<< Objectives >>This project wants to inspire unemployed and other related groups to learn about emerging technologies and competencies that are essential for seeking a job today and also help business find employees that they are looking for. Through BETES project we will give the opportunity to these vulnerable groups (unemployed etc) to learn about the new job possibilities, seek for new knowledge and based on this new knowledge seek for new employment opportunities.<< Implementation >>- Conduct research involving academics and business people in order to identify what emerging competencies and technologies are need by the labor market- Create the educational material and the workshop material based on the research conducted- Training activities for unemployed / under skilled employees based on the educational material created- Creating LMS system for people that want to learn about new technologies- Disseminate events and other activities through website/social media<< Results >>The project's expected results are that the participants are going to get further involve with the topics related to the educational material and thus seek further education or seek a career path. We expect that this will further benefit the industry/economy and employability skills in general We also expect that this project will attract the attention of other for seeking new knowledge and new job opportunities.

<< Objectives >>The project’s objective is to give the opportunity to students as well as their educators to have access to STEM education and related educational material. From our experience STEM hardware is usually not readily available in many areas, especially in rural areas. Therefore ReSTELA platform with fill this gap and try and give the same opportunity to vulnerable groups that are not able to have access to new educational methods and technologies.<< Implementation >>The activities that are going to be implemented includes a blended system of online and face-to-face training sessions (along with hands on workshops) and consultation sessions in Cyprus, Italy and Estonia where we are going to engage with selected educators who want to improve their teaching skills and best practices for teaching STEM in their classrooms. At the same time educator will be trained in how to access the ReSTELA platform and how to perform various experiments.<< Results >>We expect to- Have educators that will learn about STEM and at the same time access the educational material that will be available in the LMS ReSTELA platformAt the same time educators will learn about how to access the ReSTELA platform and how to conduct the various experiments and workshopsIt is also expected that educators will teach many students for the upcoming years by using the ReSTELA platform, therefore we will have many students with knowledge in STEM related topics.

<< Background >>Climate change is possibly the bigger challenge that we, humans, face all across the globe. It is a threat not only for our generation but also for the generations to come. Responding to this threat is among the priorities of Europe. Various legislations and policies have been put in place in Europe, in order to achieve the goal of being the first climate-neutral continent. More specifically, the EU is on track on reducing its greenhouse emissions, it is taking action on adapting to the impacts of climate change and aims to be a climate-resilient society by 2050.Some examples of the areas that Europe is addressing, in order to achieve the above are: •Energy•Environment•Mobility and transport•Regional policy and the low-carbon economy•Sustainable finance•Industrial policy•Trade and sustainable development•International cooperation and development•Research and innovation on climate change•Sustainable development goals.Education, is a fundamental tool when it comes to the fight against climate change. Knowledge regarding climate change helps young people to understand and tackle the consequences of global warming and encourages them to change their behavior. According to reports, very often, when children are coming across the topic of climate change in the news, it causes them a feel of fear and anxiety. Therefore, there is a clear need for setting this issue in a safe context so that the children can be educated about it. Children are proven to be more receptive to learning. Education on children regarding climate change can help for various reasons:•Learn about the issue in safe context•Behaviour change•Ease their fear and anxiety on the topic•Motivate to take action•Prepare for them for the potential future need of creating climate solutions.Education can be provided through many formal or informal structures. One very effective technique of transferring knowledge to children and adults is Gamification. Gamification can be defined as a set of activities and processes to solve problems by using the characteristics of game elements.In addition to the environmental consciousness, other skills and competences are important and are being provided to pupils through gamification and STEM. This is aligned with the priorities of the Commission for the development of Key Competences (STEM) and digital skills (GAMIFICATION)Gamification is becoming increasingly used in educational settings as, it ‘makes the hard stuff more fun’, and is helping to motivate pupils and make them more engaged with the subject matter. STEM is an approach to learning and development that integrates the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.CitiesGoGREEN aims to develop a game available from a pc/laptop or a mobile device where pupils will have to develop their cities, their ‘Green Cities’. The game combines the thematic of environmental consciousness with STEM and gamification.