“Manual skills in 3.0 web age “, a heavy title for a meaningful three-year project.From September 2016 to August 2019 IC of Castelcovati led the following primary schools: 4o DIMOTIKO SCHOLIO of Edessa (Greece), Moorfield Primary school of Widnes (England), Agrupamento de Escolas Soares of Braga (Portugal) and Szkola Podstawowa of Pazskowka (Poland), in a project that proposed laboratory paths with the aim of underlining the connection between cognitive development and manual skills through the creation of artifacts, from the simplest to the most complex, in an increasingly digital age.The needs analysis carried out in the involved schools has indeed brought to light the necessity to recover various manual skills, essential to achieve effective personal, social and future professional autonomy. An increasingly evident difficulty in the resolution of simple problems or daily and concrete troubles has in fact been noted in the studentsOn the other hand, nowadays there is instead an innate predisposition to the digital field that in many cases allows a faster analysis and a theoretical solution of problematic situations.We then entered an experimental path, both for teachers and pupils, promoting situations to be faced with the help of digital technological tools to develop and use the key and life competences, in which the experience becomes value and sharing and the manual skills become a cognitive process.The recovery of simple tools and technologies has effectively turned into a powerful inclusive communication channel, where hands and other sensory organs have replaced words and allowed many foreign students to actively and enthusiastically participate in the learning proposals.During these three years the students of our schools have chosen different types of activities in which they have been designers and creators of various kinds of artifacts in artistic, scientific, musical, historical, technological, and theatrical field, in sewing, recycling, disassembly, bicycle repairing and folder bag making.The students were the real protagonists of concrete operative proposals based on problem solving, whose aim was not the product but the path designed and carried out by using innovative methodological techniques, already known but not often used.We are talking about the Cooperative Learning with objective and defined criteria, according to which pupils work in small teams with assigned tasks and for which they are responsible; we are talking about upside-down classes, in which the students personally build knowledge and skills in an active way; we are also referring to educational methods such as the Brainstorming, used to start any operative proposal in order to probe and share knowledge and content; and last but not least CLIL, the acronym of Content and Language Integrated Learning, a methodology that makes use of the English language to teach different school subjects, which allows both the acquisition of disciplinary contents and the learning of the foreign language.For our project the English language also played the role of the vehicular language through which pupils and teachers entered into communication. Needless to say, the more one is exposed to the use of a different language, the more it becomes less unknown and distant.For teachers also, in recent years we have seen an increase in the knowledge of English, thanks to conversation courses and CLIL methodology courses held by native British speakers.All the carried out activities have been planned, shared and proposed in the five partner schools, diversifying according to the needs of the students themselves. At the beginning of each school year, project meetings were organized among teachers from all the five countries in turn in the various school locations, in order to plan annual courses; in the same way in the spring months the short-term mobilities took place to allow the meeting of small representatives of pupils.These were special occasions for the students, certainly not trips for tourists, but intense, tiring days, during which they had the chance to live next to new European friends, attending their schools, staying by their families and showing their own creations, as well as the route taken and the skills acquired.During the last year the schools created together a unique multi-language and multiple-hands theatrical artifact, complete with scenographies, music, dances, costumes, staged in Italy during the last short-term exchange of the students.Particular attention was paid to the inclusion of foreign students in the project, both in school activities and in the selection for mobility.In each partner country the involvement of the many local associations, parents and administrations was essential.

According to the recent results of the OECD-PISA tests, the general educational performance level of students in European countries is low to average. The main objective of the partner institutions is to help students maximize their basic skills acquisition by the inclusion of innovative teaching/learning methodologies and ICT in the classroom. The project objectives: - to improve the schools’ approaches and teaching methods in key competences education by sharing good practices - to increase children’s motivation for learning by using technology, theatrical play, outdoor games and board games in teaching and learning process- to improve teachers’ skills in providing the appropriate, individualized education for children of different learning abilities, social, ethnic and cultural backgrounds - to achieve better learning outcomes for all pupils in a long-term perspective - to promote inter-competencies and knowledge Our project will establish a cooperative partnership of students and teachers from five European partner countries: Cyprus, Italy, Portugal, Croatia and Germany. The planned activities include:-learning and teaching about Literacy, Numeracy, Celebrations, Promoting Regions -development of a Digital Competencies Guide for teachers (Kahoot, Plickers, QR Codes, Robotics, Pod Casts, Storyboard, Padlet, Zoom, KineMaster-active participation in a number of classes of different subjects -learning common phrases of the languages of the partners and their cultural heritage within the context of multilingualism and multiculturalism METHODOLOGY:The partner schools cooperated in order to exchange good practices and applied new teaching approaches and methodologies that improved basic skills acquisition and development. The partnership project was pupil and teacher-oriented; it applied “learning by doing” instead of traditional lessons, task-based and formal/informal learning, transversal and life skills contribution and practice of innovative methods of teaching: use of reality, ICT, eTools and Media, blended learning, group work and peer work with attention of mixing different learning levels.Five LTTs gave students and teachers the opportunity to work together at transnational level, improve key competencies and develop teaching skills.Intensive training courses were held by teachers who werer experts in ICT specific programs, software and Media. RESULTSQualitative:-pupils abilities to apply knowledge to practice were improved -students developed emotional and social competences-students broadened their knowledge about the European regions-pupils developed life and transversal skills-teachers enhanced their professional development Quantitative: We have created:-a portfolio of educational material and teaching/ learning guidance through practice in digital and paper work. Also, we gained knowledge of the 5 regions that participated in the project.-a collection of Literacy activities-traditions and legends from the 5 countries in paper and digital form-a collection of Numeracy Activities-Board Games: Numeracy Games, Outdoor Games, Geography Games, Coding Games. -a collection of special days: International Day for Tolerance, International Day of People with Disabilities, Book Day, Earth Day, Europe Day, A local Day -a tourist guide and DVD guide presentation of the 5 cities-a recipe book with local specialties-a Digital Competencies Guide Book with the digital tools used in the lessons and project activities -a compilation of lesson plans-an evaluation among parents, students and teachers who participated in the project-Twinspace for our project-Facebook group page-Project website www.innovativeschoolstogethererasmus.eu According to the results of the project evaluation, the project had a high impact on pupils, teachers, parents and other stakeholders at local/regional/national/transnational level. Students acquired knowledge and understanding about the partners’ countries/regions and learned how to make school learning applicable and meaningful to their everyday life. By working together with their European peers they improved collaborative skills and became more flexible in adopting new learning methodologies and techniques. All the activities and their results were being constantly communicated to the local press, respective stakeholders and students’ parents. LONG-TERM BENEFITS:Pupils became more responsible for making decisions that affect their own life in present and future; the level of educational achievement increased; the quality of education improved; the Digital Guide Book is a tool available for teachers to enrich their teaching methodologies, techniques and skills; the tourist guide and the video guide are useful tools of interest to the wider community.