Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group Newsletter 8 Visibility of eTwinning Projects Newsletter 8 | Page 54

Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2018 Newsletter ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In addition, the creation of the Solar System model and the use of software/tools and other resources allowed me and my colleagues to assess certain skills of the students such as initiative, the use of ICT and teamwork. A safe and critical use of ICT allowed for the exchange of information among partners. Through the project, we tried to develop the students’ skills in learning and organizing their tasks and time (each month we set a deadline for each activity), and they have worked individually and collaboratively. Our students have interacted with their partners in live events and in the TwinSpace. The creation of games such as a board game, crosswords, jigsaw puzzles, gave the opportunity to review fundamental concepts of astronomy and improved students' creativity. Students' skills were furthermore developed through the observation of the sky, which took place at the astronomical observatories or with the telescopes belonging to schools, students or teachers. In Slovenia a group of students worked during classes of elective subject of astronomy. At the end of the year they showed their knowledge on open day of school and on the day of experiments. Also they produced model of solar system in school hall. In France, the students were working on this project during maths and science CLIL lessons. An eTwinning project is for sure one of the best way to study science while collaboration and communicating in English with the partners. We should mention that the success of the project was due to the teachers of each school fostering a climate of positive interaction student-teacher, student-student and among partners promoting emphatic relations, cooperation, citizenship etc. The activities enhanced the students' self confidence, improving their social skills, promoting intercultural dialogue, and they were encouraged to learn foreign languages and develop ICT skills. Resources about famous astronomers, planets and their environment and the glossary were created by our students through collaborative activities and teamwork. The students of each school used different software to explore the schools of their partners. In this way we had the opportunity to know each other better and understand the differences and similarities that exist in the educational systems of our countries. All activities were widely shared with video and by using different tools and web-meetings. Games that were created for partners had a great success among the students. The ice breaking activities were imagined in order to make the students discover a way to communicate, especially via the forums. Indeed, the forum “Activity 1: What do you know about my country” included Padlets where the students could share their knowledge about the partners’ countries but they could also comment on what had been said about their own country. Activities 3 and 4 required the use of videoconference systems. The communication between the students was very important for “Activity 3: Planet of the famous astronomers” because biographies were only based 54