C1. SPAIN - ALCALÁ DE HENARES
APRIL 2023
APRIL 2023
At 9 in the morning we started our meeting with some IceBreaking Activities, our first contact. The Italian partners are still traveling to Alcalá, so they cannot participate in these first activities. At 9:30 a.m. we went to a hall offered by the Local Council of Alcalá de Henares, where different students from the reception center welcomed us. Then we started our work on the environment, which we already started at the meeting in Greece, organizing our own COP. In it, we reached agreements to try to avoid the rise in the global temperature of the planet. Italian partners arrived during this activity.
At 1:00 p.m. we went to the reception in the town hall, where the councilor in charge of the youth section had a little chat with us.
Next, we went to eat some delicious dishes cooked by the Spanish students. In the afternoon, we finished the first day with a tour of the city, with some great guides, students and former students of the school.
At 9 in the morning we begin our activities in the hall offered by the Local Council of Alcalá de Henares. We begin with the theme of light, topic of this meeting. The first is an explanation of a brief history of the scientific understanding of light, followed by an explanation of art and light and light and mathematics. Next we carry out an activity with a pinehole camera and doing calculations with Thales's theorem. We managed to measure a real tree thanks to the image formed in the pinehole camera. Meanwhile, the teachers held a coordination meeting.
Afterwards, we return to the school to work in the computer room on the subject of Jean Laurent photography and visit the museum about this artist, which is part of the school.
We have lunch in a restaurant near the school and in the afternoon we return for our last activity of the day, a scientific escape room on the theme of light. In it we carry out experiments to recover "stolen light".
Wednesday was the day planned to visit Madrid. All Erasmus groups started the day early, in a bus rented by Spanish coordinators to take them to Madrid University. They visited the faculty of optics and optometry, where they had interesting activities concerning light. First, there was a welcome speech and afterwards an enlightening lecture by professor Javier Alda about light and the uses of it as well as optics and photonics. Right after the end of the lecture, students used the information they had got to work on three activities, divided in three groups with mixed nationalities rotating with one another. The first activity took place in the optometry museum and it brought students in touch with the historic aspect of optical objects. During the second activity students experienced the view of images through different polarized filters and the third took place in laboratories with modern equipment, where the students observed the use of technology in the science of optics.
When all activities were completed, the bus took all the partners to an international heritage monument, the Retiro Park in Madrid. There they enjoyed a beautiful natural landscape in the middle of the big city as well as a meal, having a picnic on the grass. Their visit through the city continued in the Interpretation Center, a part of the City Hall in order to see “Paisaje de la Luz”. After that the groups had free time, so they chose to visit some museums, such as the Prado and the Reina Sofia Museum and to stroll around the city to admire the architecture of buildings and the great squares, Plaza del Sol and Plaza Mayor.
On Thursday all the Erasmus+ partners met in the morning and set off to Toledo. Our first stop was to take a group photo with the stunning view of the ancient city of Toledo. Then, after reaching the city center, the students were divided into their groups and started a photo contest. They had to take photos of the most important monuments in the square market in Toledo. The winners were the students who managed to find all the marked attractions and take a photo of them. During that contest time, the teachers were also involved in visiting the city. They were visiting The Primatial Cathedral of Saint Mary built in Gothic style, with a ceiling fresco made by Luca Giordano. The light coming into the Cathedral makes an impression that it comes directly from Heaven. Also, the light changes during the day so different parts of the Cathedral are lit and the perception is different. They could also observe the influence of light on the El Greco painting “The Disrobing of Christ” which is astonishing and reveals the power of Greco´s colors in connecting the human world with heaven. They also managed to visit the Councils and Visigoth Culture Museum where they were able to admire reliefs, epigraphic objects, paintings, historical documents and gold work and trousseau from the cemetery of Carpio de Tajo. After eating packed lunch all the group went to Church of Saint Thomas to see one of the El Greco masterpieces: “The burial of the Count of Orgaz” which depicts the local legend in which the Saints Augustine and Stephen descend from heaven to bury the Count of Orgaz. The last point of the day was the visit at the Museum of El Greco which consists of two buildings, a 16th-century house with a courtyard and an early 20th century building forming the museum, together with a garden. The house recreates the home of El Greco, which no longer exists.
After coming back to Alcala, the students had time to meet and integrate in international groups and teachers went to have dinner at La Seda restaurant where they could taste some typical, Spanish dishes.
On Friday all the partners met at school to continue their working activities.
Students were divided in five groups and dealt with Dissemination materials in different formats of the topics worked on during the previous activities, realizing some products.
Teachers met to talk about the Dissemination activity in their schools and agreed that in each school they would organize an exhibition at the end of May throughout all June, inviting the whole local community: local, nearby schools, local authorities, families and students to visit the exhibition. The students involved in the project should show all what they have done during these three years of work.
In the afternoon, the participation certificates were distributed in an emotional ceremony. Next, the students and teachers enjoyed the farewell party for the meeting, hoping to meet again in the future.
Products
Video recorded with the StopMotion technique explaining what was worked on in the COP activity on the environment.
Podcast where students explain what they have learned in the activity of light and emotions.
Students create an infographic on Paseo de la Luz, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO
In this activity, the students visited the Complutense University, the College of Optics and Optometry. As a result of the activity, the students created a video.
Interview with students participating in the On the shoulders of giants Erasmus+ project
Digital magazine created by the Italian students about the meeting in Alcalá de Henares (Spain)
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4
Video 5
Video 6
Materials
COP Activity. Enviroment
Pinhole Camera Activity. Light
Escape Room Activity. Light
European School Education Platform activity
Literature, light and emotions activity. Light