fact we did not have particular difficulties, the project was easily implemented in schools and most of the partners have actively participated in various initiatives proposed. The only drawback: the lack of classroom technology equipment suitable for a more active and direct collaboration and communication between pupils from different schools.
Future plans and wish list (max. 750 characters): 
For the future we would like to continue with this project or activate a similar one and program and implement joint activities without charge due to technological deficiencies. We Need some small grant to equip the classroom tablet for pupils. Organizing physical exchanges between partner students and teachers would be, however, the main ambition.

Project Location

Country: 
Italy
City: 
Francavilla in Sinni (PZ)/ Basilicata

Organization

Organization Name: 
Istituto Comprensivo “Don Bosco”:Scuola Primaria "A. Ciancia"
Organization Type: 
School
Specify: 
The project has been developped during the curricular activities and didn’t need any funding.

Website

http://new-twinspace.etwinning.net/web/p92519/welcome

Privacy Law

Consenso al trattamento dei dati personali
Do you authorize the FMD to the treatment of your personal data?: 
I do authorize the FMD to the use of my personal data.

Project Type

Education up to 10 years

Project Description

Description Frase (max. 500 characters): 

Children of all the schools exchange experiences and information, through photos, drawings, videos and other tools, about their school context, themselves and the various common situations they live at school ;show each other and compare their way to be citizens in Europe and pick up differences and similarities.

Project Summary (max. 2000 characters): 

The project idea has been conceived in collaboration with the partner school teacher and developed by the following schools: Gina Antonietta Mango -Filomena Donato: ICS "Don Bosco" di Francavilla in Sinni - Plesso Primaria "A. Ciancia", Francavilla in Sinni (PZ), Italia; Katarzyna Ernest-Małecka - Jarosława Pyrzyk - Tamara Żuchowska: Szkoła Podstawowa nr 11 im. Pabla Nerudy w Toruniu, Toruń, Polonia.The purpose of the project is to guide the children to the gradual consciousness of being little European citizens and school with the same needs, rights and duties of their pair in the other countries.Children of all the schools exchange experiences and information, through photos, drawings, videos and other tools, about their school context, themselves and the various common situations they live at school. They show each other and compare their way to be citizens in Europe and pick up differences and similarities .All that in a most wider educational contest where they work together to achieve correct habits of behaviour. The most innovative and creative elements of the project are the comparison with foreign pupils and teachers, the usage of English language and of ICT to communicate and to make multimedia productions and of the Twinspace and other tools available on web to share them.The collaboration with the colleague in the partner school is intense and constant in all the phases of the project thanks to the usage of emails and of the twinspace. We collaborate in the planning of the modules and in the realization of the expected activities and often the collaboration goes over the project activities and also provide exchanges of letters and didactic materials. In many particular cases ,students exchange each other letters, cards and other to be completed by snail mail. Students and teachers of all the schools work together on the twinspace ,both in a complementary that parallel way, and exchanged and compared what they make through the publishing on the twinspace of videos , images and little texts.

How long has your project been running?

2012-10-30 23:00:00

Objectives and Innovative Aspects

The project promotes the achievement of important objectives in order to European citizenship: promoting the consciousness of being European citizens - Comparing differences and similarities – improving Language competences – improving the usage of ICT.As the project was developed in an etwinning school team ,all the activities , absolutely integrated in the subject curriculum, were planned and made in collaboration with the school colleague referring everything to the lessons we teach. We chose together the topics, the activities, the tools and worked together in the classroom with the children. The involved school subjects are; Citizenship and Constitution/social Studies, Italian, English, Geography, Art, Informatics.
The project is organized in different but complementary modules and the phases of our works are the followings:
Exchange of information about their own school context – Exchange of information about themselves – comparison of different contexts and information and highlighting of differences and similarities- exchange of different way to solve similar situations in the different schools . We take photos and produce drawings about all activities carried out, then we scan and used them with voices and music to create videos using Windows Movie Maker that finally we uploaded on You tube and embed in the twinspace blog or web content tool. In detail the tools we used are : hardware( PC, IWB, scanner, Digital Audio Recorder, camera, Data traveler ),different software (PDF, PowerPoint, Widows Movie Maker to make videos video with photos and drawings), Publication on web ( You Tube, Tripwow Animoto…), TwinSpace ( blogs, forum, web content, file archive, image gallery, wiki on which we create a space for common activities).

