ERASMUS+, “Remain On BOard! - Learning Journeys in Educational Robotics”

"Adolescence is a journey that offers many side roads. The smart one will always choose the main road." (Victoria Morozan)

The teenagers of today- the students and the teenagers of yesterday! The teachers involved in the Erasmus+ project, with the acronym ROBO (ID:2017-1-IT02-KA219-036552_3), participated in the first transnational reunion which took place between 21st – 25th of May 2018, at “Domnul Tudor” Technical College, Drobeta Turnu Severin. The partner schools in the project are: Istituto Superiore Ruggiero d'Altavilla - Vincenzo Accardi, Italy, Zespol Szkol im. por. Jozefa Sarny w Gorzycach, Poland, Colegiul Tehnic ”Domnul Tudor”, Romania, Vasil Levski Comprehensive School, Bulgaria.

Many times it is the teenager’s mission to coagulate the infinite in a star, but through this project, the students in each partner country have coagulated their knowledge and skills obtained through extra preparation hours in creating a robot. And… everything started from the main objective of the project, preventing school dropout through an innovative learning approach based on informal education and the use of ITC in robotics.

The opening session of the first mobility involving students was warmly saluted by the representatives of the local community. Thus on the 22nd of May, the Mayor of our town, Mr. Marius Screciu, welcomed the delegations from the partner countries, wishing them good luck in all the activities on the agenda. In addition, Mr. Mihai Demian, the dean of the University of Craiova, The Faculty of Mechanics, has appreciated in a positive way the students’ preoccupation for robotics, underlining the fact that the future belongs to this domain.

The meeting agenda created by the project team from “Domnul Tudor” Technical College proposed a large variety of activities that captured the attention of the participants. There were presentations of the hardware components and programming concepts used to create the robots, and all the teams shared their robot building experience. The visit to Iron Gate I, one of the biggest hydro-technical constructions in Europe, and the biggest on the Danube, offered all the teams the chance to see how automatics and robotics are applied in economic activities. Another attractive activity showing the use of automatics and robotics in the field of education was the one with simulators presented by the University Center from Drobeta Turnu Severin.

Our adolescents, these rebel children that are addicted to internet and online games and prefer accessing a site to obtain information, have proven great skills, curiosity, the desire to know more, to communicate and to work in teams.

The participants also appreciated the other activities proposing dancing and folk music from our county performed by singers and dancers from our school, but also by guests from the Children’s Palace, “King Michael I” School, and “Drobeta” Special Technical High School.

The walking tour of the town was another appreciated moment by all the guests. “Theodor Costescu” Cultural Palace, with its great architecture, was considered a real landmark and The Water Castle, a real symbol of the town, offered a great view of the town which was captured in many photographs. So The Water Castle became not only a tourist attraction but also an orientation point for the foreign students.

The boat trip on the Danube, offered the participants the chance to see Cazanele Mari Natural Reservation, a unique monument of nature in Europe.

The climax of the agenda was the Robot Contest of the robots built by each team. Speed was essential and also respecting the route already established. All the students participating in the project have proven bravery, creativity, and eagerness to discover the secrets of robotics.

This project opened bridges towards knowledge, brought dreams that will definitely become reality, confirmed the value of all the students involved and they were all declared “winners ”.

“Domnul Tudor” Technical College

Project Team

News on local TV TELE2 Drobeta :

EUROPEAN PROJECT FOR TEENAGERS

A new European project, successfully implemented by the school units in Drobeta Turnu-Severin! This time, the school that managed to get involved in the project is the "Domnul Tudor" Technical College. Students from three countries came to Drobeta Turnu-Severin today to implement "Remain On Board" to reduce school drop-out.