The participation of Virolai School in the sySTEAM project, supported by the Erasmus+ European Program has allowed us the opportunity to implement a project integrating a lot of subjects. Through the methodology of Project Based Learning and the cooperative work the students reached the significant learning.
Barcelona is a city that is struggling to be a referential city in terms of being a Smart City. This spirit is being achieved through the struggle of public institutions with the help of neighbourhoods through virtual proposals and private companies. In addition, the number of neighbourhood associations and non-profit cooperatives is increasing to create a more sustainable city .
This is the reason we proposed an interdisciplinary project to our students with the goal of empowering them to aid in the improvement of Barcelona, working cooperatively having different roles to learn from other perspectives and investigate about aspects of real life and motivating our students to try to positively impact our city.
The subjects
involved in this project are Science, Technology, History, Geography and
Languages.
Learning about the evolution of Barcelona (from the Roman period to the
present), investigating the impact of traffic and pollution on the city, proposing
sustainable alternatives to transport within the city or more green areas in
the city or programming with Arduino and finding smart solutions for the city.
Our students have developed lots of skills and competences such as: creative
and critical thinking, digital competence, research abilities, cooperativity or
communicative skills. They also implemented some Sustainable Development Goals
as “affordable and clean energy”, “decent work and economic growth” or
“sustainable cities and communities.”
The final product consists of building a big model of Barcelona including the new sustainable and smart proposals. All presented in a Smart City Congress of our School with a request for the Council of Barcelona.
Project sySTEAM – systematic approach for implementation of STEAM education in schools (2017-1-LT01-KA201-035288) is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. The project is implemented by Virolai E.M.S.A., Kiviõli I High School, Vilnius Žemynos Gymnasium, Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation, Sihtasutus Omanäolise Kooli Arenduskeskus and Knowledge Economy Forum.