The last meeting of project partners. The last training activity of teachers in the Everything can be recycled except the earth project. Elementary school A Sládkovič Sliač hosted 25 project participants for six days in June 2022. Sliač, as a spa town, also focused on this area of conservation in its activities. On the first day of the activity, the participants were invited to the city office, where their lady mayor Ing. Balgová welcomed them, introduced them to the city's waste management, and the cooperation between the school and city organizations. The students of the school prepared a short program, which was a huge success, so that the students were asked to sing Slovak folk songs again. At the end, all those present signed in the memorial book and a joint photo will remind them of this event. As well as souvenirs of the town of Sliač.
We then moved to the school, where after a short tour of the school and a break, the participants were divided into 2 groups and completed 2 workshops. The first was dedicated to traditional folk technique - felting, and the second was in school workshops, where participants worked with natural material - wood. In both workshops, participants made objects and learned new techniques.
After lunch, we went to the spa resort, where the participants got to know the types of healing springs, their effects and also the history. The tasting was a matter of course. We pointed out the advantage of mineral springs in the city, because their consumption contributes to the reduction of plastic packaging for purchased mineral water. People regularly go to the spa and take water in bottles. They thus help the environment and their health.
We ended the evening in the traditional Bašta restaurant in Banská Bystrica. In the premises of the butcher's bastion in the remains of the city fortifications. Tuesday belonged to teaching and innovative techniques. Each country taught one lesson in selected classes. The topic was recycling, and the subjects were different: elementary school, art education, mathematics, work teaching, computer science. The students liked the lessons and cooperated very well with the teachers. They created, produced, drew, built bridges, etc. This was followed by feedback and a comparison of the clocks. Teachers who were not teaching could go and watch their colleagues' classes.
The break was followed by a workshop dedicated to ICT innovations. 2nd year students under the guidance of Mr. teacher Očenáš presented their town ozobotow - Ozotown. In that city, they proposed waste separation with the help of small ozobots that they programmed themselves. The 2nd grade students presented how they work with microbits in computer science classes and showed the programming of light saving in a house model. Lunch was followed by a blueprint workshop. Where the lecturer presented UNESCO cultural heritage, work with natural materials (plants used for blueprints). Each participant took home a hand-made picture. On Wednesday we worked outside of school. We took part in an excursion to Green Tech Slovakia in Banská Bystrica. The director of the section took us through the line and explained the main aspects of their way of handling waste. We could compare the way of work in individual countries. Foreign participants were also given space for discussion. We found out how much water is needed for one recycling process. After the noisy tour, we headed to the Loca yoga studio. Where our trainer was already waiting for us. We chose yoga for the project activities because of its connection with a healthy lifestyle, in harmony with nature. It was very pleasant and comforting. We all got involved and did something for our health together.
After having lunch together in Zvolen, we looked at the square and the castle for a while and headed to the premises of the Technical University in Zvolen. Dean Fararik presented his unique project Virtual walk through the forest and told us about how forest employees identify diseased trees, how they determine their age, height and other parameters, and how this model helps them preserve biodiversity and protect forests. Since the tour met with the interest of the participants, we canceled the last activity due to time constraints. Thursday was dedicated to fashion. We went to Bratislava, to Stará Cvernovka. There we had a lecture and demonstrations of how clothes can be recycled, upcycled and thus not supporting the mass production of clothes for world brands. We ended the day with a festive dinner, handing out certificates and saying goodbye. But after three years of working together, we are not done. We and the Spanish school are accredited and we will enter the next school year with collaboration on other innovative ways of teaching and learning. Well, first, of course, the final report.
Mgr. Alžbeta Krúpová, project coordinator.