"The #co-think project has emerged from the need to respond to curriculum changes in Europe, where computer science, programming, and computational thinking has been or is about to be introduced even for very young students. The partners in #co-think- 5 local school authorities/educational centers and 5 pilot schools from Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, Finland and Denmark have tried to meet the challenges of introducing computer science to teachers by carrying out a number of collaborative training activities in line with the overall project objectives: SHARE AND EVALUATE MODELS AND APPROACHES FOR THE INCLUSIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF COMPUTATIONAL THINKING AND OVERALL DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITAL COMPETENCIES.More than 30 ICT educators, 100 teachers and 1000 students aged 7-12 have been involved in the activities and dissemination has reached approximately more than 10000 primary school teachers and ICT educators and 1800 policymakers across the partner countries. During the course of 3 years 4 transnational meetings, 4 computational thinking learning and training activities, 3 student challenges or ‘learnathons’ and approximately 30 dissemination events were carried out. The final training activity in London March 2020 included a whole day digital making event at TATE Modern involving all target groups of the project: students, teachers, educators, principals, directors and policy makers. The project has involved associated partners from companies, universities and other institutions who contributed with their know-how and expertise related to the theme of the project. The local authorities in the partnership have shared the workload of hosting the different events and disseminating the project at a local, regional and national level. In addition each partner has been lead of one of the different work packages:project management, communication and dissemination, learning and teaching activities, curriculum implementation and evaluation. Each local authority has also been in direct contact with their local ""pilot"" school which have served as role model for other schools within the reach of each local authority. The project has above all resulted in an increased knowledge among all target groups of the teaching and learning concepts of computational thinking for younger students, inclusive thinking and gender stereotypes and an overall improved digital competence in using a wide variety of tools and methods to enhance the computational thinking of students. Schools and local authorities have used and shared different material and approaches and pedagogies for the teaching and learning of computational thinking and all material that has been collated at the project website https://www.co-think.eu/.Foremost, the project has created an international network of local authorities, schools and teachers where discussion and exchanges have continued in other collaborative forms, such as new projects and future exchanges, and involved other aspect of teaching and learning.The increased awareness of ICT implementation in schools all around Europe has impacted partners' sense of European belonging and increased all partners' willingness to pursue and develop transnational collaboration to support school development. This sense of belonging has been in particular emphasized during the corona pandemic as partners shared challenges and solutions for distance learning.Above all the project has, in line with the Erasmus+ horizontal priorities, contributed to innovation and disseminated innovative practices in a digital era, by promoting gender equality and inclusion in the use of technology and by promoting innovative methods and tools for teaching, training, learning and assessment as drivers of improvements in lifelong learning."

"CONTEXTCountries all over the world are beginning to introduce computer science, programming, and computational thinking into their curricula, even for very young children. With the rapid expansion of the technology market addressing Early Childhood Education, the usage of ICT in European preschools has expanded dramatically. For preschools and Kindergarten environment, this means taking control over the use of available ICT tools so that they enhance children’s learning, creativity and development of language and expression but also ensuring that the benefits this learning is carried through to other school education levels. The partners in #comake - 5 local school authorities/educational centers and 5 pilot preschools from Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, Finland and Denmark - believe that computational thinking (a set of problem-solving methods that involve expressing problems and their solutions in ways that a computer could execute) is an very important area of learning and can improve the educational quality in Early Childhood Education. The introduction of computer science concepts in preschools however poses many challenges as few preschool teachers have received pre-service or in-service training to teach in these areas.OBJECTIVESThe overall objective is to SHARE AND EVALUATE MODELS AND APPROACHES FOR INTRODUCING COMPUTATIONAL THINKING AND ENHANCE DIGITAL COMPETENCIES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE. By supporting educators and raising the quality of the educational offer in Kindergartens and preschools the project contributes to lay the foundations for later success in life in terms of education, well-being, employability, and social integration for ALL children, in particular children from disadvantaged backgrounds. PARTICIPANTS AND ACTIVITIESMore than 100 preschool teachers and preschool staff, 30 ICT educators,1000 children will participate in activities that will be disseminated and of benefit to more than 10000 preschool teachers and ICT educators, 60000 preschool children and 