The Students' Exchange at Šolski center Slovenske Konjice-Zreče, Slovenia, from May 16th -20th 2022, was the second students' mobility within the project GEMS of Europe. The activities, which were carried out in accordance with the timeline set before the beginning of the project, were focused on the main themes addressed by the project, hence game-based learning and inquiry-based projects. There were only two weeks between the first and the second student exchange programme, but we organized the activities in a way that there was enough time for the partners to fully prepare for the meeting. The main topic area was science and humanities and the activities of the week were centered around these themes.

Prior to the meeting, every partner created an offline board game and all these games were tested and played by the students during the exchange. Every game was accompanied by a full description and they were about the information shared by partner countries during the first year of the project. The games were evaluated according to a set of criteria. These games have become so successful that we have agreed to multiply them with a view of reaching a wider audience. At the beginning of the meeting, students presented important national figures from the area of science and humanities and all these presentations were accompanied by interactive games. Students were also arranged in international groups and every team was allocated a topic they needed to make research on during the week. The topics were: food, social interaction, foreign languages, aspects of daily life, architecture and landscape. During the whole week students collected information on their topics and presented their findings during the last day. During the implementation of the projects students were in charge of collecting information, pictures, interacting with locals and presenting their findings with their peers in their chosen way. These mini projects proved to be extremely beneficial and informative and enabled students to immerse in the local culture in a way that they collect as much information and impression as possible.

Very interesting and useful workshops were organized in the topics of  history, folklore, art & technology. They were called MODERN HISTORY and SMALL IS BIG. In both workshops students recreated traditional art pieces or created art of their own with the help of technology. These creative workshops will be reorganized in partner schools.

One of the main objectives of the project is finding creative ways of improving mental skills and embedding them into existing school systems with a focus on enhancing motivation. That is why a workshop was organized on brain training and mental games. This interactive workshop equipped students with good practices to improve their mental skills. It was implemented as a extracurricular activity and around 50 students were involved in this type of informal education.

During the week we got acquainted with the activities of the Slovenian partner school and got an insight into the Slovenian educational system. We had a chance to meet the mayor of Slovenske Konjice and we could discuss some possible future collaborations.

There were several field trips and cultural activities organized. Every field trip was organized in an interactive way so that students carried out activities and quizzes to gain knowledge about the places we visited. We had a tour of Slovenske Konjice, Ljubljana, Maribor, Ptuj and Bled. We visited a historical Charter House and admired the scenic beauty of the country.

Taking intercultural learning and cultural and historic knowledge exchange as the basic objective of every Erasmus+ exchange we surely contributed to it in the most intense way and all the time throughout the project: staying with the host families and getting familiar with the customs, food, values. As most of the activities took place in the school we also caught a glimpse of the life of the school. The teachers had an opportunity to observe and discuss lessons.

During the last evening an Intercultural sleep-over was organized at school with folk dances, songs, sketches, fun quizzes about the country and games. The findings of the mini projects were also presented there.

The participating teachers had a project meeting to discuss and agree on issues related to project management and made preparations for the next student exchange programme.

The presence of foreign students and teachers was known by all school students, parents, and staff. Local authorities, representatives from the schools of the region as well as the media were invited to attend project activities and reported the project in the local newspaper and the local television. A meeting with the mayor was organised and the project was promoted.

At the end of the mobility the participating students and teachers completed questionnaires with observations, assessment and comments. Their experience was analysed within project teams and their reflections were collected in the project blog in the form of a diary as well as different testimonials about the experience. A blog entry jointly edited by the partner countries was made for each day. In the third project newsletter (compiled by the Spanish team) a detailed description of the mobility is given accompanied by reviews written by all partners.

Mini group projects: