No Gender Gap

ERASMUS+ KA2 STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

NO GENDER GAP
Resources, methodologies, approaches and tools for the professional
development of educators working in adult education centers

INDEX

Intro 1

1 How to be a good communicator 5
1.1 Intro and preliminary info 5
1.2 Reasons to invest in mentoring of people with fewer opportunities 6
1.3 Erasmus+ and Inclusion 6
1.4 The Hero’s Journey adapted to a Mentor life 8
1.5 Another tool we need to use is Emotional Intelligence 11
1.6 Set your intention 13
1.7 Self-awareness 14
1.8 Self management 15
1.9 Other awareness 18
1.10 Relationship management 20

2 Why use a robot in adult disadvantaged women education? 21
2.1 But I am not a technician! 21
2.2 Educational approach 22
2.3 How to pick up a device 24
2.4 Software and Educational platforms 25
2.5 Example activity: use computer’s sensors 28
2.6 Example activity: Simulate robots 31
2.7 Example activity: 3D modelling 34

3. The new technological era in the Portuguese education system 36
3.1 Overview 36
3.2 History of today 37
3.3 The Magalhães program as best practice 37
3.4 The E-escolinha program 39
3.5 From paper to computer 39
3.6 Teacher profile in Portugal 39
3.7 Inclusion of STEM 40
3.8 The most powerful methodologies used in education in Portugal 43
3.9 Adult education in Portugal 45
3.10 Bibliography 48

4. Getting Out of the Comfort Zone. Might be Comfortable 49
4.1 Overview 49
4.2. Women and Technology – Technology and me? 49

4.3 Best Practise: Just Start! 51
4.4 Didactic Suggestions 54

5. No Gender Gap. Best practices guide 59
5.1 Introduction 59
5.2 EAL / United Kingdom 59
5.3 Kawasaki Robotics / Germany 61
5.4 Università di Napoli Federico II / Italy 63
5.5 Pearson / United Kingdom 64
5.6 European Commission / EU 65
5.7 Conclusions 67

No Gender Gap - Methodological Guide Erasmus KA2 Strategic Partnership
INTRO
Technology and digitalization will be a nursery for new jobs in the coming
years. Specifically, according to Randstad, 390,000 direct jobs related to
science, technology, engineering and mathematics in Spain alone.
However, if the trend does not change dramatically in a short time, most of
these positions will be filled by men, and therefore, the gender gap will
only grow.
Through this project we propose to include a set of basic skills for the
professional development of training curricula in women. Therefore, we
have formed a partnership composed of entities with experience in
training and integration of women, eager to contribute their know-how to
a transnational project.
The objectives facing the project are the following:
-improve the attractiveness of STEM disciplines (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics) through the use of robotics and
automation, which have proven to be a means of successful involvement;
-Promote digital literacy and critical thinking in women, especially those in
situations of social exclusion and belonging to disadvantaged groups, thus
reducing the gender gap and improving access to the labor market;
-To improve the professional competences of teachers through new
methodological approaches;
-To Create new international approaches aimed at reducing gender
inequalities in access and participation in new technologies;
-To capture the attention of women towards the ICT industry and
especially in robotics, emphasizing those activities with more possibilities
of achieving an effective insertion in the labor market;
-To offer training centers with a gender perspective that allows them to
rethink their training approach and seek opportunities for a more
egalitarian sector;
-To establish advisory measures that facilitate the transition of the
technology industry towards greater gender awareness and balance;
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-To increase the recognition of competencies and create the conditions
that allow the realization of new programs with greater performance.
The project is aimed at both educators and women at risk of social
exclusion and belonging to disadvantaged groups (eg unemployed,
victims of gender violence, refugees, without university studies, residents in
rural areas) who want to improve their skills professionals in a sector where
high demand from companies in the world of ICTs can significantly reduce
the unemployment rate.The partnership agrees to carry out a project that
can have beneficial effects on educators, trainers and women and can
increase their personal and professional influence on the Internet to
reduce gender gaps, promote the social and labor insertion of women and
generate a community of women with greater interest in the use of
technology to promote entrepreneurship and self-employment.The entire
partnership wants to contribute to internationalize their experiences and
improve their knowledge in order to achieve the common objectives
mentioned above, specifically in a sector and towards a target group
currently considered a top priority for European strategies for inclusion,
education and employment
The project will also produce innovative approaches, methodologies and
tools that will be useful internationally, as they are translated into multiple
languages and easily accessible. Finally, the visibility of the results of the
project will have an impact on different stakeholders that will significantly
improve the international visibility of the partners and at the same time
improve the perspective of European policies on employment and
education issues, contributing to reducing the current euro skepticism. in
many areas of European society.Only 15.4% of the specialists in information
and communication technologies (ICT) in Spain were women in 2016.
A level slightly lower than that of the European Union (EU) which stood at
16.7%, according to Eurostat. The figures show that women are
“underrepresented” among ICT specialists in all Member States.Through
this project, we propose to include a set of basic competences for the
professional development of the training curricula in women.
The objectives that the project faces are the following:-improve the
attractiveness of the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics) through the use of robotics and automation, which have
proven to be a means of successful involvement.
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Promote digital literacy and critical thinking in women, especially those in
situations of social exclusion and belonging to disadvantaged groups, thus
reducing the gender gap and improving access to the labour
market;Improve the professional competences of teachers through new
methodological approaches.
The project is aimed at both educators and women at risk of social
exclusion and belonging to disadvantaged groups (unemployed, victims of
gender violence, refugees, without university studies, residents of rural
areas) who want to improve their skills professionals in a sector where the
high demand by companies in the world of ICTs can significantly reduce
the unemployment rate.The partnership has agreed to hold some initial
information sessions to raise awareness of the project, attract teachers and
students who will participate in the project and receive feedback to guide
the products towards the real needs of the beneficiaries.All the partners
will work in partnership for the realization of a course in MOOC modality
and in digital format .pdf for the realization of a Robot.
The course will be oriented to teachers and educators, although it may also
be used for other users. Next, we will develop a methodology guide that
includes the most innovative and proven tools and approach for teachers
and educators of adult training centers.
The “learning-by-doing” model with an immersion experience will be
fostered, in which teachers and a group of women will carry out the
construction, on a small scale, of a robot through Arduino and
ScratchGuides was created for adult education and training centers for the
development of tutoring skills (mentoring)-It will establish a recognition
system and a tele-training platform with the use of webinars.
The expected learning results once the project is finished:
-Enriching the professional profile of the teachers involved, connecting the
world of education with the business world
-Promotion of technology and robotics in adult schools as transversal
components of school curricula.
-The innovation of adult schools and training schools through active
learning tools and methodologies.
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-Knowledge, technical skills and competences about the use of tools that
are important today in various jobs and different sectors.
Thanks to these projects, the women users of the partners will have more
job opportunities, they will be encouraged to actively participate in the
social and cultural life of the communities where they live and will develop
personal and professional skills that will provide them with new
opportunities. The partners will experience an improvement in their
operational capacity thanks to the internationalization of their activities
and the local communities will be more interested in European education
and employment policies, seeing the real and direct benefits very close to
them.

