tagCARE

Project Location

Country:

Bulgaria

City:

Sofia

Organization

Organization Name:

137 Secondary school

Organization Type:

School

Website

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPwizP9f9sU

Project Type

Education up to 10 years

Project Description

Description Frase (max. 500 characters):

"We are Children who have Achievements with Responsibility to the Environment (CARE)." The students disposing of the latest technology,reach out to the Earth-a responsibility for its protection,a care to change the world and make the environment more cleaner.

Project Summary (max. 2000 characters):

Planning is implemented in two parts: theoretical and practical. The theoretical preparation consists of: 1. A study to the needs and interests of the students - participants in the project and their motivation to work in it. 2. Concretization of the topics. 3. Preparation of the teachers - according to educational objectives of the topics with the help of OneNote and active online co-operation in SkyDrive. 4. Talks with the parents and obtaining of their support; 5 Technological and methodological provision of the project; 6. Development of each topic - stages, activities, products. A special place is given to the use of the latest technological innovations in education - KINECT, Microsoft Tag, Kodu, ENVISION. The working teams are formed at this stage. The students create informal working teams in formal and informal environment according to the specificity of the topics and the assigned activities. The activities and the products are planned in the practical part of the project. The planned topics are as follows: 1. Caring for the Earth - "The Earth - a part of the Solar System" 2. Caring for the Earth - endangered natural resource - water - "The Danube River" 3. Caring for our homeland - forests. "The Vitosha Mountain Natural Park" 4. Caring for the school - "The Merry Bins" 5. Caring for the school - "The Eco Spot in the schoolyard"

How long has your project been running?

10/2011

Objectives and Innovative Aspects

What are the specific objectives of the project and what are the instruments used to achieve them?:

The main purpose of the project is to create a responsible attitude towards the environment and awareness of the importance of the various natural resources to preserve the equilibrium of on the Earth. Meanwhile, the varied use of the most critical global innovative resources supports the development of the competencies of the 21st century. A special place is given to the use of the latest technological innovations in education - KINECT, Microsoft Tag, Kodu. KINECT Kinect is a system which was originally developed as a plug-game console. In the last year it began to be used in the field of education. The advantages of the system are that the classroom teaching is complemented by the exciting emotional and physical activity of students. The control is entirely in the hands (body) of the person who operates it - thus the responsibility of the conducted activities is being realized. Microsoft Tag With the help of Microsoft Tag some of the activities in the project are presented to students in an exciting way. They go out of the usual classroom and engage in a school adventure where, besides the learning tasks to the specific topics, a close and informal communication with their teachers is put into practice. KODU Kodu is software to develop games for children. Working with Kodu is fun for students. The easy and fast learning to work with, the friendly and close to children interface gives them self-confidence and stimulate creative thinking. The assigned task in the Kodu project - a development of an environmental game. Glogster The use of web 2.0 and 3.0 tools allows the moving out of the project to another environment - students work from their homes; create posters, banners and flyers. The teacher has the role of an administrator - they monitor, direct, encourage and evaluate the students' activities in http://edu.glogster.com/.

Results

Describe the results achieved by your project How do you measure (parameters) these. (max. 2000 characters):

The project has an environmental focus, but most of the activities involved are related to the expansion of knowledge on various subjects. The students learn more about the Solar system and the planets, the Earth, the alternation of the days and the nights as well as the seasons - the students make their presentations, modals of the Solar System. Through the inclusion in the various missions and through their presentation on the respective subjects by the teachers with the help of Microsoft tag, the students perform tasks of the areas as Mathematics, ICT, Geography, English language, Literature and History. Through the topics of the project and the way they are presented (before their mates, in the form of a poster, a presentation, a game, a glogster) the students develop some of the typical for critical thinking characteristics and elements: ○ An ability to read between the lines, seeing beneath the surface; ○ A logical argumentation as a manifestation of tolerance for others' opinions; ○ An ability to analyze their own thoughts from the standpoint of logic and the clarity of the expression; ○ A presentation of well-founded point of view.

How many users interact with your project monthly and what are the preferred forms of interaction? (max. 500 characters):

The students about 30-40 users. They go beyond the classroom. The engage themselves in different activities in the warm autumn days. During several trips to the nearby Vitosha Mountain they commented on its importance for the nearest city,a particular attention was being paid to the forests and their importance-for the preservation of the ecological balance-in a global and a local scale.

Sustainability

What is the full duration of your project (from beginning to end)?:

From 1 to 3 years

What is the approximate total budget for your project (in Euro)?:

Less than 10.000 Euro

Is your project economically self sufficient now?:

Since when?:

08/2012

Transferability

Has your project been replicated/adapted elsewhere?:

What lessons can others learn from your project? (max. 1500 characters):

Our main idea is the management of innovation to become a permanent policy of the school. That's why after our participation at the forum in Washington and London, the school established a new position - Innovation Manager responsible for the overall vision of innovative education - seeking new technologies and testing new innovative solutions and management of their implementation. That manager presented the CARE project in Portugal which successfully combined KINEKT, KODU, Microsoft Tag and web 2.0 platforms (glogster). During the creation of this project the innovation manager organized the participation of many teachers, who in their turn prompted the students to understand the benefits of technology beyond the leisure time. Another major milestone for the realization of our ideas is sharing good and innovative teaching practices at regional, national and international level. In this way we are able to help our colleagues to avoid difficulties and unsuccessful attempts, help them with our experience. Our participation in the program so far has convinced us of the effectiveness of this model - by organizing forums, workshops, web meetings, we started to form a Council of innovation in education, which will be hosted by the Minister of Education, Youth and Science. Thus we believe we can help the new pathfinder schools and are highly motivated to do it.

Are you available to help others to start or work on similar projects?:

Yes

Background Information

Barriers and Solutions (max. 1000 characters):

Another challenge deals with measuring of the effectiveness of innovative practices that are implemented in our school. Therefore, our main work in the coming years will be aimed at creating a system for testing and evaluating the effectiveness of innovation. There are difficulties associated with the issues of studying the skills of the 21st century we are aware of so far in testing, that is why together with colleagues from other schools we develop adapted versions.

Future plans and wish list (max. 750 characters):

In the future we plan an increasing use of devices - tools that anyway in the hands of the young people. Their skillful use for educational purposes, to develop skills of the 21st century, is one of our challenges.

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