“Erasmus+” STEAM in Portugal
The first mobility of learning activities in Portugal for the Erasmus + project “Creation and Integration of the STEAM Model in General Education” took place on 8-12 November,2021. It took a long while to reach the final destination of the journey- Covilha, where a team of 9 students and 3 teachers from VGTU Engineering Lyceum, together with the Turkish and Portuguese partners, spent most of their time studying, creating, developing and creating warm and resilient connections.
On Monday morning, we went to school led by unknown expectations, but the first day turned out to start with fun team-building tasks: “The first day involved entertaining activities and games, but on the second day we got down to serious work. During the lessons we discussed various pollution problems, talked about the First World War, music from different countries. The classes were based on STEAM methodology and activities. After the activities we got acquainted with the culture of the city. We are still in contact with foreign students,” says Viltė. Thus, when the warm relationship had been established, there were no obstacles for students to implement the joint STEAM lesson activities, which each country had prepared as many as two!
Viljemas also remembers the importance of intercultural relations, saying that “we have had the good fortune to meet the best Turks whose intelligence has not ceased to marvel us.”
The Portuguese team was very hospitable and showed us not only the science museum, but also the marble quarry and the plastic factory, which left a deep impression on both the students and the teachers. The factory dates back to 1996, but its primary field of work was textile processing. Today, the factory focuses on plastic recycling. The main principle of the factory’s work is to recycle the collected clean plastic. The people who work here care about our environment, trying to recycle as much plastic as possible and “resurrect” it to new life. The company has 17 different technological processes and employs about 80 people. Because our project is based on the principles of a circular economy, a visit to this company was very rewarding.
The program of activities was supplemented by the development of ecosystem analysis and design, design workshops, infographics and posters on the topics of circular economy, environmental protection, participation in lessons organized by foreign teachers based on the STEAM model.
In the end, the whole mobility program was crowned with a trip to the mountains – it was like a gift to us … Kotryna remembers that “when I returned from the project, I brought with me not only experience, but also many good memories. All the Portuguese and Turks were extremely friendly and cheerful, we all made friends quickly and found it hard to say goodbye to each other. It was fun to attend STEAM classes and work in teams together. Everyone was open to new ideas and worked together while listening to each other. ”
Teachers can only share the students’ thoughts – we are very happy and proud of this team. We are back full of enthusiasm, ideas, inspiration and motivation! We are looking forward to further project activities!
The next learning mobility will take place next February at a school in Turkey.
