Nowadays many teachers have noticed the students’ need for a more up-to-date, dynamic and interactive acquisition of skills and competences, especially in the STEAM field. The latest results of national and international tests (PISA, TIMSS) in all partner countries have shown it is necessary to improve students’ Math competences. The European School Net (EUN) also claims that STEAM skills are becoming an increasingly important part of basic literacy in today’s knowledge-oriented society, while, on the other hand, the EU needs more scientists and science aware citizens.
The primary objective of “MA(R)TH – MATH, MUSIC AND ART WILL KEEP YOU SMART” project is to use the interdisciplinary approach and connect Math (a subject with generally lower students’ motivation) with Music and Art (subjects with generally higher students’ motivation) to enhance their key competences in those fields. The second objective is to strengthen teachers’ profile and raise the level of their professional competences so as to develop innovative teaching methods, take initiative in leadership in education and build capacity to work in transnational projects. Through cooperation with local institutions teachers are to strengthen their own and their students’ civic awareness. The third objective is to include ICT knowledge and the working language of the project – English – in project activities so that both students and teachers also increase their digital, linguistic and communication competence. Finally, the same importance is assigned to the objectives of enhancing creativity, integrating students with fewer opportunities in project activities and promoting equality, as well as promoting other European values such as greater understanding of cultural diversity and a positive attitude towards students’ and teachers’ mobility for education and EU funded projects.
MA(R)TH project will be presented to approximately 4100 students, teachers and staff, then parents in partner schools from 6 countries (Lithuania, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Macedonia and Croatia) and their local communities. Each school coordinator will form a team of teachers of the subjects the project is based on and students who will carry out the planned project tasks. Students’ age is 13-18 and they belong to different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Other participants will be members of local community and experts connected with the topics of Math, Music, Art and ICT. Parents and members of local government will support the implementation of the project. MA(R)TH activities will include creating presentations, doing interviews, quizzes, questionnaires, writing texts, learning scenarios, drawing pictures, taking photos, composing music, making videos, participating in and holding teacher- student and student-student workshops, taking part in online meetings.
Some of the topics to cover will be: fractions and music, Fibonacci series in painting, fractals, math in architecture etc.
The project will have a website and a Twinspace where participants will share all created materials. Twinspace chat and online meeting option will also be used for collaboration. Virtual cooperation will be combined with 5 short-term exchanges of groups of pupils and 1 short-term joint staff training event.
The short-term joint staff training event to be carried out during the first mobility will provide teachers with necessary competences on how to apply the interdisciplinary approach and use the new ICT tools (GeoGebra, Chrome Music Lab, create and maintain a website) and enable them to share good practices, their know-how, to connect and implement the rest of the project activities successfully.
During the 5 exchanges involving students, they will continue to study different aspects of Math – Music – Art connection, develop their ICT and English skills, creativity and critical thinking, participate in workshops,
study visits and share intercultural diversity. We believe the most important outcomes will be the fulfillment of the above set objectives. Concrete results students will produce at the end of MA(R)TH project are a depliant, a GeoGebra e-book containing students’work, presentations, pictures, workshop learning scenarios and video materials, an e-photo album and a calendar. Impacts will include increased quality of education seen in improved key
STEAM competences and basic ICT and language skills of students as well as in strengthened teachers’ profile. All participants will also develop greater respect towards diversity and understand the need to promote EU values. Long-term benefits will be the following: increased capacity of partner schools for organizing future EU projects, increased cooperation among members of school teams as well as between schools and local community, new interdisciplinary innovative activities that can be included in school curricula and the availability of all produced materials on Twinspace for future use and upgrading.
Iταλία Capri 4-8 Νοεμβρίου: Ταξίδι χωρίς μαθητές
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Κέρκυρα 3-7 Φεβρουαρίου: Υποδοχή ξένων συναδέλφων και μαθητών προγράμματος Ma(r)th: Math, Music and Art will keep you Smart
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