PRESS RELEASE FOR ERASMUS+ PROJECT 2019-2021 (school exchange KA229)
Samos, 16/12/2019
INTRODUCTION
The School of 2o Gymnasio Samou, the years 2019-2021, participates in a European Erasmus+ School Project (School Exchange Partnerships KA229) involving exchanges of groups of pupils between the German School (Luitpold Gymnasium Munchen), the Italian (Liceo Scientifico Statale Enrico Fermi di Ragusa) and the Portuguese (Agrupamento de Escolas D. Dinis Lisboa).
The project is named Exchange of ICT practices: Java robot programming in a European context (2019-1-DE03-KA229-059620_2).
Its main target is to introduce object-oriented programming language Java to students for use on Lego EV3 Mindstorms robots. Focus is on developing applications that will highlight the cultural heritage of each country. For this reason, students will share their ideas on the eTwinning platform and program in transnational groups by sharing their code on relevant platforms.
Someone can learn all the latest news of the project in the official eTwinning page: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/96054/
ACTIVITIES
- C1 Short-term joint staff training events
Seven IT teachers, one Technologist and one English Language teacher, that participate in the Erasmus+ program (from Italy, Portugal, Germany and Greece), met in Munich Germany at the School Luitpold-Gymnasium from 5/10/2019 to 11/10/2019 and trained in using the JAVA object-oriented programming language for LEGO EV3 robot programming. That is with the use of leJOS libraries under the IDE Eclipse. This training was from an external partner: Mrs Beate Jost (Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS) of the Fraunhofer Institute (known for its Roberta Initiative "Learning with robots") provided a valuable insight on these robotics topics.
The teachers that participated from Greece, were: the IT teacher Mr. Vasileios Barekos, the Technology teacher Mr. Efthimios Evangelou and the IT teacher Ms. Irini Chatziaggelou, that are the teachers who take part and collaborate in this program.
Additionally in this workshop the eTwinning platform was presented as a key tool to be used in this program for communicating and sharing good practices.
There have been also visits in several attractions not only in the Munich city center but also in nearby locations (daytrip to Schliersbergalm, Oktoberfest, Herrsching am Ammersee etc). In this way the participants appreciated the local culture elements of the German and Bavarian culture that is something that will be used in the next phase of the project as it involves the programming of educational robotics to perform a cultural task of the participating countries.
Watch a short video from the seminar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6qxPsXp86I
Our German host and project coordinator, Mr Peter Kirchhoff wrote this post with regards to the EU Code Week 2019:
https://blog.codeweek.eu/post/188274638640/robot-programming-with-java-european-workshop-in
- C2 Short-term exchanges of groups of pupils
The School 2o Gymnasio Samou hosted the 2nd Erasmus+ project meeting in the island of Samos, Greece to highlight further Greek traditions by organising some cultural workshops. For 1 week, students and teachers from all the participating countries met together and took part to workshops related to art and dance to help inspire them to develop ideas for their programming projects.
The visit took place from the 17th to 23rd November 2019 and participated:
from Germany, the IT teacher Mr Peter Kirchhoff with 6 of his students,
from Portugal, the IT teacher Mr Carlos Almeida with 7 of his students,
from Italy, the IT teacher Mr Salvatore Dimartino together with the English language teacher Mrs Angela Mandara and 6 of their students,
from Greece, the IT teacher Mr Vasileios Barekos, the Technology teacher Mr Efthymios Evangelou and the IT teacher Mrs Eirini Chatziangelou. In addition several other teachers from the Greek school involved, like the Principal and Biology teacher Mrs Patritsia Chatzioannidou, the German language teacher Mrs Katerina Goula, the French language teacher Ms Katerina Georgiadou and the English language teacher Mrs Aggeliki Chasioti.
From the Greek Gymnasium, there are 19 students of the 3rd Grade that are participating in this robotics project and all joined the visitors, took part together to the workshops and had discussions about the differencies but also the similarities of the every day EU student life. Αdditionaly more students of the School were involved as good hosts by creating leaflets and giving a presentation to the guests and some Greek families hosted some of the visiting students.
