The sixth and final meeting of the Comenius project entitled Solar Energy: Awareness and Action, was held in Crete, Greece, in May.
Stella Maris College, Gżira is one of the five partner schools participating in the project. The other four schools are the 9th Primary School of Rethymno, Crete (coordinating school); Escole André Soares Norte, Braga, Portugal; Scuola Secondaria di 1° Grado C. B. Cavour, Catania, Sicily; and Colexio de Educacion Infantil e Primaria Froebel Galicia, Pontevedra, Spain.
Myriam Zammit, the school headmistress, and Ivan Mifsud Bons, Science and PE teacher and school coordinator for the project, were among the 14 other delegates from the participating schools. The aim of the conclusive meeting was to present the work carried out throughout the three years of the project. Meetings were held with the mayor and prefect of the region, and there were presentations of the work of each school to the Educational Officer and University of Crete delegates.
Throughout the three years this topic provided a holistic educational opportunity for the Grade 6 students at Stella Maris College. Besides the theoretical knowledge and awareness provided by the project, the students were also involved in practical tasks which they carried out during English, Maltese, Maths, art, music, drama, computer and science lessons.
The culmination of practical work was the creation of a recipe book with a difference through English, Maltese and social studies lessons. The boys explored the effect of the sun on Maltese produce.
Another final project was the building of greenhouses in the school garden through the maths and science lessons. During the maths lessons the students explored shape nets and 3-D shapes. As part of the science syllabus, the boys were taken to an educational outing to the Għammieri government farms, where they were taken around the greenhouses to understand how this different environment enhances the growth of plants. This knowledge was then used by the students to design and build greenhouses to their particular specifications during the science lessons, resulting in the building of six small greenhouses of different designs.
Apart from academic work, this project allowed the students the opportunity to build friendships and share ideas and experiences with their counterparts in the other participating schools. This was done through letter writing, e-mails, cards and video conferencing.
This rich educational opportunity would not have been possible without the close collaboration and support of the Stella Maris College teachers involved in the project - assistant head Angela Briffa, headmistress Myriam Zammit and school director Bro. David Mizzi, fsc. Invaluable help was provided by a number of parents who generously shared their expertise and free time. The dedication and commitment of the staff in the other four participating schools, particularly that of Nektarios Tsagliotis, the coordinator from the Cretan school, were also key factors in the implementation of this project.
Our appreciation and thanks are also due to the European Union Programmes Agency (EUPA) for providing the funding necessary for the success of this project.
The author is a science and PE teacher, Stella Maris College, Gżira.