LTTA in Italy

The Volta institute welcomed the Erasmus+ HiClass project (ID 2020-1-IT02-KA226-SCH-095699) guest delegations from 17 to 21 October 2022.

There were students and teachers from the ‘Grigore Moisil’ high school of Timisoara in Romania, from the Agrupamento de Escolas de Pinheiro in Portugal and from the Jane Sandanski Institute of Strumica in the Republic of North Macedonia.

Here is the logbook:

October 17, Monday

The members of the various delegations are welcomed by the Principal, the teachers and the students involved in the project in a Welcome Event with multimedia presentations, choreographies and gifts.

 

In the afternoon, Volta’s guests are involved in a scavenger hunt, discovering representative areas of the city, such as the Marina and ‘Ponte del Mare’.

October 18, Tuesday

The HiClass educational activities begin. Students and foreign delegations carry out the didactic activity ‘Laboratory on Demand’. Five teams, each one made up of boys and girls from the different European schools on mobility, start a competition in which students in presence and students connected online have to simulate hybrid laboratory teaching and learning. They also have to demonstrate their skills in conducting experiences through this innovative modality, experimented above all during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Five laboratories are proposed:

Chemistry lab

The students synthesize a biopolymer from potato starch.

They are divided into groups of five people of different nationalities, each one with a different role:

• Two students do the experiment in the organic chemistry lab
• One of them shoots the video of the experiment with his/her mobile phone with the help of the Google Meet application
• At a pc workstation in the organic chemistry laboratory one student is the interlocutor of another student staying in the ‘Future lab 3’
• The latter simulates being at home and follows the various operations online. At the same time (s)he prepares a multimedia presentation (e.g. Google presentation), indicating the different phases of the experiment with photos and explicative captions.

The evaluation is about the final product, efficacy and completeness of presentation, behavior in    the laboratory and involvement of the student ‘at home’.

Mechanics lab

Each group collaboratively draws the carriages of a train using CAD.

The activity is divided into several stages:

• Creation of a Google Meet link
• Presentation of the software
• Presentation of the activity
• Command training
• Laboratory activities

Logistics lab

The Logistics laboratory involves the planning of the flight of a drone and the related data collection.

The activity consists of five stages:

• downloading app and/or software
• setting drones and building the model
• simulating the model with CAD
• taking off and starting the mission
• reporting and collecting data.

Three students use the downloaded app to program the drone. One student coordinates all the activities. The boy ‘at home’ (that is connected remotely) has the task of carrying out the research and presenting a report based on the data collected.

Robotics lab

The Robotics laboratory deals with the NAO robot programming. The robot has to imitate, through Artificial Intelligence, the lines told by actors in scenes taken from famous films.

The teachers, helped by expert students, choose a scene from a famous film available on the Net, and the team has to identify a line from an actor of that scene that is significant to them.

The sequence that NAO has to repeat has to be no longer than 40 seconds. The robot has to move and talk like the real actor, also imitating his gestures.

The team must:

• cut the chosen sequence from the scene
• film the robot’s performance

Two hours later they have to get the video of the robot and that of the cut sequence ready. The expert students show how to program a movement and a speech.

Each team is composed of five students:

• four students program the NAO robot
• one student ‘at home’ participates by helping his/her group mates with programming and making the two videos.

Teachers evaluate the team considering cooperative skills, the quality of the overall product, the involvement of the student at home.

Science lab

The Science laboratory carries out the study of the human body with a 3D human anatomy atlas using the zSpace.

The students in the laboratory study the information found in the atlas while the remotely connected  student fills out a report or prepares a PowerPoint presentation.

The students in the laboratory answer the quiz proposed by the zSpace program.

The evaluation takes into account the correctness of the quiz answers as well as the grid.

In the afternoon, the partners and some teachers and students from Volta visit the ‘19th Century Museum’ in Pescara.

 

 

 

October 19, Wednesday

The Erasmus+ team show the teachers and students of the partner schools the Oratory and Church of the Monastery of San Pellegrino in Bominaco, the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, the Church of San Bernardino and the Castle in L’Aquila and Rocca Calascio, milestones of Abruzzo, evocative sceneries where nature and culture meet.

October 20, Thursday

In the morning the competition between the five international teams continues.

The students have an outdoor picnic with their guests, while the teachers visit the Marramiero winery. Here they have the opportunity to learn about the production process and enjoy tasting an excellent selection of wines.

In the evening, they have a farewell dinner with Volta’s principal Mrs Maria Pia Lentinio at ‘Futura’ restaurant in the old San Giustino Square in Chieti.

October 21, Friday

The final part of the competition takes place with an award ceremony and a buffet.

It was undoubtedly an experience full of didactic and practical activities as well as of sociability and emotions, a bridge between different peoples and cultures that makes us closer.