1800 policymakers across the partner countries.The project’s activities will involve 2 transnational meetings, 5 computational thinking learning and training activities and 4 learning challenges ""learnathons"" taking place across the partner countries and involving both children and preschool teachers/staff. The project will also create an international network through which preschool teachers and educators can work together on resources and documentation to support ongoing progression in their learning and collaboration around computational thinking.METHODOLOGYThe transnational nature of the project will enable each partners to apply methods developed in other countries’ contexts and to learn from best practice outside of their immediate environments. For example the programming expertise in the UK pre-school system, the practical 'maker education' approach in the Netherlands, the discovery and collaboration approach in Finland, the aesthetic and creative approach to using technologies in Sweden and the social pedagogical and outdoor learning approach in Denmark will be synthesised to produce documented innovative and practice-informed pedagogical approaches for the preschool environment. Tasks have been divided into 5 work packages ( PROJECT MANAGEMENT, COMMUNICATION AND DISSEMINATION, LEARNING AND TEACHING ACTIVITIES, CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION and EVALUATION) and distributed democratically among the country coordinators on the basis of their expertise. The 5 pilot preschool schools will serve as local ""role models"" for all other preschools within the reach of each educational center.RESULTSThe project will result in establishing clear evaluated and documented knowledge, approaches and pedagogies for the teaching and learning of computational thinking in Early Childhood Education on both a partnership and individual level. Results will also include a shared website where all results and resources, materials and lessons plans will be accessible and disseminated to targetgroups at a local, regional, national and international level. .IMPACTA generation of European citizens growing up with these valuable computational thinking skills and high levels of digital competency will secure a successful economic and community engagement on a global level. The project will not only target the educational goals of the Erasmus+ programme, in particular by increasing access to affordable and high quality early childhood education and care, but highly contributes to the top priorities of the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (“ET 2020”) related to lifelong learning, mobility and the quality and efficiency of early childhood education and care systems."

The recent migration waves have been posing increasing challenges to the national education systems and to the quality of education and learning at large. In particular, the presence of an increasing number of pupils with a foreign background in pre-schools, primary schools and lower secondary schools has opened up questions about how to adapt the learning context to a situation characterised by the presence of pupils in the classes not only with different cultural background but different levels of language knowledge. The partnership has decided to address more effectively the organizational settings of schools in relation to the continuity between levels (pre-school and primary and primary and lower secondary). In this light the learning spaces (both virtual and real) and methods facilitating inclusion while offering opportunities for development and achievements to all students are an important element to consider. Last but not least the training of the teachers and other staff to deal more effectively with a multicultural situation in the class.The project has aimed to contributing to a reflection on the creation of a learning context at local level and at school level which is able to meet the challenges posed by the recent migration waves.The specific objectives have been:1. To exchange good practices on the organizational settings facilitating transition across the different educational levels especially for those with a foreign background2. To reflect upon and adapt solutions which can lead to learning spaces producing a faster integration without jeopardize achievements of the whole class3. To identify training needs of teachers in relation to learning spaces and the specificities of multicultural classes and define a training path.The partnership is trilateral and it is led by a bilateral network of local and regional authorities (SERN), four municipalities (Ravenna, Collecchio, Linkoping and Norrkoping) , one association of schools (CECE), two schools (IC Guatelli and IC Da Vinci) and a university (University of Parma). The participants in the project have been: teachers at pre-school, primary and lower secondary level, Headmasters and school leaders, educators policy makers.The activities foreseen by the project consisted of four transnational meetings for coordination and management (TPM) ; four transnational seminars (LTTA) targeting transition between school cycles, learning environments and skills of the teachers, a pilot training course based on the exchange of practices targeting teachers. The project partnership organised also four local dissemination meetings.The main results achieved by the project have been: an increased awareness about the importance of organizational settings in schools leading to a smoother transition across levels, an improved knowledge about strategies facilitating transition among headmasters, policy makers and civil servants in the three countries; improved skills of the teachers pertaining learning environment fostering school results and integration, and Improved knowledge about practices on management of multicultural classes; new practices tested and transferred in particular from Sweden to Italy.