Visibility of eTwinning Projects Groups July 2019 Newsletter Newsletter 9 | Page 80

Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2019 Newsletter
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
activities and goals entail:
- Active learning methods: students were engaged
in a real life task concerning their local community,
that is, they had to deal with “accessibility for all”
by searching for information and visiting places to
explore this issue, they had to connect with local
communities to point out their concerns about lack
of accessibility to attractions people face to other
members of the school and the local community;
- Student-centred learning: the responsibility of
learning was in the hands of Ss. They had to
employ and develop their ICT knowledge and
handle information, make decisions and be creative.
More specifically, they had to create Logos,
collaborate and vote (#democraticparticipation) for
the best one among their works;
- PBL (project-based learning) method: students
have worked on a meaning task in relation to
making tourism available to all. They had to
investigate places of interest in their communities,
search the web or in real life for accessibility. They
were engaged in real problems in their daily life and
they were capable to present solutions;
- Critical thinking: students developed their skill to
analyze information they got about attractive
places, made their judgment and then presented
solutions. Students had to evaluate the project and
see what other students from the partner schools
had written;
- Problem solving: students pinpointed several
problems related to disabilities, they made some
suggestions that might result to solving the
accessibility problem.
They linked their knowledge with real life and
participated in a democratic method for selection by
voting online for a logo, taking into account they
favourite digitalized methods.
They developed their communication, collaboration
and leadership skills.
Raising awareness about social issues:
Students gained knowledge about the needs of
people with mobility and sensory limitations. Their
awareness of the needs of people with mobility and
sensory limitations increased and their creativity in
finding ways to engage them in the community was
triggered.
Acquiring new knowledge
Students gained knowledge about places of interest
in their community and in the participant schools’
communities. In this way, they familiarized
themselves with other cultures and improved their
foreign language skills and digital skills.
At the end of the project
- Students were braver than before and improved
their self-confidence.
- They have a feeling of accomplishment.
- The most important thing is they were really
happy and smiling in the process. Learning must be
fun, especially for special needs students.
Final thoughts looking back in time
The commitment of all the partners highly
contributed to the success of the project: we
discovered our places and interesting places in the
partners’ hometowns, we collaborated, we learned
80