How to make your “grumpiest” students love foreign languages.

Four Genomics researchers busted the myths around DNA.

Building a personal website to tell stories.

3Dlexia: The new approach to the students' learning difficulties.

The robotic arm built by a 3D design application run the show!

Symmetry in the Art and Nature.

Constructing a basketball player, made of simple materials.

Imagination and creativity boost by materials of everyday use.

How to use baksetball as a learning tool for students.

One of the most effective ways to learn something new is by gaining some hands on experience of it – using our senses and our intellect and “getting our hands dirty” in order to approach it! This was the aim of this year’s workshops at the Athens Science Festival: to set a welcoming environment for the visitors to learn new things in a direct and interactive way.

Teachers of different grades got familiar with the principles of the enquiry-based learning, as well as with the use of innovative software that facilitates the learning process in the classroom. Others set about constructing a basketball player, made of simple materials of everyday use, with the intention to use it as a means of teaching. The results were fantastic and unique! One of the most classic board games in everyone´s childhood, Ludo, was integrated in the process of learning foreign languages, motivating even the “grumpiest” of students. Teaching Geometry acquired yet another dimension with the use of MaLT+ (MachineLab Turtleworlds), a software that enables the user to create three-dimensional geometrical constructions. Getting to know EU Comenius network MARCH, which is already present in six countries, inspired teachers and students to implement innovative activities in order to teach Science at schools.

However, the workshops held within the Athens Science Festival were not only for teachers. The Excellence Unit of TEI of Athens presented the autonomous robotic car DiyIOTCar and the sports wearable DIYiotCoach, a “smart” T-shirt consisting of multiple sensors that record the movement of the athlete who is wearing it. Equally interesting was the fact that these two projects have been developed by using open source software, which can be used by anyone freely, as well as be modified according to the user’s needs. Professional engineers got to know the first (“two-in-one”) worldwide CAD & CAE software- Geomiso, while others were building their first website. The robotic arm built by a 3D design application was absolutely on the spotlight and a flashback to the milestones of 3D printing evolution totally convinced us that we will experience the future in three dimensions! The mystery of the missing coal “haunted” us and thus we set off on a journey to find the Black Treasure. Have we really been more effective in treasure hunting compared to our little friends?

The symmetry that can be found everywhere in nature and in everyday life, from the hexagonal bee honeycombs to the paving of a sidewalk, has inspired the creation of unique pieces of art, some of which we met at the Escher workshop. The colourful and rich in symbolisms world of images invited us to decode it by creating our own posters, while two astro-photographers introduced us to the basics of capturing shots of distant objects. We attempted to explain natural phenomena in just 17 syllables, using Haiku poetry. Some succeeded and others were left wondering – how do the Japanese manage it? Maybe they just have it in their DNA! If it wasn’t for the four Genomics researchers that visited the Athens Science Festival to bust the myths around DNA and set the facts straight, we could have embraced this naive explanation.

What we know for sure is that these five days, full of learning, inspiration, challenges and fun left no visitor unmoved! What about you? Will you join us next year?