LAST INNOVAROOM MEETING
Last May 4th we held our last project meeting via zoom. Due to the current situation in relation to COVID19, it has been impossible for us to hold our last transnational meeting face-to-face, thus missing out on knowing the center of our team in Romania.
The agenda for the meeting was as follows:
Despite this issue, the closure of the project was very productive, reaching important agreements for our project sustainability plan, as well as looking for topics of common interest for a new project or the possibility of giving Innovaroom continuity with another project.
We will keep in touch, for sure, sharing our findings, as well as new ideas that may emerge. It has been a great team, full of good ideas and eager to work. Thank you!!
INNOVAROOM WORKING PLAN
Here you can see a summary of the real working plan that has been carried out during the 18 months that the project lasted. The most outstanding dates and activities of each of our meetings and training courses have been indicated. Each of them is detailed in the courses and meetings sections.
Here you are a Little brief with the most important activities of our dissemination.
Changing our methodology
Project-Based Learning (Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos ABP)
Our learning about new educational spaces, is also changing our way of understanding teaching and teaching, or vice versa, a change towards new methodologies is directly related to a change in the space we use.
In any case, we need to innovate in both fields, new methodologies and changes in the concept of space and distribution in the classroom. For this reason, during this 2019/20 course we have started our journey in ABP (project-based learning)
We have started working with the first year of secondary education, where for six hours instead of teaching a traditional class, six different subjects are worked on through a project. Two teachers are in the classroom with the students, and they work in groups. Therefore, a change in the layout of the classroom is required, grouping tables, which if they were on wheels, for example, would be much easier. They work with laptops, since the research phase is very important, and they must present their model or final product at the end of the process.
In this type of methodology, students take on special importance since they create and direct their own learning (always accompanied by the teacher), with learning by doing being the main basis.
Change in the distribution of furniture in classrooms
Compared to the traditional distribution of rows oriented towards the blackboard, group distributions are applied, through which students can work in small groups, applying cooperative learning, while laterally they still all have visual contact with the blackboard and teacher. In this way there is a better integration between students, while the most advantageous students can help the least.
Practical application of scales.
In order to see the application of the meaning of scales, students are asked, in groups of 4, to draw a specific scale of simple geometric figures.
Previously, in the classroom, the meaning of the concepts of parallel and perpendicular lines is seen, referring to elements of our environment that are parallel, such as the lines of the pavement, the wall tiles, window frames, train tracks …
Already in the courtyard, on a smooth pavement, without a grid, the students begin to draw the figures with adhesive tape. With the teacher’s tutoring, the students draw the requested figures.
Christmas balls manufacturing workshop
Workshop for the manufacture of Christmas balls, to raise money for the Moncada Disabled Association. With polystyrene balls, fabrics, cutters and ropes, the balls are manufactured in small groups, applying the distribution of tables by groups, following the manufacturing tutorial on the projector.
InnovaRoom influences the construction of a new School in Fermignano-Italy.
The most important outcome of Innovaroom in Italy is the modification of the building plan of the new school in Fermignano (Pesaro e Urbino). One representative of the municipality has participated to the training course in Cyprus, since the mayor has demonstrated an high interest in the project’s aims, that were perfectly matching Fermignano’s municipality plans to set up a new educational pole. During the training the participant collected ideas and proposal that has been applied to the final design of the new school structure.
The changes they introduced thanks to our analysis were the following ones, written by the responsible architect about the changes in the design of the school building:
“The drafting phase of the executive project, while maintaining in substance the volumetric and distribution trend set in the definitive design phase, was the occasion to improve and offer further potential to the usability of the spaces. A valid contribution in this direction and at the same time a confirmation of the validity of the general approach of the project, were the observations and indications emerged during the international workshop reported by the deputee Ubaldo Ragnoni.
– Rationalization of spaces
The 20 classrooms were grouped into blocks of 4 sections interspersed with toilets and exits to the garden. The space for supplementary activities (music, dance, theater), remaining located in the center of the building, has been modified with a view towards the park so as to be able to expand the activities towards the outside, also by taking advantage of the large canopy located at the above the opening windows.
– Flexibility of the spaces
The grouped classrooms have all been equipped with a sliding wall which allows them to communicate two by two. This allows an expansion of the possible intercycle teaching activities.
The aforementioned space for supplementary activities can also be divided, through mobile panels, into 3 spaces of reduced dimensions in order to allow activities for small groups. The same system also allows you to expand the classroom to include the internal connective space so as to be able to accommodate activities that involve the entire institute such as theater performances, assemblies, exhibitions.
