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Newsletter no. 2

Dear reader,

This is the second newsletter dedicated to the transnational project I – S.K.Y.P.E. that publishing house RAABE started to implement in October 2016 in cooperation with six other partners from three European countries – Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany.
This is the way how we would like to give you all information what we have done so far in the project, how it is going to continue and what lies ahead of us.
We believe that together we will succeed in achieving our goal – to improve the quality of teaching of the science related subjects in primary education. Based on the results of the survey most of the teachers still feel the absence of confidence in teaching science related subjects because of the lack of resources and ideas on how to motivate learners, as well as specifics of the curriculum and syllabus of these subjects.

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I – S.K.Y.P.E. partners

This project has been funded with the support of the Erasmus+ Programme, K2 action, Strategic Partnerships in School Education. Project Agreement Number: 2016-1-SK01-KA201-022549

The current publication reflects only the author´s view and neither the Slovak National Agency, nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

Since October 2016, the publishing house Dr. Josef Raabe Slovakia, based in Bratislava, has been implementing the transnational project I – S.K.Y.P.E. (Interactive Science for Kids and Youngsters in Primary Education) which is entirely focused on the support of the science-related subjects´ teachers in primary education. There are six partners from three different countries participating at the project together with us – Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany. The main aim of the project I – S.K.Y.P.E. is to fundamentally influence the education system, both at national and European level, through the exchange of knowledge and experiences between schools, universities, science associations and the business companies.

What have we done in the project so far?

Two partner universities from Slovakia and Czech Republic (TRUNI, UWB) and partner school from Germany (Stiftung Louisenlund) has been working on the 1st version of the 1st Intellectual Output of the Project (O1) – Methodical Teachers´ Handbook during the first six month of the year 2017. Partners have created the content according to the work of Wynne Harlen: Working with Big Ideas of Science Education. They have divided Ideas among themselves as follows:

• TRUNI: 2. Objects can affect other objects at a distance; 3. Changing the movement of an object requires a net force to be acting on it; 5. The composition of the Earth and its atmosphere and the processes occurring within them shape the Earth´s surface and its climate; 8. Organisms require a supply of energy and materials for which they often depend on, or compete with, other organism
• UWB: All matter in the Universe is made of very small particles; 6. Our solar system is a very small part of one of billions of galaxies in the Universe; 10. The diversity of organisms, living and extinct, is the result of evolution
• ZNL/Stiftung Louisenlund: ZNL/Stiftung Louisenlund: 4. The total amount of energy in the universe is always the same but can be transferred from one energy store to another during an event; 7. Organisms are organised on a cellular basis and have a finite life span; 9. Genetic information is passed down from one generation of organisms to another

2nd Transnational Project Meeting of partners (Prague) 

2nd Transnational Project Meeting of project coordinators from all 7 partners of the I – S.K.Y.P.E. project from Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany took place at the hotel Maximilian in Prague on 31st of August 2017:

• Dr. Josef Raabe Slovakia; Trnava University in Trnava; Primary school with kindergarten of king Svätopluk in Šintava, M7 (SVK),
• University of West Bohemia in Pilsen; Primary school of J. Guth-Jarkovský in Prague (CZ),

• Stiftung Louisenlund (GER).

Primary school of J. Guth-Jarkovský in Prague was in charge of the organisation of the project meeting. The publishing house Dr. Josef Raabe Slovakia helped with the coordination of the whole meeting.

Content of the meeting was:

• to present and analyse 1st version of methodical materials
• to introduce the plan of the testing and evaluation of created methodical materials
• to present development of the quantitative and qualitative key performance indicators of the project
• to present the financial summary of the project
• to present the work plan for the next period of the project

Aim of the meeting was:

• to make an agreement about the final structure and improvements of the created 1st version of Methodical Teachers´ Handbook
• to make an agreement about the time schedule and the form of the testing and evaluation of methodical materials at partner schools during October, November, December 2017

What is going to happen next in the project?

In the following period, the project will continue with the improvement of methodical materials to prepare them for the testing and evaluation process at partner schools (Primary school with kindergarten of king Svätopluk in Šintava; Primary school of J. Guth-Jarkovský in Prague; Stiftung Louisenlund). Consequently, all the comments from teachers will be implemented into the final version of Methodical Teachers´ Handbook by partner universities. At the same time, we will start to work on the preparation of the pilot version of 2nd Intellectual Output of the project – creation of the scenario and programme of workshops for teachers of the science-related subjects in primary education.

Where can you find us?

More information about the project I – S.K.Y.P.E. and what is currently happening is available at:

• web: http://www.i-skype.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iskype.project/

We wish you a very merry Christmas and happy and successful New Year 2018.