Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group Newsletter no. 5 - July 2015 | Page 88

Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2015 Newsletter

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------eTwinning in my class
by Nathalie Scerri

each country, including Malta, separately won part
of the organized EXPO competitions.

I have been conducting eTwinning projects for the
past five years, and each year I observe that by the
end of the project, my students would have
developed in terms of maturity, creativity and
independence. Including eTwinning as part of the
curriculum enriches the students’ motivations and
learning skills. It allows for project-based learning,
where the student is always at the centre of the
activity. This approach engages the students
deeper. It encourages students to work together, to
share ideas with students in their own class, and
with partner students in other countries. Students
experience the pros and cons of working in a team,
learn how to listen to others’ opinions and how to
collaborate with each other. They learn how to plan
their work, and develop time-management skills. In
my case, it enhances a better working relationship
between the students and myself too. We spend so
many hours, even when not at school, discussing
through social media (my students are 14-15 years
old) various ideas and possibilities of improving our
project, that by the end of the project, I consider
the students as my friends. eTwinning induces
improved academic performance and a higher
quality of work. Why? This is because students are
at the centre of it all, they become active learners,
and they have fun learning. Learning has a real
purpose.

I was in charge of the Biology part. Care2Feed
project had several Biological moments! My
favourite activity in this year’s project was the part
whereby the students were asked to dream about
the ideal Malta in 2050. A group of Biology students
researched ways of how they would want Malta to
be like in 2050. The Art students sketched their
ideas, and the end results were then shared with
the ICT students who in turn used Minecraft to
project their dream Island. They managed to build
a smart island based on all the Biological
environmental facts discussed throughout the
Biology syllabus. Students actually had fun learning
these topics, to the contrary of what usually
happens during a traditional lesson.

A good example of the above is this year’s project
entitled “Care2Feed”. The name of the project
‘Care2Feed’ is a description within itself. The project
focuses on ways of how each one of us can take
care of mother earth to be able to feed a population
of nearly 10 billion people in the year 2050.
Apart from working with six foreign partners, I also
collaborated with two other school colleagues. The
aim was to reach as many students as possible. The
three subjects (Art, Biology and ICT) worked
together through a thematic approach. The project
explored various ways of how each individual can
be sustainable for a better future. The areas of
focus were: Food, with particular focus on the
healthy food, sustainable diets and wastage of food
due to overbuying or excess cooking, water which is
everyday becoming a scarce resource, sustainable
use of land and sea, future food options,
importance of the 4Rs and the EXPO message:
Feeding the planet, Energy for life. This project was
worked in parallel with the ‘Together in EXPO’
missions and competitions. All partners in this
project were actively involved in the EXPO
competition, and in fact, I can proudly state that

In conclusion, including eTwinning in my class as
part of the learning process has helped students to
build their knowledge through a variety of
backgrounds and experiences. Learning through a
project, as opposed to the regular classroom with
text-based focus, brings out the wide range of
capabilities students might have. My role was more
of an advisor (suggesting which material to focus
on), of an observer (observing that each student
was giving her share) and of a time-keeper
(ensuring that all work was finished on time). The
students were relaxed in a rather friendly
atmosphere! Through my experience, when
students are interested in what they are doing and
when they are free to use their areas of strength,
they achieve at a higher level. eTwinning allows for
such experiences!
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