The spaces for inter-cycle activities can be modulated through mobile furnishings such as bookcases on wheels or curtains so that they can also be used in small groups or simultaneously by different groups.
– Contact with the outside
Each classroom extends into its corresponding outdoor area where students can take lessons outdoors sitting on the lawn or where they can grow a vegetable garden. In fact, the classrooms have a large sliding panel window that connects it to the outside.
Collective spaces are also in communication with the outside. The gym, auditorium and intercycle classrooms are also in visual and physical communication towards the park. The long central path, in particular, is interspersed with transversal paths with glass doors to maintain visual contact with the outside and to allow easy natural ventilation.
– Internal landscape
The connective space between the classrooms is a path that has a total length of more than 90 meters. This long passage presents pauses consisting of the transversal cuts between one block of classrooms and the other that bring light and are open to the outside. Halfway through, the space expands to form a large covered square, an informal space that can be used freely thanks to the presence of mobile furnishings. Here some niches, obtained along the perimeter walls, suitably furnished, can be used as spaces for individual study.
The dividing walls between the classroom and corridor are equipped with windows so as to be able to expand the space and give the opportunity to visually communicate the interior of the classrooms. These «screens» are also a tool to expose the work of one’s class to the rest of the school community. Below them, towards the connective, benches can be mounted for rest during moments of recreation.
– Open for the community Some spaces have a planimetric location that could allow their use outside school hours. In particular, the gym has an independent entrance. The space for supplementary activities (auditorium) is accessible from the outside thanks to a pedestrian path that connects to the parking lot. The classrooms for supplementary activities are also located near the access points to the building so that they can eventually be used so as not to invade the spaces pertaining to the educational sections.
A NEW RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF VALENCIA AND THE UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS IS BORN THANKS TO INNOVAROOM.
The relationship between UPV and UCY started when Carla Sentieri Omarrementeria from the architectural department of UPV came into being after attending her presentation in the context of the inaugural Innovaroom meeting in December of 2018 in Moncada. At that time Carla presented her work done in the context of her academic and professional practice that had to do with innovative learning spaces. For us in the audience it was very interesting to juxtapose these case studies with comparable ones we had identified and used in our context in Cyprus. Ten months down the road we had invited people like Carla – that is people engaged both in academia and practice – to attend the conference we had organized wherein the Innovaroom findings were presented to approximately one hundred attendees. Unfortunately, Carla could not attend, and we proceeded to make plans for her to come and give a lecture during the spring semester of 2019-20 in the context of our departmental lecture series. A longer-term goal of that event would have been to initiate the establishment of an official Erasmus exchange agreement between our respective departments of Architecture at the Universities of Valencia and Cyprus respectively. Unfortunately, due to the COVID crisis this has temporarily postponed.
Visiting different schools to observe how they innovate in their spaces.
The first school we visited was “DOMUS” in Godella, a town in Valencia close to our institute. It is a school that has from pre-school education to high school, therefore 4 different educational stages coexist in it.
They have been modifying spaces over time and have given great importance to the colour as well as to the creation of common and reflective spaces.
The outdoor space is also very relevant, with spaces for debates and outdoor meetings.
Visit to the Secondary School “Tirant lo Blanc” in Gandía, where we were very interested in the DOME designed and built by students and teachers of the wooden training cycle.
Visits to European Schools during InnovaRoom meetings and courses.
Nicosia-Cyprus
Visit to Center to Visual Arts and Research (CVAR): It is a museum in which special importance is given to the manipulation of objects and the modification of spaces and furniture with certain frequency. Therefore, there are displays with drawers and wheels, as well as movable panels.
The A.G. Leventis Gallery: It is a museum for all ages, in which the manipulation of the objects is allowed. We visit several rooms, to highlight the mobile panels that were accessed from the side and allowed to show or hide some works.
Youth MakerSapce Larnaka: It is a center divided into several rooms depending on the design and creation stages, which can be used by anyone. They have a large number of technological objects, such as printers and 3D glasses, as well as meeting or debate rooms.
St. Luke’s Elementary School: We visit the school and they show us the different resources that the center has. One of the teachers shows us the work he does with his students related to new technologies
Stelios Ioannou Learning Resources Resources: Finally we visit the University of Cyprus, a very recently built university, where there is a beautiful and very functional library with ample spaces for individual study, small group and even a section for a children’s library.
