Erasmus +: The Green Micro:bit

Mobility in Slavonski Brod

Students and teachers from Ljubljana, Zagreb and Slavonski Brod participated in the sixth project activity „The Little Entrepreneurship Fair“ which took place in Đuro Pilar Primary School in Slavonski Brod from 19th to 23rd November 2019. The first day of the mobility included students’ presentations about recent project activities and results. Students and teachers also met the deputy mayor of Slavonski Brod and took a tour around the city in order to learn about the people and culture in Slavonski Brod. The second day workshops were held: e-book workshop, souvenir workshop and project logo workshop. Students presented their souvenirs at the local Katherine’s fair. The aim of this activity was to encourage the entrepreneurship skills and exchange skills between students. The third day a short trip to the Nature Park Papuk was held. Students and teachers took a stroll around the educational path in the park Jankovac and learned more about geomorphological features of Papuk. All the project aims are reached and students came back home happy to have this opportunity.

Short-term exchanges of groups of pupils: The Green Micro:bit

Zagreb, Gračani Primary School, 18-20/9/2019

Pupils and teachers from Vižmarje-Brod Primary School and Đuro Pilar Primary School visited Gračani Primary School from 18 to 20 September 2019 as their fifth Erasmus + project activity. Four students and two teachers from each school participated in project activities. From Gračani Primary School participated all interested students and teachers. The topic of the mobility was the educational path and the souvenir workshop. The first day pupils presented their schools and recent project accomplishments. They also participated in three different escape rooms: the secrets of chocolate, nature and space. After that they visited Botanical garden in Zagreb and had a short city tour on the Hop on Hop off bus. Pupils were situated in our pupils’ families so they can learn more about Gračani.
The second day pupils had a souvenir workshop and a land art workshop. Since the project includes making land art decorations and a windmill as central pieces of the educational path, the mobility included workshops about these things. Experts conducted the workshops: pupils worked on land art decorations and the windmill. Afterwards, they created different souvenirs: eco soaps, wooden pencil holders, decorative bags made from different herbs. The souvenirs will be presented at the Katarinski fair in Slavonski Brod in November 2019, where the next mobility will take place. After the workshops and school lunch, pupils visited an old Public School in Gračani, as well as a local Croatian Association of Military Miniaturists where they could see small models of military vehicles.
The third day they visited the Plitvice Lakes, the oldest national park in Croatia. They learnt about educational paths and the wildlife there. This was the last activity in Zagreb. Pupils gained knowledge about educational paths and souvenirs and made new international friends.

From 7th to 11th April 2019 our primary school Vižmarje – Brod hosted studens from our partner schools in Erasmus +, The Green Micro:bit project, which are Gračani Primary School from Zagreb, Croatia and Djuro Pilar Primary School from Slavonski Brod, Croatia. Our group of eight students were hosts to four student from Zagreb and four from Slavonski Brod. The strudents were all seventh graders. Each group of students came with two accompanying teachers and we were two teachers in Vižmarje – Brod who participated in the mobility. The topic of the student mobility was the green wall, one of the project results, which was created by pupils and teachers before the exchange.

Before the mobility, pupils participated in workshops about micro:bits, e-books and the green wall in the school and helped to created the green wall in their school. The green wall is made from plants that are planted in the wooden pallet planters, and the plants are watered by micro:bits programmed by pupils. By creating the green wall, which decorates each school participating in the project, following project aims are accomplished: the use of innovative technology in teaching and learning and raised awareness about taking care of nature. During the exchange, students presented their school and project activities they had made up to then and shared their experiences with students partner schools. Students guests stayed with host families because that was the best way to learn about Slovenian culture and lifestyle.

The first day of the exchange was reserved for students’ presentations of schools and project activities done so far. Afterwards they had a short tour of Ljubljana. We welcomed our guest schools with our school band and popular escape room activities. Students successfully presented the school and project results so far.

The second day of the exchange students had an educational workshop about creating a school garden and decorating the school educational path. The workshop was conducted by PAZ!PARK association. The educational path is the second project result that follows project aims. Afterwards, students and teachers visited a green hanging garden in Jožet Plečnik Grammar School, where wooden pallets are used. Students learned how to create an educational garden made of recycled material. Then a trip to Bled was organized, where pupils could see different examples of gardens and educational paths.

The third day students and teachers had a lecture about plants that are suitable for the green wall and the educational path and about the ways how to take care of them with micro:bits. Students programmed the program for watering the plants. They also created additional possibilities how to water the plants with micro:bits. The last project activity was creating the first few pages of an e-book, which is also one of the project results. Pupils wrote and edited a text about their exchange in Ljubljana. The e-book will follow all the project activities and will comprise them altogether.