Results

Describe the results achieved by your project How do you measure (parameters) these. (max. 2000 characters): 
The most relevant general result is the discovery of the possibility for teachers and students to collaborate with other schools improving knowledge and competences. In particular we highlight:  Refinement of the teacher’s class team’s capability to collaborate, co-operate and interact each other and with the other school operators and different school methodologies and organizations and the improvement of their competences in the usage of the ICT and English Language.  Definitely positive results with the children: they feel themselves and all the partners as European citizens and can share each other feelings, sensations, experiences and information and compare them picking up differences and similarities through the usage of the English Language and of the new technologies. Otherwise, Without any doubt the collaboration with the class partner enriched and improved the project whether for the most accurate organization or for the more variety of the activities and tools.
How many users interact with your project monthly and what are the preferred forms of interaction? (max. 500 characters): 

Monthly all the registered partners interacted with the project through the collaboration on the Etwinning platform.

Sustainability

What is the full duration of your project (from beginning to end)?: 
From 1 to 3 years
What is the approximate total budget for your project (in Euro)?: 
Less than 10.000 Euro
What is the source of funding for your project?: 
Other
Specify: 
Scuola Primaria "A. Ciancia"
Is your project economically self sufficient now?: 
No
Since when?: 
2015-07-30 22:00:00

Transferability

Has your project been replicated/adapted elsewhere?: 
Yes
Where? By whom?: 
The project has been contemporary replicated in all the partner schools through the collaboration on the Etwinning platform.
What lessons can others learn from your project? (max. 1500 characters): 

How to improve collaborations among different European schools , children’s motivation and abilities and to pass subject knowledge in a creative and easy way.

Are you available to help others to start or work on similar projects?: 
Yes

Background Information

Barriers and Solutions (max. 1000 characters): 
In fact we did not have particular difficulties, the project was easily implemented in schools and most of the partners have actively participated in various initiatives proposed. The only drawback: the lack of classroom technology equipment suitable for a more active and direct collaboration and communication between pupils from different schools.
Future plans and wish list (max. 750 characters): 
For the future we would like to continue with this project or activate a similar one and program and implement joint activities without charge due to technological deficiencies. We Need some small grant to equip the classroom with tablet for pupils. Organizing physical exchanges between partner students and teachers would be, however, the main ambition.

Project Location

Country: 
Italy
City: 
Rionero in Vulture/Basilicata

Organization

Organization Name: 
Istituto Comprensivo “ Ex Circolo didattico” Rionero in Vulture
Organization Type: 
School

Website

http://new­twinspace.etwinning.net/web/p81677

Privacy Law

Consenso al trattamento dei dati personali
Do you authorize the FMD to the treatment of your personal data?: 
I do authorize the FMD to the use of my personal data.

Project Type

Education up to 10 years

Project Description

Description Frase (max. 500 characters): 

The trip as an instrument of intercultural mediation

Project Summary (max. 2000 characters): 

The project was started by some needs perceived by some European teachers. Despite the different experiences made in the past, in our classes it is poorly feel the spirit of globalization. The classes see also the presence of some pupils of different nationalities or from socio­culturally disadvantaged families. This led us to feel the need to prepare our students to live in a multicultural and globalized society using an effective and engaging tool. The travel dreams have characterized the boys of every age and every country, but very often in reality it is not carried out for a number of reasons. So many of our students will never see what is happening around the place where they live and they will never know the wonderful city and places in the world. We have therefore thought to help our students to overcome these obstacles using the tools that technology provides usand placing them in direct contact with other students of their age who live in those places. The basic objective of the project was to introduce the students to different cultures, to understand them and accept them using as a tool for mediation the loogbook of trips made b​y some characters, constructed by the students. The project is based on the firm belief that the knowledge and dialogue with other cultures enriches and enhances each of us, leads us to decentralize and looking at each other with different eyes, to open ourselves to overcoming stereotypes and prejudices. All of this contributes to the creation of a better society based on solidarity, peace, tolerance, understanding and mutual respect, the pursuit of the common good. The use of ICT tools to search for information, document and narrate own experiences, sharing them with other geographically distant learning environments, promoting the active participation of all students, especially those with difficulties, puts everyone in a position to acquire the ability to use technological tools to consciously learn, interact, facilitates the acquisition of learning strategies, effective and permanent giving everyone the chance to learn how to learn for life, motivates and engages students in the learning process by preventing any form of early school leaving.P​HASES OF THE PROJECT:
● Idea of the project (identification of emerging needs students / teachers);
● planning work (objectives­content­methods­time­resources­end product);
● research tools available for the best implementation;
● processing WebQuest;
● choosing the genius representative of own country;
● search of informations and presentation of the minigenius to the partner schools; sending by postal mail of the minigenius;
● welcome and familiarization of the minigenius at school; organization of visits to places the most significant and beautiful in own country and presentation of foods or typical events;
● narration and documentation of experience in the logbook and in TwinSpace;
● monitoring and evaluation of the experience and the work done;
● dissemination

