TASTE project – meeting at NOESIS

In the framework of the Erasmus plus European project TASTE, on 12-16 February 2023 , the third mobility / exchange of students – teachers in the framework of the Teaching – Learning activities action and the third face-to-face transnational project meeting (TPM) took place in Thessaloniki.

The mobility, which was co-organized by NOESIS and the 1st Model Experimental High School of ^{Thessaloniki, involved 40 secondary education students from schools in Italy, Germany, Belgium and Thessaloniki, 9 of their teachers as well as 6 executives from the planetariums, the observatory and the university participating in the project.}

During the five-day period, the students tested and gave feedback on some of the recently completed deliverables of the project. Specifically, they took part in two educational activities, which took place in an open space, in the area of the White Tower and aimed at locating objects on Earth and in the sky using both three-dimensional hands-on devices and digital applications. In addition, they watched and evaluated two full-dome videos that were shown in the planetarium and are related to the apparent movements of the Sun, stars and planets.

Students from Belgium presented an automatic three-dimensional model of the celestial sphere, which was developed entirely by them and simulates the movements of the Earth and the stars, while all participants had the opportunity to meet and chat with a Greek amateur astronomer, solar eclipse hunter and astronomical designer to monitor them.

During their visit to NOESIS, through the program specially designed for them, they got to know our spaces and gained a complete experience, as they toured the Museum of Technology and our temporary exhibitions, entered the Planetarium and took part in the interactive presentation “Space Quiz” and participated in the game-based activity “Colonization on Mars – challenges and solutions”. The day ended with a visit to the simulator, many smiles from the students who seemed to have enjoyed all the activities and particularly flattering words from the teachers and executives of other organizations about our premises, our activities and the staff.

The student mobility program also had a cultural content with a guided tour of the historic center of the city, a visit to the White Tower and a guided excursion to the archaeological site of Vergina.

Regarding the project meeting, as the project is already in the last six months of its total duration, the main items on the agenda were:

• The overall monitoring of the project in terms of its deliverables and the establishment of deadlines.
• The organization and realization of the main phase of the research that starts in March.
• The organization of the local dissemination actions of the project as well as the European one that will take place in Brussels.
• Management and technical issues.

Eleana Balla, Department of educational programs, TASTE Project Manager