The exchange ended with a spring concert at our school and the certificate award. Our guests spent the last hours in Ljubljana for another walk and sightseeing. They returned home on 11th April 2019. The exchange left a great impression on all of us and enriched us all with new international experiences, so further project work continues. The next exchange will be in September 2019 in Zagreb and we are already looking forward to it.

THE THIRD ERASMUS + TRAINING EVENT: THE GREEN ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOP IN GRAČANI PRIMARY SCHOOL, ZAGREB

The third short-term joint staff training event under Erasmus + Key Activity 2, project The Green Micro:bit, took place from 5th to 8th December 2018. Teachers from Vižmarje – Brod Primary School in Ljubljana, the head teacher and teachers from Djuro Pilar Primary School in Slavonski Brod and the head teacher and teachers from Gračani Primary School in Zagreb took part in the training event. The training started with a welcome programme and a school tour, and the green architecture workshop followed.

The first day the education about green and sustainable architecture was conducted by an architect Ivana Stanić in cooperation with a gardener Korenlija Benyovsky Šoštarić. The aim of the workshop is to gain knowledge about creating the green wall, which is a project result and it is planned in the school hallway. The green architecture in school is important for more reasons: creating an encouraging and anti-stress surrounding for learning, encouraging ecopedagogy in school and raising eco awareness. The teachers learned the basic principles of green architecture through different worldwide examples and how to make a green wall out of wooden pallets.

The second day of the training event also included education and the workshop, this time about the educational path elements and land art, which are also our project results. The workshop was conducted by a landscape architect Ivana Bunjak Pajdek. In this workshop, teachers created a rough sketch of an educational path in their schools. Since plants on the green wall will be watered by micro:bits, guests from Ute Brijeg Primary School held a short presentation about it. They had a similar project entitled ‘I want a tree’ where they used micro:bits for watering plants so they shared their experience. Besides the training, guest teachers also met cultural sights of Zagreb and the surrounding. The third day, they visited Crystal Craft Factory Tuk, the ethno farm Mirnovec, Grgos cave and the educational path, and Samobor, in search for more examples of educational paths. The training event finished on 7th December 2018 with a final ceremony in Trnjanka restaurant and awarding of certificates.

THE SECOND ERASMUS + TRAINING EVENT: DJURO PILAR PRIMARY SCHOOL, SLAVONSKI BROD

The second Erasmus + training event started on 19th November and ended on 21st November 2018. The event took place in Djuro Pilar Primary School in Slavonski Brod and the topic of the event was making the e-book. The e-book as a project result involves special computer skills gained in the training.

The first day of the training the hosts welcomed project teams from Ljubljana and Zagreb and showed them the school and city sights such as the Fortress, Ružić Gallery and Franciscan monastery. Afterwards, a project meeting was held and the introduction about the e-book led by Hrvoje Alilović.

The second day was fully dedicated to the e-book workshop. During the workshop, tools Canva and Calibre were used. Besides making the e-book, teachers tried to make a logo too and gained skills needed for creating an e-book and a logo, which will help them in further project activities.

The third day included Djakovo and Osijek sightseeing and a visit to the Nature park Kopački rit in order to see the vegatation. The awarding of certificates took place at the eco family farm Eagle Flyway in Kopačevo, where the evaluation of project activities was also held and future project activities were discussed. The event went well and strengthened the schools’ cooperation.

THE FIRST ERASMUS + TRAINING EVENT: LJUBLJANA, VIŽMARJE BROD PRIMARY SCHOOL

The project Green Micro:bit successfully started with the first teacher-training event at Vižmarje – Brod Primary School in Ljubljana. The event started on 24th October and ended on 28th October 2018. Project teams from Ljubljana, Slavonski Brod and Zagreb participated in the event. The purpose of the first training was project team meeting, managing project activities and education about using micro:bits in watering systems. The head teacher, the teachers and pupils at Vižmarje Brod Primary School prepared a warm welcome for project teams from Slavonski Brod and Zagreb. ITD school band was especially interesting. After the welcome programme, a project meeting and discussion about project deadlines, activities and dissemination were held.

The second day a workshop Micro:bit Water System was led by Sanja Jedrinović from the Faculty of Education in Ljubljana. At the workshop, teachers learned how to apply micro:bits in different school subjects, and then how to programme a simple programme for watering plants on the green wall, as well as some games.

The third day of the training included a visit to Slovenian cultural and geographical sights: Postojna cave, Portorož and Piran. During the travel, we exchanged project impressions, evaluated project activities and the hosts awarded the certificates of attendance to the guests. The first training event was a great international experience!