News

Newsletter no. 4

Dear reader,

This is already the fourth newsletter in a row dedicated to the transnational project I – S.K.Y.P.E. (Interactive Science for Kids and Youngsters in Primary Education) that publishing house RAABE started to implement in October 2016 in cooperation with six other partners from three European countries – Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany.

This is the way how we would like to give you all information about what have we done in the project since its beginning until now, what outputs we have created so far, how is it going to continue and what lies ahead of us in the last period of the project.

We believe that together we will succeed in achieving our goal – to improve the quality of teaching of the science related subjects in primary education. Based on the results of the survey most of the teachers still feel the absence of confidence in teaching science related subjects because of the lack of resources and ideas on how to motivate learners, as well as specifics of the curriculum and syllabus of these subjects.

Continue to follow us on the web and social media!

I – S.K.Y.P.E. partners

This project has been co-funded with the support of the Erasmus+ Programme, K2 action, Strategic Partnerships in School Education. Project Agreement Number: 2016-1-SK01-KA201-022549

The current publication reflects the author´s view only and neither the Slovak National Agency, nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

Transnational project I – S.K.Y.P.E. (Interactive Science for Kids and Youngsters in Primary Education), which is entirely focused on the support of the science-related subjects´ teachers in primary education is slowly heading to its finish. Together with publishing house RAABE as a project coordinator, there are six other partners from three different countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany) participating at the project. The main aim of the project I – S.K.Y.P.E. is to influence fundamentally the existing education system, both at national and European level, through the exchange of knowledge, experiences and good examples between schools, universities, science associations and the business companies.

3^rd Transnational project meeting of partners (M3) in Bremen

Project coordinators from all seven partners of the I – S.K.Y.P.E. project from Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany met in Bremen in the Radisson Blu hotel at the beginning of the September (4^th – 6^th September 2018). The aim of the meeting was to summarize all already finished activities and to make a plan for the next period of the project.

The meeting was attended by project partners from Slovakia: Trnava University in Trnava, Primary school with kindergarten of king Svätopluk in Šintava and M7, s.r.o.; from Czech Republic: University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Primary school of J. Guth-Jarkovský in Prague and from Germany: Stiftung Louisenlund. Dr. Josef Raabe Slovakia together with Stiftung Louisenlund boarding school were in charge of coordination and organisation of the whole meeting.

The main aim of the meeting was:

• to agree upon the homogeneous structure and final modifications and improvements of the created version of 2^nd intellectual project output (O2) – Workshops for teachers,
• to agree upon the activity plan and the form of testing and evaluation process of Workshops for teachers (O2) at partner schools during the autumn and winter 2018,
• to organise and plan the development of other two intellectual outputs of the project – Online platform (O3) and Concept of Policy Reform and Curricula Update (O4).

Part of the meeting programme was also:

• summary of the project activities carried out during the time period from September 2017 until September 2018,
• presentation of the 1st created version of workshops for teachers based on the methodological handbook for teachers by university partners,
• analysis and possible improvements of presented workshops by all project partners,
• organisation of the development of 3^rd and 4^th intellectual output of the project I – S.K.Y.P.E. (Online platform and Concept of Policy Reform and Curricula Update),
• presentation of the project development against qualitative and quantitative indicators, updated financial report about the project and work plan for the next project period

I – S.K.Y.P.E. roadshow Slovakia

As a project coordinator, we organised a series of free creative workshops for teachers from primary schools in nine Slovak cities and towns from 17^th to 21^st of September 2018.

Mrs. Kristína Žoldošová, a I – S.K.Y.P.E. project coordinator at Trnava University in Trnava and also one of the authors who created 1^st intellectual output of the project – Methodological Handbook for Teachers, introduced to teachers in the form of creative workshops how to work with methodical materials.

What is going to happen next in the project?

During the autumn 2018, project I – S.K.Y.P.E. is going to continue with the process of testing and evaluation of already prepared 2^nd Intellectual Output – Workshops for Teachers (O2) at partner schools.

Subsequently, all project partners are going to start working on Online Platform, which is another project output, specifically 3rd Intellectual Output (O3). Among other things, the most important part of the platform will be all created intellectual outputs of the project in their electronic form but it will also serve as a source of suggestions, ideas and examples for teaching science related subjects. The platform will provide a space for all teachers to exchange and share their experiences from school practice.

Towards the end of the project, university partners are going to summarise all the information, experiences, results and new ideas gained throughout the project lifetime and compile a Concept for Policy Reform and Curricula Update – 4^th Intellectual output of the project (O4) that would be applicable in education systems in all three countries participating at the project.

Where can you find us?

More information about the project I – S.K.Y.P.E. is available at:

• web: http://www.i-skype.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iskype.project/