The uncontrolled use of digital technology and its effect on students was the main focus of a three-year Erasmusplus project called Smart Kids of Digital World that St Francis School, Cospicua, together with partner schools in Spain, Poland and Turkey, took part in, and which came to an end in August.
The project sought to address a number of issues, including saving children from internet addiction and encouraging them to use it responsibly; supporting children’s mental, physical and social-emotional growth and providing guidance to parents in this regard; enabling children to take up good habits and supporting them to grow healthy with universal human values.
The final project mobility took place in May when participants from the partner schools, including Josephine Mallia, Tiziana Loffreda and Shirley Ann Gauci from the Cospicua school, were hosted by C.E.I.P. Mata Linares in Spain.
Various activities took place during the visit, including ones involving robotics and coding to learn about insects and plant life through tangible resources; writing stations; as well as traditional Spanish dances that transmit valuable culture. The partners observed young pupils taking part in sensory play, were shown a video of a children’s play with the children’s drawings as a backdrop, and took part in video-making using digital backgrounds related to the project.
Primary school students presented the participants information about Cantabria’s main traditions and characteristics, including via digital quizzes in which the pupils responded using coded answers that the teacher then decoded using a mobile phone. They were also presented with a visual presentation summarising Cantabria’s historical, traditional and demographic information, and used the pupils’ tablets and digital educational applications to take part in a quiz.
As part of the training sessions, the participants attended a lecture about internet safety by Lieutenant D. José Manuel Martín Arias, focusing on the present situation, the ever-increasing dangers, and the related collaborative preventive programme. Associate Professor Javiér Barbero gave a lecture on American culture, highlighting the use of language in heavily-viewed television series to transmit American values. The lecture was followed by a visit to the Centre for Research on Impact Evaluation (CRIE) and the Centro de Educación Ambiental (CEAm) – Centre of Educational Environment – where students from various schools attend weekly live-ins with their teachers to learn to work collaboratively and become more independent.
The European Union Programmes Agency (EUPA) in Malta supported the Cospicua school’s participation in the project.