Short-term exchanges of groups of pupils “Film and Science Laboratory“ was organised on the 20-24th May 2022 in Budapest by Jedlik Anyos Secondary School.
On the first day, before the lunchbreak, students participated in a teambuilding activity. Later, in the afternoon students’ presentations on what local activities on Science in Films they carried out and participated in their schools were shown to each other.
The next day students visited the Palace of Wonders (Science Museum) and took part in the Science Show “Experiments of Our World“. In the afternoon all the participants discovered Budapest in smaller, international groups with the help of a scavenger hunt designed by Brutovszky Gabriella, one of the Hungarian teacher participants.
The whole-day Sunday bus trip was designed around the project’s program, and students visited the Bauxite Mine in Gánt as well as the Korda Film Studio where among others, “The Martian“ (one of the project’s materials to examine) was filmed.
On the 23rd May students participated in activities led by biologist Hubai András and in an international interdisciplinary lesson by teachers Carla Vaz (PT) and Hortobágyiné Kard Eszter (HU). Later, students joined sports activities led by PE teachers of Jedlik Ányos Secondary School.
On the final day of the exchange the students were involved in evaluation activities (Dixit, “What have I
learnt…” and discussions) led by the project’s coordinators, having an evaluation questionnaire to answer afterwards. 92% of the students found the meeting useful for their studies. Students were asked about the skills and knowledge they improved during the meeting. “Language and communication skills” (42,3%) was mentioned first. “Knowledge about partner countries” (26,9%) and “self-confidence” (26,9%) were both equally important. 96,2% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that communication was satisfying within the group, one student was dissatisfied as they could not communicate with everybody, due to the
big number of participants. Only one student felt neutral about being an active member of the group, all the others agreed and strongly agreed. Students’ difficulties mentioned: tiredness, communication in a foreign language but some more were added because of the hosting situation. E.g. taking responsibility for my guest, following an unfamiliar daily schedule. 80,7% of students agreed or strongly agreed and 19,2% disagreed with the statement: The meeting has met my expectations, 96,2% of the students would apply to participate in the project again.
Some remarks from participants answering “What have you learnt this week?”: “I always forget how beautiful my country is but now I got reminded that it is much better with the right people around“, “I can interact and understand other countries“, “There is science everywhere“ that everything is possible and also that I can handle any situation of I have to“, “I still have to learn how to communicate with others“, “I have leamed a lot about Charles Darwin and the Mars“, “Spider webs are fascinating“.