The content of this guide does not reflect the official opinion of the
European Union. Responsibility for the information and views expressed in
the document lies entirely with the authors. It is not allowed to market the
content of this guide not to copy or edit it without the express content of
the authors.
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1 How to be a good communicator, how to motivate a group
and how to mediate in conflict situations

1.1 Intro and preliminary info
In the next pages, we want to help you get started on this adventure. In
order to do this, we want to introduce to you a very special method called
The Hero’s Journey, to represent how to be a good mentor with all the
relevant phases and factors that come into play and, of course, your place
in this story, and the impact you may have on it. Additionally you can find
some good reasons to be motivated to get involved in training in a
non-formal education field. Indeed, in every adventure there is a time when
the challenges seem useless and you may be tempted to refuse the call.
Before you do that, read these pages! If it is not enough, you can refuse
your involvement as easily as you can close this book. But, if you decide to
continue reading, you´ll be passing the threshold of this introduction and
jumping into an extraordinary world of mentorship and training.
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1.2 Reasons to invest in mentoring of people with fewer opportunities
Non formal education is considered a tool to enable more people to enter
into the Labor Market, especially youngsters at the first job placement or
NEET - Not (engaged) in Education, Employment or Training - by
increasing their chances due to the development of new skills and
competences. This statement is supported by the results of several
researches that shows that between 50%-80% of respondents affirms that
the non formal education enhances chances of young people especially
when they apply for a traineeship or internship, employment or further
education. Personally, we made a survey to 200 former learners in our non
formal activities in the year of 2018. By the results, over 60% of the
respondents affirm to have learnt a lot and 98% of them believe it will be
useful in future: learning outcomes will be transferred into the working
place (65%) but as well in other context like daily life (66%) or university and
formal studies (12%). These goals are not only impressive but they could be
even crucial for the socially or economically disadvantaged people or less
qualified, drop-out or people already out of the educational cycle.

This is possible because non formal activities promoted by Erasmus+
provides an alternative learning experience to achieve skills and
competences. Indeed, non formal education activities are considered a
learning opportunity even if there is nothing related to schools or
traditional educational systems. It is common to agree that learning is not
only regarding the knowledge we got at school. It happens in everyday life
and in every context: it happens even when there is any intention to learn
something.