During this week visits were made to:
The Archaeological Museum of Samos with the impressive gigantic statue of Kouros (about 5 meters, the tallest worldwide up to today's archaeological excavations). It comes from the Heraion of Samos where the temple of goddess Hera was (Ancient Greek historian Herodotus, calling it "the largest of all the temples that we know of."),
The premises of the 2o Gymnasio Samou were the guests warmly welcomed by the School Board and fellow teachers, followed by a presentation of the School's facilities in English and German languages, as well as a presentation of older robotic projects.
Had guided tours to the Samos city center, the Public Central Historical Library of Samos and the famous Pythagoras Square with the lion statue,
Guided walk to the traditional Ano Vathi (the old town) where admired the traditional architecture and the gulf view. Then visited the cultural center of "Captain Lachanas" club and the Ai Giannakis Theater.
Took part in a Cultural Workshop of traditional Greek dances given by the instructor Mr Efthymios Evangelou where all students and their teachers danced together and tried basic dance moves.
Visited the Folklore Museum of Karlovasi and learnt historical things about Samos island.
Had an educational visit to the Aegean Robotics group in the premises of Aegean University in Karlovasi where given a demonstration of some robotic projects and constructions. This is the group that hosts every year the Aegean Robotics Competition, that you can also take part remotely (via teleconference) in the Freestyle category. More info here:
https://icsdweb.aegean.gr/aegeanrbtcs/
Walked altogether in the town of Karlovasi and the scenic Kokkari village,
(in the photo the statue is of Aristarchus of Samos the ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician who presented the first known heliocentric model that placed the Sun at the center of the known universe with the Earth revolving around it)
Visited the Monastery Megali Panagia,
Visited the Pottery Workshop "Ydria" in Koumaradaious village where there was a demonstration of handmade pottery creations by Mr Timos Chatzilagos and took part in an interesting pottery workshop,
Visited the Olive Oil Production Mill of Mr Kapsopoulos in Mavratzei and experienced the process of making olive oil,
Visited the the Holy Monastery of Panagia Spiliani that is physically located inside a cave and walked to the famous Pythagorion town (birthplace of Pythagoras the famous ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician).
Participated in tree planting (pine trees) in an effort to offset our airplane travelling carbon emissions. This took place in the designated area that was burnt in the past, under the instructions of the Samos Directorate of Forests Affairs.
Visited the Museum of Samos Wine in Malagari where enjoyed a very detailed and interesting presentation about the history of Samian wine by Mr. Yiannis Parasiris of the Wine-making Agricultural Cooperative (EOSS) of Samos.
To honour our guests, a very well organised Greek folklore dancing performance was given in a theater with free admission and open to the public. Four local cultural societies (Samos dance club HOR.O.S., Lykeio Ellinidon - Samos branch, Cultural association "Okyroi the Samia", Cultural association "Captain Lachanas") took part with their dancers wearing traditional costumes and performing dances originating from different Greek islands.
Mr. Efthimios Evangelou, was the artistic curator, while the Headmaster of the 2o Gymnasio Samou, Mrs Patritsia Chatzioannidou, addressed the audience in Greek, English and Italian languages. At the end of the event, papyrus memorials were presented to the representatives of the clubs.
In this way, through the Greek Dances, our guests got to know the Greek culture and tradition in the best possible way.
The same night, a joint dinner took place with all the project participants in a local taverna.
Watch how the local TV channel (Samiaki TV) covered the event (in Greek):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DamCikamv5s&feature=youtu.be&t=1872&fbclid=IwAR3H3C6Y1ei3_tieVK0oAmnwCN_ILh-nAcUPXxwZ9SylOq7JrvJVwHJf98w
During the last day in Samos, all the participating Schools gave presentations of their local traditions and cultural topics. Then followed discussion and proposals of robotic implementations and tasks that can be automated as part of this Erasmus+ project.
Finally the Christmas programming challenge was announced. The task given to the students as their 1st assignment was to design, build and program a LEGO bricks sorting machine. Sorting would take place according to the brick colours based on the national flag of each country.
2o Gymnasio Samou 2019-2020
http://2gym-samou.sam.sch.gr/
Tags: #EV3 #leJOS #Erasmus+ #SAMOS