And the architecture department of the University of Cyprus, site of many of the meetings and presentations that were made.
Verona-Italy
Scuola Virgo Carmeli: This school was the venue for our meetings in Verona, Italy, in a room on the first floor which was accessed through the gymnasium.
Visiting the new school of Bosco Chiesanuova: This is a newly built school located in a rural setting, quite far from Verona. This will host the course to be held in November and hosted by Italy again. We were able to visit its facilities, to highlight classrooms such as technology, music, the gym or the flipped classroom.
Here is where we discovered and adapted the idea of decorating the steps to our institute. In our case, the annotations are oriented to reading animation.
Roskilde-Denmark
Visit of an external learning space: a library located in a train station in Lejre. Travelers, and especially young people, can enjoy an offer of books and spaces where they can be read before and after their trip
Creative activities that start to emerge from Innovaroom
We begin our design and creation phases with a table design.
It was designed from the talent program students, made of wood, and adding legs with wheels to make it more functional. It was decorated with fragments from our own newspaper to personalize it, and the result is a table that allows you to work in a large group or in two smaller ones in a very original way.
This table has been very useful to the InnovaRoom team to hold our multiple meetings
We have also dared to add colour to our institute, since it is something very important both for the design of different spaces and for the mood of our students and teachers
Some of the corridors walls of our secondary school have also begun to have a little more colour.
Innovaroom is present in our Sport Day. T-shirts advertising our project, they are used by our students and teachers, more or less 1200-1300 people
Publishing InnovaRoom
During 2019, besides the multiple informative meetings with relatives, students and teachers, we had the visit of the major «falleras and falleros» of Moncada to whom we presented our project.
In addition, Josep Manel Casany, a Valencian actor who was interviewed for our newspaper El Tierno, was interested in InnovaRoom.
Also very important was the meeting held with members of the Moncada Merchants Association, in which the project was presented.
InnovaRoom is in the Media
You can find out infomation about the InnovaRoom activities in different media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can follow us!!
Muserum collaborates in the Media.
Our dear Danish partners have also been publishing news of our meetings and courses in different media.
Liceul Tehnologic Grigore Moisil Braila collaborates in the Media.
Our partner from Romania have published several news on their website, as well as in other media. Some of them are here:
INNOVAROOM
Training Course
VERONA-Noiembrie 2019
Project: INNOVAROOM: Generating new classrooms ideas for a better school education
Code: 2018-1-ES01-KA201-050729
Al doilea curs de pregătire din cadrul proiectului a avut loc la Verona, Italia, în peroiada 3-8 noiembrie 2019, coordonatorul fiind institutia educationala non-profit Polo Europeo della Conoscenza. În primele trei zile gazda a fost Instituto Comprensivo di Bosco Chiesanuova – 35 km de Verona, o școala moderna ce poate fi data ca exemplu pentru noile cerinte ale procesului de invatare, mai precis cum sa transformi în realitate idei inovative. Echipa liceului nostru a fost compusa din patru profesori, aceștia participând la cursuri tinute de reprezentanti ai Universității din Cipru, Facultatea de Arhitectura-(ex. Psihologia relatiilor și spatiilor), dar și la ateliere de lucru ce au avut ca obiectiv crearea unor spatii de învățat / clase moderne.
Zilele următoare au presupus vizitarea altor institutii de învățământ, școala secundara din Rovere și Scuola Virgo Carmeli din Verona și participarea la doua sesiuni de instruire susținute de profesori italieni –Good practices of multidisciplinary teaching with robots – și -Introduction to robotics, tools, pedagogy and models. De menționat sunt și multiplele repere culturale oferite de orașul Verona, unul dintre acestea fiind muzeul Castel Vecchio, vizitarea lui incheind lista activitatilor acestei intalniri de proiect.
Publication in local paper page of a short description of the project.
Local Meeting to disseminate InnovaRoom Project
Polo Europeo della Conescenza disseminates in the media
The activities carried on by Europole has been done at different level (local, regional, national) and involving different target audience (teachers, decision makers, policy makers, general public).
And some publications in their newsletter
Presentation of InnovaRoom in different meetings of Erasmus+ Projects: SESHome in Ankara (Turkey) with partipants from Turkey, Poland and Slovenia, Let Everybody Inside in Akcakoca (Turkey) with partipants from Turkey and Portugal, EduB612 in Valldolid (Spain) with participants from Italy, Spain, Lithuania, Turkey and SparkSeeds in Porto Potenza Picena (Italy), participants from Portugal and Poland.
