Academic year 2019-2020

Projects’ goals and partners

Project 1: Micro: bit radio communication

The project was realized in cooperation with the following community partners: IRIM (Institute for Youth Development and Innovation) and Elementary School Jure Kaštelan (Prof. Maljković).

The main theme of the Micro: bit radio communication service-learning project is the need to bring the STEM area closer to the target group (primary school children) and to make them interested in STEM. The benefits for the target group have been shown to be many and varied. First, children were given the opportunity to learn how to work with micro: bit. Second, children were able to learn something about how communication works between people, how emotions can be expressed, and what rules of polite behavior must be followed when exchanging messages and information. Third, having university students as acting school teachers, children experienced a change in the way of teaching from what they were accustomed to, they had the opportunity to actively participate in the learning process by giving their comments and suggestions while writing the program code. They were allowed creativity in expression.

Link to final presentation: https://prezi.com/view/azGzuOFTXbupRCv2kL3D/

Project 2: Basics of robotics: mBot

The project was realized in cooperation with the following community partners: IRIM (Institute for Youth Development and Innovation) and Elementary School Jure Kaštelana (Prof. Maljković).

The current informatics curriculum in primary schools is not in line with the changes that are taking place on a daily basis in the field of technology, children and teachers are not provided with the devices needed for digital transformation of education, depriving them of equality in learning opportunities. The project STEM revolution in the community, initiated by the Institute for Innovation and Youth Development, was created to contribute to the development of service learning methodology at STEM faculties. To implement it, the platform of another IRIM project - the Croatian Makers League - was used, which made it possible for university students to develop and boost STEM competencies of children in ​​4 Croatian counties and the City of Zagreb.

In the project Basics of robotics: mBot, students joined the STEM revolution by participating in the implementation of independent workshops related to robotics with primary school children. All members of the project team were graduate students of information sciences and this project was an ideal opportunity to implement what was learned in theory into real practice (learning by doing) while encouraging young generations to think logically and find new approaches to problem solving by introducing them to new, more interesting methods of learning programming and robotics, which were designed precisely for the purpose of bringing the STEM area closer to school children.

Link to final presentation: https://prezi.com/view/PD07Z9MROK26M1xpgDPH/

Link to the project E-portfolio: https://sites.google.com/view/projekt-dku/po%C4%8Detna-stranica?authuser=0