<< Objectives >>CitiesGoGreen aim to bring together environmental education, the method of gamification and STEM as an educational tool.The main objectives of the project are the following:1. To cultivate the environmental consciousness of pupils together with other transversal skills and competences.2. To develop a theoretical framework based on which it will cultivate the environmental consciousness of primary school pupils of age 10-12 years3. To engage pupils with STEM and to develop the key skills of pupils through STEM4 To design a state of the art game that will combine ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS, Gamification and STEM5. To develop an assessment tool that will be used prior and after the game to measure the skills gained through the game. The main focus of the assessment tool is the assessment of environmental consciousness. However other skills developed through STEM and through gamification will also be developed.The objective of this project is to educate pupils in the age of 10-12 years old on the importance of being green, and demonstrating sincere interest in the environment. Through the project pupils will learn more about things like, circular economy, recycling and other important issues related to the protection of the environment.More specifically, the pupils will be able to plan and build their own city using different building blocks provided by the application such as stations for charging green cars, brown recycling bins, shops producing bags from recycled tires etc. All the building blocks will have parameters like cost, use of resources, waste, emissions (CO2). They will also be able to run their own training and information campaigns for the citizens of their cities on these subjects. The results of their decisions and actions will be infecting the environmental footprint of their cities and the wellbeing of the citizens. Based on their decisions, the system will be giving them rewards based on a specialized gamification system (badges, points, coins, missions, leaderboards, etc.). Pupils will compete in a real competitive environment so based on their achievements they receive they will be ranked. They will also be able to use smart electronics connected with smart sensors and actuators in the physical world to interact with game elements. They will able for example with a switch and air quality sensors (developed as an open IOT project connected through an API with the game) to interact with different things in their cities like start garbage collection, open close city lights, automatic citizens protests if air quality is high, etc. This way they will be able to connect their virtual cities with constructions they already do at school. As another example, they can create a recycling factory at school using cardboard. They can build a 3d model of the factory in Tinkercad (free app) and import this in their virtual city. They can add the switch to their cardboard factory and when it is switched on the factory will start operating in the game. The objective is to use the technique of gamification as an educational tool and reach children aged between 10 and 12 years old in order to transfer them knowledge related to climate change. There are many proven benefits to using gamification, such as:•Pupils feel like they have ownership over their learning•A more relaxed atmosphere in regards to failure•It is more fun •Learning becomes visible through progress indicators•Pupils may uncover an intrinsic motivation for learning•Gives higher engagement and concentration levels •Gives pupils the opportunity to think outside of the box<< Implementation >>The implementation of the project is sequential and is implemented in 4 phases. Each phase is represented by a Project Result.In the 1st phase (PR1) the consortium is working towards the development of a theoretical framework. This framework will lead to the composition of two levels of learning outcomes which will be the basis for the development of the app. In order to achieve that the consortium will follow some steps. First of all, a desktop research will take place and will be followed by focus groups in all partner countries to 3 target groups (Teachers, Pupils and Experts). All the results from both the focus groups and the desktop research will be collected on an aggregate report. The Consortium will then brainstorm in order to finalize the elements of the topics which will be used for the game design. After the brainstorming the consortium will eventually develop the theoretical framework and through that compose the learning outcomes. The 2nd phase (PR2) of the project is about the composition of all the details about the game that are required before the development of the app (Game Design). In order to do that, the consortium will be based on the results of the 1st phase. During this phase the consortium will work towards composing the building blocks, theory, decisions, rules of the game and points system. The process of designing the game holds as a first stage the composition of templates of the building blocks, theory, decisions, rules of the game and points system, then designing the game based on the created templates and finalizing the game design after partners' workshop where the partners reviewing in detail all the elements of the game design. When the partners finalize the game design, the latter will be translated in all the consortium languages (Greek, Spanish, Polish, Estonian). The 3rd phase is all about the development of the app. The partners of the consortium who have the experience and expertise in developing high quality apps will develop the beta version of the app which will be pilot tested by the partners and the pupils. During this phase OMEGATECH will work on developing the game while ECECT will work on the development of the IoT project templates that connect to the game API. The first step in the Project Result 3 is the development of the beta version of the app. The app will be developed in order to be available in mobile devices but also on computers. Once the beta version is ready, the app will be tested firstly from the partners and then from the pupils themselves at school. Before the pupils' pilot testing, the teachers of the schools will be given an online 2-day class in order to be prepared about the app (how to use it, how to guide the pupils, the theoretical information that is used in the game) so they can lead the pupils during the pilot testing. Improvements will be made to the app based on the feedback of partners, pupils and teachers.The last phase of the project consists the development of the assessment tool. The partners who are responsible for the development of the app will convert the assessment tool into an electronic one and connect it within the CitiesGoGreen App. When the assessment tool is integrated in the app, the latter will go through the second pilot testing phase. During this pilot test the app will be completed and the final feedback from the pupils will guide the developers to the final changes for the finalization of the app.