Development of learning application in the ESTEAM project

Between 18 and 20 March 2018, the 4th partner meeting in the ESTEAM project, co-financed by the EU program Erasmus +, took place in Črni Vrh nad Idrijo, Idrija, and Ljubljana.

The ESTEAM project started in September 2016 and will conclude end of September 2019. The project partners successfully completed the first (of the three) substantive parts - the survey of the national curricula in Natural Sciences in Portugal, Norway and Slovenia, the result of which is the e-book published at: https://issuu.com/esteam/docs/ebook__research_of_national_curricu.

The main part of the meeting was dedicated to the concept, contents and technical requirements of the application. The discussion was about many topics, including what the application should contain, what types of tasks need to be developed, and what are the technical barriers. The ways of testing and evaluating the added value of the application were also tackled. In the discussion, it always becomes apparent that methods and needs differ a lot among the countries, and a lot of coordination and adaptation is needed. Despite all the challenges, the work is progressing well. In spring, we will already test the prepared versions of the tasks and students’ responses, as well as the first prepared tasks in the application, which should be ready for use by the end of 2019. Next year, we will continue to train all partner organizations on the web platform and ‘dissemination activity’. Each of the three geoparks will present this new learning tool at home, as it is our wish to promote the use of the new learning aid as much as possible or market it.

In addition, the partners learned something about the Črni Vrh Plateau heritage. They experienced the hospitality of hosts, visited the exhibition of amateur artisans on the plateau, tried their hand at plaiting, and tasted homemade delicacies. In Idrija, they visited the new visitor center, the Hg smelting plant. The meeting concluded with a short visit to the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, a partner in the project, and a short visit to Ljubljana.

The next partner meeting will take place in October in Portugal, and again in Slovenia in June 2019, at the final meeting of the ESTEAM project.