CIVIL SOCIETY: 269 PRACTICES
The educational non-profit organization eduACT with actions across whole Greece brings innovation to the training of tomorrow's leaders. Educational workshops, science and robotics are combined to cultivate values to improve the quality of their life and their social environment.
The aim of the initiative is to make robotics and STEM programs accessible, while fostering a community of inclusion and participation for students from across the country - including those with disabilities - through the FIRST LEGO League robotics and innovation competition (Approved by the Ministry of Education & Religious Affairs: Φ15/160778/Δ2).
The project supports the engagement of schools in hard-to-reach areas, as well as special schools that lack such innovative programmes, by providing appropriate equipment, training teachers and participating in formal competitive events with other teams from the network.
It lasts throughout the school year and has been implemented from the school year 2020-21 until the school year 2022-23.
The idea we started with was that robotics and STEM can be accessible to all and the benefits can be multiplied when such projects operate in an ecosystem that is open and inclusive. For this reason we are trying to eliminate any barriers to access. So far we have focused on supporting schools in remote and inaccessible areas (of mainland and island Greece) but also on engaging special education schools. Our aim is for the school units, through the training of teachers and the equipment we send, to operate autonomously and inspire the local community. At the same time to have the possibility of extroversion through networking with other groups from different regions and through participation in official events.
The structure of the programme is simple and targeted.
May - June (previous school year). Initially we submit the programme for pedagogical and scientific approval to the Ministry of Education and Science and the IEP.
September - October (new school year): we make an open call to schools to express interest, asking them to reflect on their motivation for choosing to support them. We then make the selection based on the criteria we have set (accessibility and special schools) and each school's motivations and send out the equipment.
November - December: the teacher training is done remotely and lesson plans are sent for classroom implementation.
January - July: schools implement the project in the classroom and participate in formal competitive events with schools from all over the country. As a closure of the project, the schools involved are required to communicate the results of the project to the local community either through an event, publications (Press Releases, SM posts etc) and any way they see fit. The purpose of this action is to provide access to knowledge and innovation in turn to the schools that were supported, multiplying the benefits.
You can see in detail the results of the last
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bYNe1B40I2N2U1N7hd3ZTTrfeQgqQrc5/view?usp=sharing
School Year 2022-23.
You can see the teachers' testimonies in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kCfvhz7PeY
The action involves areas in all geographical regions of Greece.
In order to achieve this condition, we act as a platform to connect the public sector (schools) with the private sector (companies supporting the initiative). To support the schools and the implementation of the Event, companies and institutions consistently support our work.
These companies for the 2022-23 school year were:
KLEEMANN, TITAN, Hellas Gold, Motor Oil, DIOS.
The entities for the school year 2022-23 were: Region of Central Macedonia, Regional Union of Municipalities of Central Macedonia, Solid Waste Management Agency
In order to implement the project, a coordinator together with Eduact's educational team supports the schools involved. In addition, the organizational team of the competitions (5 members: Coordinator, Assistant, Judge Advisor, Head Referree, IT Manager) as well as the individual departments of the organization (Marketing, Accounting) together with a group of 400 volunteers throughout Greece, make the competition events a reality.
Involvement of 65 schools in the network and at least 250 teachers.