For example, we can learn foreign language by singing a song or we can
develop teamwork skills by playing volleyball! This is what is called informal
learning. Thinking about learning in this new perspective, it is clear that
what we learn at school is only a little part of the whole learning happening
in our life. Some research shows that more than 70% of the learning comes
from no formal learning: we learn even more in alternative ones than in the
school system! Already more than 80 years ago, an educational reformer
called John Dewey claimed the need of a radical change in the educational
field based on reducing the distance between the learning happened in
the school system with the one that happened out of this setting.

1.3 Erasmus+ and Inclusion
Some people are excluded in our society depending on a variety of factors.
Sometimes there are even hidden social obstacles or sometimes obstacles
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come and grow together: for example, economical ones usually are not
alone and they could be linked to unemployment or social problems. There
are young people who are at a disadvantage compared to their peers
because they face one or more of the exclusion factors. We also know that
technology and robotics in general are fields in which only 12% of women
are involved, and this is not because they don’t like it but is more because
of the culture of our society and the way the Trainers and Mentors use to
teach it. We have to seduce them!
This situation often prevents them from taking part in employment, formal
and non-formal education, trans-national mobility, democratic process and
society at large. This is what we mean when we say: “Youth People with
Fewer Opportunities” (YPFO). As mentors and trainers we should be aware
that everyone can be with few opportunities in life facing some obstacles,
in some way, at any moment. There are not people totally included or
totally excluded but there is a scale. We should know the obstacles and
what prevents exclusion. We have to consider it in our activities. The
ambition of the Erasmus+ program is to be accessible to all young people
and the activities we plan are inclusive too¡. It means that inclusive projects
should have a positive impact on the situation of YPFO.

What we can do is to adopt an inclusive approach, which means we have
to focus our work not only on the women but also on our organizational
procedures.

There are 'keys to success' serving as a guide for organizations to improve
the quality of their projects, to improve the situation of YPFO and to reduce
obstacles for a variety of target groups:
● Keeping people with fewer opportunities at the center
● Dealing with diversities of all kinds
● Using non-formal learning
● Keeping eyes on the long-term impact
● Ensuring a holistic approach and partnership

You should focus first on the person.

Don’t pretend to know what they really are feeling now but be open
minded, listen to your learners and focus on what the person is trying to
communicate to us.

It’s clear that it is not so easy. It is essential, of course, you know the target
because you have to adapt the methodology to that. That means, in few
words, to realize a tailor-made project. Inclusion is not something that
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happens by itself; inclusive projects need efforts and active actions. In few
words, it means time, money and resources to invest on it.
Some learner take so much time which in reality should be dedicated to
our own job. How many resources can be addressed to only one woman
among all the tasks you have to do? This is a common question for the
trainers and mentors regarding time and resources management. Again,
there is not a standard answer or defined amount of time to dedicate on it
but, if needed, you can implement an additional resource: the “Reinforced
Mentorship”.

The Reinforce Mentorship is a measure to provide additional mentoring to
increase individual support by organizations. Be aware that it represents an
additional task to the daily work so the suggestion is to find a resource
totally dedicated on it. Other ways you get the opposite results: the
Reinforce Mentorship is even harder because you give even more tasks to
the trainer and it becomes something more s/he has to do.

1.4 The Hero’s Journey adapted to a Mentor life
This is a general term to describe an adventure, a transformative
experience, a journey that will determine change, learning and experience.
It’s used now as a general term, but it was first introduced by Joseph
Campbell in his amazing work “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” , a
comparative study of myths, legends and stories collected from all over the
world. Campbell noted that there seems to be one single story that links us
all, and called it “The Monomyth” ( = the one story), or “The Hero’s Journey”.
Basically, we can say that it means that in each story there are always the
same elements.
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It's the storyline of each movie, novel, fairy tale. Somebody starts small, in
their everyday life where everything is under control… mmmh but maybe
not quite.
Then something happens that brings a change. Willing or not, our
character (unwilling to be called “hero” – for now) will start a journey that
will change his life, and his world, forever.

For instance, George Lucas, the man behind Star Wars, says that learning
about Joseph Campbell at the university gave him the original idea for the
story of his movie. He was the first filmmaker to admit it and credit
Campbell for his work; and since then it has become extremely well known,
even sometimes to fall into some sort of a cliché. Hollywood script writers,
game designers, novelists around the world refer now to “The Hero’s
Journey” as a fail-proof checklist, to follow as a quality measure of their
work.

What’s So Cool about “The Hero’s Journey”?

In one word: everything!

It’s a strong, universal story that is able to speak to all of us. It’s the
archetype of a story. And we love it, out of our instinct, because it’s the
matter of which fairy tales, cartoons, myth, legends, and even religions are
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made of. We love it, because that’s how a good story must be told. And we
all know it.

