Two-day experiential seminar on the TINK@School Toolbox, 5-6 April 2024, Athens!
The goal of the seminar was to familiarize Primary School teachers with the method of tinkering that can merged with their projects on Education for Sustainable Development.
During the seminar we were inspired to unlock the creativity of our students, to “think with our hands”, to discover the possibilities of everyday objects, to try and fail, to create by collaborating with those around us.
We started with the presentation of the Erasmus+ TINK@School project, the philosophy of the method and the educational toolbox.
Then we tried out several of the learning activities of the Toolbox, including:
- Sculpture in balance
- Save the Planet Bag
- Sustainable moving scarecrow
- Shadow art with wastes
- Sustainability Poster with a moving element, and
- Stop Motion for sustainability
We are thankful to the 25 teachers that took part in the two-day seminar, the welcoming 70th Primary School of Athens that hosted us, and to the Network of Schools for Climate for co-organizing the seminar with us.
MEdIES team
I really liked the feeling of being freed from stressing about the aesthetic result. Also, the freedom to use the materials without, again, the anxiety that they are being wasted.
It is very important that students have the opportunity not only to develop their social skills but also to practise using their hands with simple everyday objects. Students learn by doing something interesting and playful and it’s really cool to feel that it’s OK to be wrong.
It was a fascinating experience. Although crafting with recyclable materials is an activity I implement, the Tinkering project/Toolkit has expanded my conception of its potential and structured all the related elements of the technique.
I feel lucky I met ‘tinkering’ even in the end of my career and I will recommend it to my colleagues.