Open house in Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík

 

It is a tradition in our school to have an open house for expecting students and their parents. A lot of people visit, both students from elementary school that are thinking of joining our school, students that have graduated from our school but like to come for a visit and people in the local community that want to see the work we are doing here at our school. ~

Many people are curious about our school since we get a lot of attention from the public when our students are in news, in example when the Olympiad teams representing Iceland are mostly our students and we have just won a competion that was televised. Also a lot of people have ties here and want to see where their grandparents or greatgrandparents went to school. 

We used the opportunity to introduce our  project  DIGI.R.E.DI. L “Digital Readiness for European Distance Learning”  KA226 Erasmus+ project 020-1-EL01-KA226-SCH-094685.  We showed our newsletters that have been published and our 3D prints of the volcanoes. We had over 900 people visiting us that day and everyone showed a lot of interest in the project. 

Teaching students to use Chat GPT - ICELAND

 

Students got the assignment to answer questions related to the geology curriculum. They could use the textbook and other books from the library. After they had done this they used Chat GPT and got answers from the same questions. Then they had to compare the answers and see if Chat GPT made up new words, if the AI was as good in geology as the students.

The result was that the students could not rely entirely on Chat GPT,  sometimes the Chat GPT had wrong answers and there were a lot of strange words that we do not use in the Icelandic language so if they are going to use this program the have to have some knowledge of geology so they can see if the answer makes any sense.

The words in yellow are words we do not use in Iceland

This is an example of an incorrect answer. The question was how do a certain type of coals form and the answers describes a process that happens in volcanic settings and have nothing to do with formation of coals. 

Dissemination acitivities from Serbian partners

Serbian regional media host DIGI.RE.DI.L  report about activities taken place during our LTTA in Lisbon. 

Using Jamboard in GO! classes

Jamboard is a digital interactive whiteboard developed by Google to work with Google Workspace. This educational tool is used in the OK! classes so that the pupils can see at what level they will be working and whether they have completed their weekly plans for different subjects. 

Based on what the students have of prior knowledge about the themes that will be offered in the various subjects in the coming week, they learn to estimate themselves as Egg, Turtle or Ninja (different levels) together with the teachers. Each level has an entrance ticket for a series of assignments. The Jamboard of the first grade OK! classes works with color codes that indicate whether or not the student has completed the weekly plans for the subjects.

Inschool teacher's training in Tinkercad and Tello - dji

In February 8th 2023, a trainning workshop was held in our school. Teachers were trained in Tinkercad and 3d printing (1st session) as well as in drones' programming (2nd session). This seminar was realized in terms of in school dissemination for our Erasmus+ KA226 project DIGIREDIL. All participants were very pleased and satisfied to aquire new knowlegde that could adjust to their subjects.

Short description: 

In the fisrt session the participants were trainned in the designing program TINKERCAD and then they individualy completed a task in it. In the meantime a 3d printed object was created in our 3d printer.

During the 2nd session the Greek and European frame of use for drones was presented. Moreover uses of drones were presented in different scientific fields. After the theoritical part the participants flew manually in the first part and by programming in the second part our school's educational drones Tello dji .

Arduino workshop in Greece

 During the hosting week in our school ,a workshop was held in the school's laboratory, where the teachers worked in groups to build and program a simple Arduino circuit that simulated the operation of a traffic light. The teaching material was posted on the official Greek school platform “e-class”. After a brief introductory presentation the participants built the circuit using the Tinkercad software,which can also be used in distance learning, and then using the appropriate commands they programmed the circuit. Then they were given a working sheet with instructions and a box containing all the necessary components. Working in mixed nationality groups they built the actual circuit and loaded the program they had already created with Tinkercad.

Short video 

Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík: Use of 3D printer in Geology

 The use of 3D printer offers lot of possibilities in teaching. Our school has bought printers and they have been used in different subjects. Here I will show you how we have used them in geology.

We had students look at different kinds of volcanoes in Iceland and they made a 3D model of the volcanoes and the surroundings. The students worked in groups of 3 students and in their work they had to made the design of the volcanoes in the right scale, in that part of the work they had to use maps so it required them to have some skills in map reading and interpreting what information you get from maps. Then they had to use a computer program to make a drawing of the volcanoes that could then be used to print out the model of the volcanoes. After printing the volcanos were painted to reflect the vegetation or the average snow coverage during the summer months.

This project has been useful in training the students in using maps, using their computer skills and given them a greater understanding of how they different types volcanoes in Iceland differ in shapes. This will also benefit future students since the models of the volcanoes will be used in geology classes when discussing volcanoes in Iceland.