From 19th to 26th February 2023, the CHOICE Consortium gathered in Larissa (Greece) and participated in the Joint Short-Term Training of Trainers (“Train-the-Trainers”) action, which was hosted by the “Diofantos” Institute of Computing & Publishing Technology (ITYE) and was implemented in the framework of the “CHOICE: Citizenship Competences to Tackle Climate Changes” European Research Project. The purpose of the project is to support the development of civic skills in Primary and Secondary Education students, enabling them to contribute to the fight against climate change through the adoption of sustainable behaviors.

During the 6-day “Train-the-Trainers” action, the trainers from the collaborating institutions, i.e. the Institute of Computer Technology & Publications (ITYE) “Diofantos” in collaboration with the DeepBlue Research Center, as well as the Vocational Training Center and Training Consorzio Ro.Ma, coordinated experiential workshops for the fifteen (15) participating teachers from the 16th Primary School of Larissa (Greece), ARC School (Romania), Primary School in Janków Przygodzki (Poland), TEK Secondary School (Turkey) and the Istituto Magistrale Statale Giordano Bruno (Italy) on issues such as climate change and digital tools in the classroom, the use of simulators, games and carbon footprint tools in educational practice, planning and organizing science workshops at school, creating and editing videos, etc.

During the training, the participating teachers from each school took turns guiding the rest of the group in implementing experiments/labs related to the environment and climate change. Experiments were demonstrated, such as a small-scale water irrigation system from recycled objects, a water filtration experiment, calculating the annual energy consumption of our electronic devices, as well as our individual carbon footprint using online tools, as well as creating a body scrub through the use of coffee beans. All the above experiments will be implemented with the participation and active involvement of students in all partner schools.

Through their participation in this specific training event, the teachers of the partner schools have received the necessary knowledge and expertise to be able to proceed to the next major activity of the CHOICE project, which is the start of the piloting of a set of innovative laboratory training activities (educational paths) that have been developed by the members of the CHOICE Consortium for the students of the five cooperating schools and their families.

The “CHOICE: Citizenship Competences to Tackle Climate Changes” is a two-year project co-financed by the Erasmus+ program of the European Commission, under the action “Cooperation for Innovation and Exchange of Good Practices”. The DAISSy Research Group is the Greek partner of the consortium, which consists of a total of eight (8) partners from Italy, Poland, Turkey, Romania and Greece.

For more information about the CHOICE project as well as other activities of DAISSy:

• https://daissy.eu/ , https://projectchoice.eu/
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