How long has your project been running?

2012-06-29 22:00:00

Objectives and Innovative Aspects

1. Todevelop​attitudes,behaviors,values,knowledgeandskillsneededtoliveina multicultural and globalized world.
2. Topromotemulticulturalandmultilingualdialogue
3. Topromoteinstudentsanattitudeofrespecttowardsotherpeoplesandother
countries, overcoming stereotypes and prejudices.
4. T​o improve the teaching and learning of the English language.
5. Toincreasetheuseofthetechnologiesofinformationandcommunication.
6. ToimprovetherelationshipsandtheknowledgeamongschoolsinEurope.
7. ToknowaboutimportantcharactersorgeniusinEurope.
8. ToknowimportantandrelevantfeaturesofsomeEuropeancountries.
9. To expand the knowledge and experience of all pupils participating in the
project, especially those at risk.
10.To promote the active participation of all pupils, including those with special
needs.
11.Motivating students to learn
12.Learning to learn
13. Improve and make interactive the teaching / learning proce​ss

Results

Describe the results achieved by your project How do you measure (parameters) these. (max. 2000 characters): 
Travel or go through a journey of others listening to the story, reading a logbook, looking at the images is a way immediate and nice to bring the students to different places, different culture, to admire the beauties of the world and broaden boundaries of their own experience. The project has therefore approached the students to new realities, brought them to understand and accept them and made them travel through a logbook of different characters representing the various countries and various cultures. The results of activities implemented were varied and very interesting. The whole project has further motivated the students as it is served to deepen learnings different from those proposed traditionally at school . Pupils have worked with classmates of foreign schools , exchanging material , creating work together and communicating outside of the design motivations and are thus arrived at concrete and solid friendships . In addition , the students were able to enrich their knowledge in various disciplines such as geography , history , science, art, but also the way they live in a family in a different culture with different traditions, education and thinking. So , collaboration , exchange, sharing, different intercultural approach through communication and information channels the most challenging , the need to use a common foreign language ( English ) and the development of specific skills have made this project interesting , functional and appropriate to the objectives. The product is considered to be very good because of the positive impact on students and teachers. At this level of training the experience must surely be greatly towards the growth of the students, the development of their ripeness , achieving a greater understanding and awareness of cultural diversity , and thus increase the attention and interest in the school itself, who is the promoter of the complex evolutionary process of students.
How many users interact with your project monthly and what are the preferred forms of interaction? (max. 500 characters): 

T​eachers and students of the different partner schools, parents, the school community. Teachers and students provide for sending and receiving of various mini genius, use the tools that the eTwinning portal provides as well as numerous Web 2.0 to narrate and document the several trips made by the minigenius, to communicate with each other or publish on the web. Parents work with pupils at home hosting the minigenius and accompanying children in different trips. The publication of the various activities on the website allows members of the school community to follow and catch up the different travel routes and expand their knowledge of other cultures and ways of life.