Presentation of Innovaroom’s training during a teachers’ training about the memory in Verona, training course for teachers about robotics against bullying held in Valladolid (Spain)
Ans some publications in the media.
Experiences from the interventions in primary school– University of Cyprus
As part of dissemination activities of Innovaroom, UCY (University of Cyprus) team organized a workshop for teaching basic architecture design in primary students grade 3 and 4 and investigated students’ idea of their ideal future schools.
Throughout the workshop, the students learned about basic architecture design knowledge and saw different examples of school architecture and classroom design of modern schools. Also, the workshop helped classroom discussion for how students’ learning affected by classroom and school design.
The way the teaching topic was linked to architects and educators, enabled the students to develop innovative ideas about different school and classroom designing. Overall, the most of the student’s artifact were represented a pool in their ideals future schools and that give us implication that they want a school where they can feel relaxed and enjoyable.
All those information, were discussed and developed further during the Innovaroom training meeting in Italy on November 2019.
University of Cyprus team in ESERA 2019 conference
From August 26-30th, University of Cyprus (UCY) Innovaroom team attended the European Science Education Research Association (ESERA) conference 2019 hosting from the University of Bologna, in Italy. During the conference, Innovaroom was promoted through flyers to 1577 researchers in Science Education of all the world. ESERA aims is to enhance the range and quality of research and research training in Science Education in Europe and provide a forum for collaboration between European countries. Also, foster links between science education researchers in Europe and similar communities elsewhere in the world.
Innovaroom goals and future cooperation’s plans were also discussed during the conference with many researchers. Some useful information and scientific indications for effective teaching which are related to the architecture design were discussed and developed further during the Innovaroom training meeting in Italy on November 2019.
Introducing InnovaRoom to teachers and student’s families
Thanks to these meetings the InnovaRoom Project managed to form a working group of teachers interested in the subject of space innovation. It was formalized with the teacher training center (CEFIRE) and we held one seminar in the 2018-19 academic year and another during this 2019-20 academic year.
Publications in press «El Tierno» and more…
El Tierno Newspaper: 3 different publications related to the InnovaRoom Project, dated in May 2018, January 2019 and December 2019.
Other publications on paper and in digital format:
| Publication in press and web “Levante, el Mercantil Valenciano” Newspaper. https://www.levante-emv.com/aula/2018/12/05/lies-tierno-galvan-coordina-erasmus/1804747.html |
| Publication in press and web: “Las Provincias” Newspaper https://www.lasprovincias.es/horta-morvedre/empresarios-colaboran-innovaroom-20181121002340-ntvo.html |
| Publication in press and web: “Horta Noticias” Newspaper. |
Meeting of the Innovaroom coordination team with AEMON, trading association of Moncada
| Publication in press and web: “El periodico de aquí” Newspaper. |
Meeting of the Innovaroom coordination team with AEMON, trading association of Moncadahttp://www.elperiodicodeaqui.com/epda-noticias/empresarios-y-comerciantes-de-moncada-participaran-en-innovaroom-/169951
The Government Delegate receives the Innovaroom team from El Tierno
Last week (december 2018), the delegate of the Government of the Valencian Community, Juan Carlos Fulgencio, received a representation from the Innovaroom team at the Government Delegation to receive information about the Erasmus + project coordinated by the IES Enrique Tierno Galván de Moncada.
Fulgencio was very interested in the information of the new innovative tendencies on the educational spaces. He received a dossier with the proposals intended to be developed together with the partners of the five countries that make up this group and that will take place over the next 18 months. The Government delegate announced that he will do his best to attend the first project launch meeting to be held in Moncada on December 17 and 18 and which will probably feature the prestigious designer Rosan Bosch, one of the most prominent representatives in the architecture and design sector.
Entrepeneurs and Traders from Moncada participate in Innovaroom
Traders from Moncada participate in Innovaroom.
On Thursday 15th November, the first meeting among members of the team Innovaroom, entrepeneurs and traders, took place. To the event, attended Paco Camps and Diego Romá, president and manager, respectively, of the entrepreneur association AEMON, the president of the trade association, Rafael Albert and the secretary of the association Susana Traver.
At the beginning of the meeting there were different groups of students, who explained to the attendants the ideas and proposals in which they are working to transform some spaces of the educational centre .Afterwards, they were informed about the project Innovaroom. Content aspects and developing strategies were treated as well as objectives proposed, and in a special way funding possibilities of the project beyond the approved funding for its development.
