In Primary School Litija we pilot tested 4 lessons plans in the period from December 2022 to February 2023. Among them was 1 physics and 3 different math OTA activities. Altogether 117 pupils were engaged in piloting, aged between 12 and 14.
Primary School of Litija contributed with 19 activities to the repository of OTA. We decided to pilot test 2 that we prepared and 2 from other partners. Even though we tested two of our own lesson plans, they were not similar to our usual lessons. Before the project, we rarely connected physics and math with art; we usually connected it to another science subject and tried to use more technology since our school can offer it. The teachers observed that connection with art can help more pupils engage with a lesson and consequently help them to remember and understand our subject better.
We tested a lesson plan called How much space do chess pieces take up?. This physics lesson plan along with connection to art offers many practical exercises to keep the pupils engaged and active through the lesson. One of math lesson plans we piloted is called How does math help us make cartoons?. The pupils liked that they got to use the computers in class and they especially appreciated the connection to cartoons, because cartoons are something that they still like and connect with playing and positive emotions rather than yet another simple math lesson. The change in attitude toward math during the lesson was noticeable most among pupils who are otherwise not good in math.
We like that the platform offers many different lesson plans, which can be altered to fit different teachers, teaching styles and equipment. We chose what most fitted the themes we were currently studying. From the activities prepared by other partners, we chose: Flags, Flags, Flags and The epidemic and attendance at world-famous museums. The last one taught the pupils how to use a calculator and calculate percentages and the first one was made for teaching transformations. We liked how both of them turned out, but we particularly loved Flags, Flags, Flags because it was not only connected with art, but also included some connections to history and geography.
Collaborating in this project and pilot testing its activities equipped us with some amazing materials and gave us new and great ideas that we will definitely use in the future.