Sustainability

What is the full duration of your project (from beginning to end)?: 
Less than 1 year
What is the approximate total budget for your project (in Euro)?: 
Less than 10.000 Euro
What is the source of funding for your project?: 
Grants
Is your project economically self sufficient now?: 
No
Since when?: 
2015-04-29 22:00:00

Transferability

Has your project been replicated/adapted elsewhere?: 
No
What lessons can others learn from your project? (max. 1500 characters): 

Ours was an attempt to overcome the various obstacles that impede students to actually visit a place, to travel, bringing, thanks to the use of technological tools and direct interaction with the partner schools, some elements of the culture and beauty of the various European countries to the knowing of all. T​he project has approached the students to different cultures and brought them to understand and accept them; in a playful and enjoyable way pupils have known some important people and the contribution they have given not only to the culture of their country but to the world; have enhanced their communicative, digital, social, organizational skills. The proposed activities have motivated all pupils, especially those in difficulty, to engage and learn. All pupils have acquired basic knowledge and skills to become active and informed citizens in a multicultural and globalized society. The project has facilitated the exchange of experiences and teaching practices of the teachers involved, that in this way they improved their way to school, with positive effects on the entire educational institution. For all these reasons, the project is an example of good practice that can be replicated in other schools

Are you available to help others to start or work on similar projects?: 
Yes

Background Information

Barriers and Solutions (max. 1000 characters): 
The project was carried out in the best possible way with the help and support of families. However, in school we were faced with the problem of the tools that, due to the current economic situation, are not sufficient for all pupils or are rather dated. A better and more effective implementation of the project would be possible by equipping the school with appropriate instrumentation
Future plans and wish list (max. 750 characters): 
It would be desirable that the project was extended to schools in other European countries, that they were involved a greater number of teachers and pupils, that particularly disadvantaged pupils have the opportunity to integrate the knowledge learned with actual trips, that the field of investigation was extended to other aspects of the culture of the various European countries.

Project Location

Country: 
Italy
City: 
Belgium

Organization

Organization Name: 
Qworzó, primary school in Merksplas - Belgium
Organization Type: 
School
Specify: 
Nothing, this project is totally free! It runs on teachers enthusiasm!

Website

http://www.ecr2015.blogspot.com / http://www.ecr2014.blogspot.com / http://www.ecr2013.blogspot.com / http://www.ecr2012.blogspot.com / http://www.theeuropeanchainreaction.blogspot.com

Privacy Law

Consenso al trattamento dei dati personali
Do you authorize the FMD to the treatment of your personal data?: 
I do authorize the FMD to the use of my personal data.

Project Type

Education up to 15 years

Project Description

Description Frase (max. 500 characters): 

In the arty science project The European Chain Reaction primary schools all over Europe work, compete and cooperate at the same time building ONE BIG CROSSBORDER EUROPEAN Rube Goldberg machine.

Project Summary (max. 2000 characters): 

In 2010 my pupils were absolutely thrilled about participating in their first eTwinning project! They absolutely wanted to create an eTwinning project on their own. In the same period they had to execute a science task the children loved very much. Mixing them up was easy and an exciting new arty science project was born!
In The European Chain reaction primary schools all over Europe try to create, film and upload an as astonishing as possible Rube-Goldberg machine to a common blog. When all national chain reactions are online the children may judge the entries of the other schools and a final country-ranking will be published to the blog.
Apart from the competition this project is a European (international) cooperation at the same time. All chains from all the different countries will be combined into ONE BIG EUROPEAN CHAIN REACTION so this is a true joint piece of work. You can have a look at the European Chain Reaction newsflash 2015 here: https://vimeo.com/118343746
Our school is the organizing country. We search for more schools to join the project, send information to all participating schools and help all teachers who could use some advice. We make no profit from this project. The only thing we want to gain is the childrens’ interest in science.

How long has your project been running?

2010-08-30 22:00:00

Objectives and Innovative Aspects

In The European Chain Reaction primary school children are challenged to build the best rube-goldberg-machine. In this arty STEM-project children's CREATIVITY is put to the test. Problems that WILL arise have to be tackled in the best possible way. Children have to think in steps: What is the problem? / How can we fix it? / We execute! / We evaluate! ... and we start this process over and over again until things work as originally planned. Children are obliged to COOPERATE within school because the chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
Teachers who are in the project can achieve a lot of goals in a very short period of time! Of course there are the goals in science. Almost every goal in the Belgian science curriculum is integrated into this project! Children have to THINK CRITICAL about the technical process, examine why things don't work as they should, think about the character of the materials they will be using, ... At the end of the project children have to reflect on technology: how have children in other countries created this? Why does it work or how could it be even better? Besides the obvious science goals children learn a LOT about social skills. It is very easy to get mad at someone who didn't succeed at making a working piece of the chain, but children have to learn how to COMMUNICATE with each other in a crisis situation (when things don't work and the deadline is approaching). And of course they learn about ICT when recording the video, writing comments on the blog, watching the other chain reactions, ...

