GreenSTEM international cooperation

Since 2022, Gimnazija Vič has been part of GreenSTEM (Green Science Teaching Materials for digital learning). This is an Erasmus project that also involves schools from Croatia, Romania, and North Macedonia. This year marked an important part of our participation as it was our turn to be the host school.

The project content is interdisciplinary and covers the following areas:

STEM cooperation and cross-curricular work
Robotics
Numeric Modelling
Geophysics
Biology
History
Financial Literacy
Artificial Intelligence
Digital Platforms
Mobile Applications

Every country involved is responsible for organising a week-long meeting for the participating teachers and students. During these occasions, we present different projects. Some of these are prepared in advance while others are carried out live in the host school's classrooms with students from other schools. Mentors then review the completed work and plan further activities. Throughout the entire project, the working language is English.

The purpose of all the activities is to create digital content that will be prepared in such a way that teachers can access and use the material, no matter where they come from. Every project includes the fundamental information about the topic, detailed instructions for work, and any necessary accompanying materials (worksheets, lists of materials needed, quizzes and answer sheets, etc.).

As a way of providing a clear structure for our big project right from the start, the teachers involved decided to base each section on the basic elements of air, fire, water, and earth.

Our section of the project was connected to the theme of water and, to give students something specific to focus on, we chose to work on the issue of microplastics.

For the physics section, students constructed a complex lens system which they could use to observe small objects, organisms in the water, and microplastic particles.

For chemistry, students worked on ways to isolate microplastic particles from water samples.

The biology section involved students taking water samples from a river near our school. They observed and identified individual organisms living in the water and then, based on their anatomical and physiological characteristics, they discussed how the presence of microplastics could affect their way of life.

We were delighted that a large number of teachers and students from all three countries were able to attend and that such interesting presentations were given during their time at our school. We all very much look forward to meeting up with the other groups again later in the year when we get the chance to work on ideas linked to the topic of air with our partner school in Romania.