Happy eTwinning Day & Happy Europe Day 2024
Europe Day is celebrated throughout the European Union on May 9 and celebrates European peace and unity. The date marks the anniversary of the historic Schuman Declaration of 1950, in which the then French Foreign Minister and future President of the European Parliament, Robert Schuman, proposed the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community in order for countries to pool coal and steel production and thus make war "not only unthinkable but and materially impossible". The Schuman Declaration resulted in the establishment of a common market for coal and steel and created the foundations of the European Union as we know it today.
In addition to Europe Day, the eTwinning community of educators from 46 countries of the old continent celebrates May 9 as eTwinning Day. This year, eTwinning explores the topic of well-being in schools, recognizing its role in academic success and overall student satisfaction.
Europe Day and eTwinning Day on May 9, 2024 were celebrated by teachers Nada Ratković from Ban Josip Jelačić Secondary Vocational School from Sinj and Marija Istenić from Split Commercial School via the Zoom platform from 17:40 to 19:05.
From our school, 20 students of the 4th grade, who are studying to become commercialists, and teacher Marija Istenić, who is in charge of the eTwinning project at the school, participated in the project.
In today's understanding of education, it is very important to apply innovative teaching methods and integrate information technologies into education. The goal of our project is to use technological development to create innovative educational environments, use web tools, teach algorithm and coding logic, develop students' analytical thinking and problem-solving skills, enable students to develop projects and experience teamwork, learn to research and work in groups, and innovative and with a creative approach, ensure cooperation between partner schools. Our project is connected to the Erasmus project and enables education with the support of the project.
During the project activities, the students presented themselves and their schools, the Web tools used in the project, and created the project's logo and poster. With the activities within the project, the students marked important events within the school and presented them to their peers. The common task for all students was the organization of Coding Week events and Kahoot events on the occasion of Safer Internet Day.
Students developed critical thinking, creativity, innovation, mutual communication, cooperation, teamwork and a sense of responsibility. While working on the project, students used various digital tools (Powtoone, Kahoot, Padlet, Storyjumper, Adobe Spark, Animoto, Prezi, Genially, Bubble.us, Canva...). The students also developed other skills such as language, media, entrepreneurial, social and digital, which is the goal of project classes.