The first activities of the new “Sailing Into Opportunities” project of the “Erasmus+” program began with the transnational working meeting of the development team. The meeting took place in Vilnius on November 14-15, 2023. It was attended by representatives of the “Robotikos Mokykla”, which initiated and coordinates the project, and participants from partner organizations: Vilnius Joachim Lelevelis Engineering Gymnasium (Lithuania), Kuressaare Nooruse Kool (Estonia), Istituto Tecnico Tecnologico Ettore Majorana (Italy), and Colegiul Tehnic “Gheorghe Asachi” Botosani (Romania).
The meeting was attended by 11 members of the project team, mostly teachers of various subjects: biology, chemistry, physics, IT, engineering. These team members, together with their colleagues and selected students, will engage in tests on the topic assigned to them in the near term of the project and, based on the tests conducted, will prepare methodological materials for students and teachers. Then all parts of the methodical material will be combined, translated into national languages, and tested in Lithuania, Romania, Estonia and Italy with students of the target group in the 2024-2025 school year.
The main goal of this meeting was to prepare a thematic plan of the methodological material, providing specific areas (modules), their duration and preliminary content. It was also planned to review, clarify and approve the thematic areas of responsibility of each partner provided in the application.
At the beginning of the meeting, time was set aside to present each organization’s insights and suggestions for the educational content. Then they worked in groups and delved into the details of each area (module), and prepared a preliminary thematic plan for each module. The developed ideas were presented to others, feedback was collected and improvements were made.
One of the more significant achievements of the meeting is the agreement reached on the construction of a robotic boat from plastic pipes, due to the cheapness, convenience, and availability of the necessary parts. Ideas were also shared for other important aspects of the boat’s design and handling, which will continue to be tested through trials.
Also during the meeting, the deadlines for the development of tests and methodological materials were agreed upon. The possibilities of involving stakeholders and dissemination activities were discussed.
The project team showed great enthusiasm and competence during the meeting. We are looking forward to the next meeting, which will be held remotely in December. It will review the final version of the module plans and detail the upcoming testing period.