Coding is Fun! - meeting in SP1 in Ustka
Realization of the Erasmus + program "Coding is Fun!" comes to an end. Teachers from friendly schools from Spain, Belgium, Portugal and Turkey met at the fifth and last project meeting in Primary School No. 1 in Ustka. During the stay in Ustka from 8th to 11th June, there were many activities, workshops and meetings. It was a meeting summarizing three years of work. This time it was the Polish school that was the main coordinator of activities led by Ms Ewelina Pietrzyk. The tasks undertaken by teachers from 5 European schools focused on developing skills and knowledge related to robotics, astronomy, mathematics, physics and computer science. So far, project meetings have taken place in Spain in Almansa, Belgium in Maaseik, Portugal in Leiria and in Turkey in Karacabey. The workshops in Ustka end the project activities, but Astro STEM clubs will still operate in schools, which in an interesting and inspiring way encourage students to explore the cosmos, teach them to code and use computer technology because without it, it is difficult to imagine today's world. Students and teachers also improve their language skills, which may turn out to be very useful in the future.
During their stay in SP1 in Ustka, guests from European schools participated in various activities. The teachers were welcomed by the youngest children from the first grades with the song "It`s time to say Hello".
Project partners took part in:
- Astronomy lesson with the third grade, during which the knowledge of the solar system was explored, and then students and teachers created art works together,
- Physics lessons about electrical circuits,
- PE lesson with coding elements,
- Maths lesson with coding,
- ICT lessons, during which the operation of a 3D printer was presented, and then teachers assembled robots from printed elements; creative classes of creating models of the Codink Hero using 3D pens and coding figures, images and names using Lego Spike Prime sets.
-Teachers together with students arranged puzzles, which of course were used to create robots, and during additional classes at the school common room, they created buildings and robots from various types of blocks.
All activities were unique and creative. At school everyone could also admire an exhibition of over 100 models of the Solar System, spaceships and robots that our students have built. In Polish School there was also a spherical cinema, which provided children and teachers with extraordinary emotions and allowed them to discover the secrets of the space world from a 360ᵒ angle. During the project meetings, all countries try to familiarize participants with their history, traditions and customs. In Polish school in Ustka, the third grade together with the class teachers prepared a beautiful, colorful and emotional musical called "The Gift of the Baltic Princess", which made a great impression on the teachers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuquPU9jzwg
The school also held a competition for the most interesting disguise for the hero of the project, Codink. It is difficult to describe the creativity and ingenuity of children, it must be seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClOKxPx2zi8
Teachers from Europe were also invited to a meeting with the Mayor, the Secretary and the Head of the SSOKS. The conversation in the Town Hall was very nice. The guests were interested in information about education, Ustka's development strategy, and our town's activities for refugees from Ukraine. They shared with the town authorities their experiences regarding the functioning of education in their countries and of course expressed their appreciation for our resort, stated that Ustka is a beautiful, charming town, which they would gladly visit again. Therefore, they have hope for a new project in cooperation with our school. The guests were very interested in the fact that the building of the Town Hall previously housed SP1, and both the Headmistress Bogumiła Lenard and the Mayor Jacek Maniszewski were students of our school.
School workshops were completed by a visit to the MARKOS company, which specializes in glass fiber reinforced composites, based on over 30 years of experience in design, construction and execution. The leading MARKOS products are wind farm housings, lifeboats and rescue boats, tourist, work and special purpose boats. Thanks to the visit, the teachers could learn about modern technologies used in the company operating in our area. The next point of the meeting was a visit to the Harbor Master's Office in Ustka, where we compared astronavigation from the past with a modern ship control and navigation system in the sea area today.
Visits to companies, museums or educational centers thematically related to the program in an interesting and practical way encourage project participants to learn more about modern technologies. The project "Coding is Fun!" comes to an end, but the knowledge and skills acquired during the workshops in all partner schools stay with us and it is only up to us how we use it. The projects are cooperation, skills development, knowledge extension and learning about different educational systems. But it is also a great adventure for students and teachers, they are people who, thanks to the project, are friends and want to cooperate with each other in the future.