The members of Innovaroom explained the different proposals and seminars that are being developed for the next Kick Off that will take place 17th and 18th December where there will be a seminar of the architect Rosan Bosch. Entrepeneurs and traders showed a great interest for the project, not only for its own contents but for the projection that could involve their own business. Faced with the necessity of co-financing that was exposed, there was an agreement of presenting a proposal of advertising collaboration in the third next numbers of the newspaper “ El Tierno” so as the advertising posters that will be made for the project and the commitment for all the attendants , to give all the information to the entrepeneurs and traders, to involve them and participate under the economical point of view or endowment fund in the project.
The” Generalitat Valenciana” celebrates the Erasmus + Project Day
On Thursday 25th October the Erasmus+ Project day took place in the Valencian Community, in the Ministry of Education. Members from all the Valencian Community , who participate in Erasmus + in all its different modalities, attended the presentation ceremony. The preponderant category of the centres was the one with exchange of students KA229. Nevertheless , in the category of the project KA 201 of strategic association, there are only 36 projects statewide, from which 8 are in the Valencian Community , and only 6 are the coordinators among those in which we find the project Innovaroom.
Rubén Trenzano, managing director of linguistic policy and multilingualism management, presided the ceremony and thanked the work in the centres in the Erasmus + Project,” in which Valencian Community is leader of participation “, claimed Trenzano. Afterwards he presented awards in order to accredit each center as a member of the Erasmus + Project.
Members of Innovaroom attend the initial working days Erasmus +
During the days 18 and 19 October, the initial support meeting of Strategic association Erasmus+ projects, took place in Almeria.
Two members of the project Innovaroom from IES Tierno Galván: Maria Belenguer and Alberto Martinez attended the meetings to collect information about the work lines needed to develop the project.
To begin with, they congratulated all the participants, since from 121 requests in the call of 2018 only 36 projects have been selected .Afterwards they informed about the commitments of being a part of a strategic association in the Erasmus+ program, as well as the management lines both from the economic point of view and administrative, dissemination and the impact analysis of the project.
The second working day was geared towards specific sessions depending on the modality of the education sector where the participants belong. School education ( KA 201) is the modality in which the project Innovaroom is involved, that along with vocational training (KA 202 ), Higher education (KA 203 ) and Adults education (KA 204) are the ones that represent the four specific categories.
El Tierno coordinates the European Project Innovaroom
The project Innovaroom is framed within the actions KA 201 of the Erasmus program+, and has as a main aim the innovation of all the educational spaces towards a more flexible and creative model that can include different learning methodologies ,as well as spaces more dynamic and collaborative focused on the student. The project led by the IES Tierno Galván will count four European partners.
The project starts with the willingness of reflecting on new educational spaces within the European schools. Innovaroom involves training teachers to create new educational spaces where the students can have an active role in their own educational environment and in their learning planning.
The main goals are the training of future professionals in new educational spaces, the gradual introduction in a new learning methodology based on projects that can be developed in creative spaces , as well as researching new innovative and more dynamic teaching concepts and sharing them in different levels, including the partnership with other European centres.
The axiom “ learning by doing “ will be the starting point. For this reason the reflections and proposals will be implemented in pilot initiatives in the respective training centres of each partner of the project.
Innovaroom has the following partnerships:
IES Enrique Tierno Galván , Spain.It has been the promoter of the initiative through their teachers and has worked together with the other partners in the definition of the project. The school centre has experience in different European projects. It is involved in the net Escuelas creativas( creative schools) de Ferran Adrià, fostered by “ Telefónica Foundation”, which means a direct contact with other institutions highly motivated in school innovation.
Cyprus University,Cyprus. Contributes its academic knowledge in teaching methods of the future professionals who work in primary and secondary education furthermore they add its knowledge about architecture thanks to the involvement of the architecture departments. The university has many years of experience in the investigation and formation of the future teachers in this field. Besides, the Cypriot institution relies on a remarkable experience in projects related to the thematic debate of education, having participated in a project within the programme HORIZON 2020.
Instituto tecnológico Grigori Moisili, Rumania. It has a long profesional path in regard to the formation in profesional capacities and entrepeneurship for their Young students , and besides, it has an excellent relationship with its local environment. In this sense, they will contribute with their experience, focused on the training given to the teachers, apart from the vision of how to program an education open to establish synergies with the different local actors and how this can improve the quality of formation.