Results

Describe the results achieved by your project How do you measure (parameters) these. (max. 2000 characters): 
The children are always extremely excited about this project. This is a project they ABSOLUTELY LOVE and children learn most by doing things they love. And it is a real STEM-project in which all of the 21st century skills (collaboration, creating and innovation, ICT, communication, finding and evaluating information, problem solving, analytical thinking) are integrated. We motivate children to improve their skills on ALL areas, not only language and mathematics. Most important, children improve their CREATIVITY which isn't a subject in school, but should be integrated in each subject as much as possible! A teacher in Bulgaria told me a pupil in her class asked her parents not to buy her a tablet for Christmas, but to buy her materials so she could go and create a chain reaction. Some pupils from Iceland mailed their teacher little movies of chain reactions they made in the parents' bedroom. The results can be watched at the blogs mentioned above. Especially this entry in the first edition of this project is real eye-candy and a true example for all rube-goldberg-machines to come: https://vimeo.com/18713502 Our project attracts kindergartens too! This year a kindergarten from Germany won the ECR2015 competition with this fantastic entry: https://vimeo.com/117489474 In the 5 years that this project has been running we have never seen the same chain reaction twice so it proves children can be very creative in thinking about new ways of creating chains and the standards of the rube goldberg machines have risen to whole new levels so - we think - not only the children are learning but the teachers do too! BUT what motivated us most to continue this project is what school inspectors told us: Scotland: "The European Chain Reaction is the very best example of cross curricular work in International Education that we have witnessed in the four years that we have been touring schools, looking at International Educational projects!" SEE ATTACHMENT
How many users interact with your project monthly and what are the preferred forms of interaction? (max. 500 characters): 

In the beginning we only had 13 countries participating, but we attracted some more countries as we gained some more visibility while winning some awards: MEDEA-award 2011: Best European collaboration in the creation of educational medea / UK eTwinning award: cross-curricular integration of eTwinning / Lithuania Best eTwinning school / Belgium network-award / ...
This year 32 countries participated in the project but we aim at – one day – gathering all eTwinningPlus countries (41 countries). In all editions each year a couple of hundreds of children have participated.

Sustainability

What is the full duration of your project (from beginning to end)?: 
Less than 1 year
What is the approximate total budget for your project (in Euro)?: 
Less than 10.000 Euro
What is the source of funding for your project?: 
Other
Is your project economically self sufficient now?: 
No
Since when?: 
2015-04-29 22:00:00
When is it expected to become self-sufficient?: 
2010-08-30 22:00:00

Transferability

Has your project been replicated/adapted elsewhere?: 
Yes
Where? By whom?: 
A French school couldn’t participate anymore since we already have a French partner, so they asked us if they were allowed to copy our project and make an alternative edition. Of course we agreed as we are honored by the thought that other teachers see the beauty in our project too! And in Iceland some children have taken over their parents bedroom because they wanted to create a Rube Goldberg machine in it. Does this count as copying our project too? ☺
What lessons can others learn from your project? (max. 1500 characters): 

This is an excellent example of a STEM-project that is totally free of charge! No expensive robots have to be bought as children have lots of interesting materials at home and a camera for filming the chain is on all modern phones. Children absolutely adore this project too! First thing on Monday they ask their teacher is “When will be working again on our chain reaction?”

Are you available to help others to start or work on similar projects?: 
Yes

Background Information

Barriers and Solutions (max. 1000 characters): 
Most teachers communicate well and fast through mails. Sometimes however teachers promise to participate and – in the end – they don’t upload their chain. That’s a pitty
Future plans and wish list (max. 750 characters): 
This year was the 5th edition of the project and I had hoped to gather all eTwinningPlus countries in this years’ edition. Unfortunately 8 countries didn’t upload. Next year we keep aiming at building a REAL EUROPEAN chain as I want to have all eTwiningPlus countries participating in upcoming our sixth edition. Winning a Junior Challenge Award would surely help us find some more countries and it could be a fine opportunity for the participating teachers to meet-up in Rome and actually meet each other after cooperating for 5 years already in cyberspace…
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