<< Results >>The main results of the project are the following: A. INTANGIBLE1.Participation of 20 Teachers in focus groups and implementation of 5 focus groups (Activity 1.2)2.Participation of 100 pupils in focus groups in activity 1.33.Participation of 100 pupils in the Pilot Testing 1 in activity 3.44.Participation of 100 pupils in the Pilot Testing 2 in activity 4.35.Participation of 25 experts in focus groups in activity 1.46.Participation of 100 stakeholders in the Local multiplier eventsB. TANGIBLE 1.A CitiesGoGreen theoretical framework indicating the topics and the theory to be used in the development of the app including best practices from green cities in Europe that will be integrated in the project.2.CitiesGoGreen Learning outcomes, based on the selected theoretical framework and the characteristics of the final target group (Pupils, 10-12 Years old) in two levels3.Game design: Composition of the below elements (To be translated in 4 more languages):a.Building Blocksb.Rules of the gamec.Theoryd.Decisionse.Point’s system5.An assessment tool, in order to measure the effectiveness of the app. The assessment tool will be converted in electronic form as well.4.An application, available for mobile devices and computers, named CitiesGoingGreen App. More specifically, the pupils will be able to plan and build their own city and will compete between them on criteria that will determine the environmental level of the city. The functionality is described below:1. The pupils will use different building blocks provided by the application such as stations for charging green cars, brown recycling bins, shops producing bags from recycled tires etc. All the building blocks will have parameters like cost, use of resources, waste, emissions (CO2). 2. They will also be able to run their own training and information campaigns targeting the virtual citizens of their cities to drive them to environment consciousness(less waste, more recycling, more electrical cars, etc). Of course these will have cost, but at the same time they will provide them with points.3. The results of their decisions and actions will be infecting the environmental footprint of their cities and the wellbeing of the citizens. Based on their decisions, the system will be giving them rewards based on a specialized gamification system (badges, points, coins, missions, leaderboards, etc.). Pupils will compete in a real competitive environment so based on their achievements they receive they will be ranked.4. The most innovative part of this application is the fact that they will be able to use smart electronics connected with smart sensors and actuators in the physical world to interact with game elements. They will able for example with a switch and air quality sensors (developed as an open IOT project connected through an API with the game) to interact with different things in their cities like start garbage collection, open close city lights, automatic citizens protests if air quality is high, etc. This way they will be able to connect their virtual cities with constructions they already do at school. As another example, they can create a recycling factory at school using cardboard. They can build a 3d model of the factory in Tinkercad (free app) and import this in their virtual city. They can add the switch to their cardboard factory and when it is switched on the factory will start operating in the game. This is the connection with STEM.d. The app will be available through the ‘play store’ and the ‘apple store’ for mobile devices and online for computers. The app will be available in 5 languages (English, Greek, Polish, Spanish and Estonian). All the other material will be publicly available through the website of the project, to ensure their transferability.After the completion of the project all the tangible results will remain and will be sustained. The app will be available through the ‘play store’ and the ‘apple store’

<< Objectives >>The project’s objective is to educate young farmers and individuals, in rural areas, in topics related to the newest agrotechnologies, green practices, circular economy, waste management, resource management, using blended/hybrid learning as well as physical presence. It is expected that sustain4rural will have a positive impact to the local community by making them more competitive and also have a positive impact to the environment and the fight against climate change.<< Implementation >>The activities that are going to be implemented include a blended system of online and face-to-face training session in Cyprus and Greece in small groups based on their interests and focus topics. Feedback from trainees will be a useful tool for adapting the educational material according to their needs. Online tools such as LMS, social media presence and other will be used during project, and will also maintained by ECECT for at least 3 years after the project ends.<< Results >>We are expecting to have a high turnout of participants as we aim to advertise the event through agricultural groups in rural areas. The material that is going to be used is going to allow the farmers to become more competitive. We hope that this project is going to start a movement in rural areas made up by farmers who want to update their production practices and embrace new technologies and eco-friendly practices. We then aim to expand the project to the rest of Europe.