In fact, Science is done via MANY languages: the language of graphics, iconic graphic, tabular language, formal language, the informal language we use when we speak about science in our mother tongue, etc.

We express it in writing in symbols, graphs, mathematical equations...
We express it in words in informal and formal sentences...
Of course, the Greek language permeates both the formal and informal languages of science, and the Greek atomosphere was present all the time during the workshop.

In Thessaloniki we had those many languages in the science workshop (either present or latent, behind each experiment and each explanation for an experiment), but we also had three mother tongues in which each of us thought: Slovensko, Czech and Catalan.

And we communicated in English (and with our handwaving).

The key figure in this ocean of languages was Martin Safarik, the English interpreter that came with the Slovakian delegation.

He was deeply involved in all the experiments!

My warmest thanks to him, both for having made an exceptional effort to run smoothly the face to face workshop, and also for having been of essential help before and after the wonderful Thessaloniki experience, in translating material like this,

and in serving as a liason with the Czech and Slovak teachers.

Thanks to all these teachers and specially to Martin, for their collaboration in this workshop, the outcome of which can be also seen in the Xperimania webpage:

http://www.xperimania.net/ww/en/pub/xperimania/competition2008.cfm

and in the FuturEnergia webpage: http://www.futurenergia.org/ww/en/pub/futurenergia2007/competitions/scouts_gallery.cfm

JoséLuis, Ángeles, Lole and Pilar

Team 1

Team 2

Team 3

Team 4

Team 5

Team 6

Team 7

Team 8

Team 9

And they did an excellent job, as we are seeing in different entries!

And the students were really amazed and interested in the results of the exercise!

Some students even started to take notes immediately for the discussion.

Here is a picture showing one of the 9 teams: the 3 pupils held hands and closed a circuit with the white ball.
In this way, they shared a current that lit the ebergy ball (see the red color in the ball)?

Love from the French team

The room was buzzing and very silent at a time and you could feel either the concentration or exitement and fun. I suppose some of them got really into a flow like I did as a teacher.

Within less than one hour they wrote their own texts, sang or spoke them and taped them. The message: Creativity is not about being perfect but about just doing it, allow trial and error. Using media the world is open to us to express ourselves in any way we want. We think: eTwinning is cool!

Download file

Download file

Thanks to all for your cooperation and again to Sebastian and to Julian and the staff for helping us with the technology! :))) Bettina

Checking out, exchanging email addresses and hugs with new friends... the eTwinning Camp 2009 has truly been a pleasure from our side and we are grateful for all the good spirit throught the five days.

See you soon! Safe travels!

Tina, Anne, Silvia and Sylvia

Only I knew beforehand that the beads respond (and change to different colors) to the UV component of white light.

The problem was that the Sun was not shining!!! And most of the lamps in the nice hotel we stayed in apparently had very little UV-light component (which is a good thing!).

Another difficulty, which turned out to be a minor one because of the creativy of the 25 students, is that we could not open a window and try to explore the behavior of the bracelets outside the window, because we were in the second floor of the hotel, precisely where the little children playground place: the students rapidly realized that the windows were blocked for security reasons.

A few minutes later I found out that a group of students were experimenting with the bracelets: they just went to a different floor and located a door that opened into a terrace! Here is the proof that "some" Sun was doing its work:

In the morning, we did a bus tour of the city, stopping from time to time to see the view and visit the sites. The tour included a marvelous view of Thessaloniki from the top of the Byzantine city walls, a tour of St. Dimitros Byzantine church and its catacombs, the White Tower (which is the symbol of Thessaloniki), the Rotonda, the Citadel and the waterfront, where we also posed in front of the large statue of Alexander the Great.

We had lunch is a very nice restaurant in the Ladadika quarter. The building was converted into a restaurant some years ago, but was originally used for trade. The food was really yummy!

The afternoon was then dedicated to free time so that the group could split up and do what they wanted - whether it was to sit and have a refreshing drink in the sun, a stroll on the boardwalk or a wander in the many cute little shops.

We then met up at 4pm at the White Tower for a group photo and then headed back to the hotel. The group are now resting and/or preparing for the final show tonight: the Talent Show!

Group shot in front of the White Tower - the symbol of Thessaloniki

Checking out the statue of Alexander the Great

Visiting the Catacombs in St. Dimitrios Church