We really live it every day. when we get out from our comfort zone; live an
experience – pleasant or not; meet people and face challenges; get some
sort of learning or ‘reward’; develop a new potential or learn a lesson, and
go back to square one. Ready to start all over again.
Now, try to think about our learners as the heroes, and we act as mentors.
Just think about Gandalf in Lord of the Ring, or “Doc” in “Back to the future.
They are the mentors of the heroes, and they also the heroes of their own
stories.

This structure gives a clear picture of what we want to achieve with this
methodology and it helps to describe activities and results. On the other
hand, if we focus our attention on the roles of the mentors we could risk to
have a limited perception of their involvement. Actually, the mentor is not
responsible for only one-step; their involvement is requested in all of the 3
steps and their tasks are much more than it may appear at a first sight.

The core of this method is based on the process of comparing the
Erasmus+ activity to an adventure and it works because it makes this story
familiar to some pattern we know since childhood, like a fairy tale. Indeed,
the representation of the “hero” has a big power on the imagination of
each person because of its deep symbolic effect.

The advantage of using it is represented by the fact that this method
provides a key to “read” the complexity of the activity and, at the end, we
can easily analyze the elements of the story, like our role as mentor. In
other words, it creates a kind of map which allows us to see all the actors,
steps and phases in the journey of the volunteer and, based on that, we
can easily plan which resources we should provide to better support each
volunteer in any personal story.

Let’s start from the beginning and follow me. Each story starts in a certain
moment because something happens; then everything becomes an
adventure out of daily life. A lot of new things happen as well as difficulties
and challenges but there is an external guide to support and to give advice
to the hero (the mentor).

At a certain moment, there is a big challenge for the hero, so huge that
s/he gets unsafe starting doubting about his/her own ability to solve it.
Most of the time the problem is solved and the winning shows the hero
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empowered by the awareness of his own strengths. The success brings a
final reward and the story ends with the return to daily life. If you use your
imagination and you reflect about the tales you know, you may discover
they are all following this pattern, with only few exceptions.

Now, if you try to adapt to your non formal learning activity on this frame
you can better see at which phase your hero is living now, and even a
complex story can become familiar.

What I like about this methodology is that it helps people to orientate and
to understand which step you have to do in order to go on and to develop
yourself. You know that maybe you are staying at home refusing all the
calls for adventure in your life or, if you are into the adventure and you are
tired or maybe something is going wrong, it can be quite normal because
it is an essential step to do if you want to get the reward in your
community. If we apply this methods in our training activities, is easier to
“read” better the whole story and, what is relevant for us, it allows us to plan
our intervention to support better our learners. The result is that we can
understand better the complex experience and we can conduct deep
analysis of key moments, orienting our actions on that. In a few words, to
know how we can support people with fewer opportunities, and in this
case, women that refuse the call of adventure (robotic) .

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
Joseph Campbell

1.5 Another tool we need to use is Emotional Intelligence
Our thoughts and emotions are our most powerful tools that either “make
or break” our survival through these difficult and unprecedented times.
While we cannot control the pandemic or the fear or the uncertainty it
brings, we can control how we face it. This is why practicing and
developing emotional intelligence is more important now than ever.

Emotional Intelligence (EI or EQ) is the ability to recognize, understand,
and manage emotions—both your own and those of other people around
you. Emotional Intelligence is much more than “soft skills”; it contains
essential skills which are vital in any profession.

Our emotional intelligence dictates how we manage ourselves, how we
deal with people, how effectively or ineffectively we communicate, how
well we handle feedback and setbacks, and much more. In the field of non
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formal education working with people with fewer opportunities,
developing emotional intelligence is critical not only for our own benefit,
but it is key to effectively support the people with whom we work.

Proficiency in Emotional Intelligence is the single greatest differentiator in
leadership today. Even if you aren’t familiar with the specifics of EI, you
have undoubtedly experienced the difference between someone who is
consistently aware of how their emotions impact others and someone who
is not. This explains why the World Economic Forum has identified 2 of the
top 10 essential skills for the 2020 workplace in the field of emotional
intelligence.

As a mentor and trainer of people with fewer opportunities, you have to
empower them to utilize their passions, interests, talents, and hobbies to
affect positive change in their communities. Yet, we quickly realized that
we couldn’t expect them to see themselves as community leaders until
they had developed their own self awareness, learned how to work
effectively with others, and honed tools to overcome challenges. In other
words, they needed emotional intelligence training. In order to support our
groups, we ventured down our own path of EI and created experiential EI
workshops to share our findings.

As we face COVID19, it is normal that this target group is turning towards
mentors and leaders for support and guidance. In a similar token, as
trainers and mentors, we are also looking towards the directors and
managers of our NGOS for advice and direction. Now more than ever, we
need leaders to act not just with strength and direction – but we need
them to act with compassion and emotional intelligence. Whether we are
youth workers, trainers, managers or directors of NGOs, it is our moral
responsibility to lead with emotional intelligence.

There is a great strength in embracing our emotions, and empowering
others to do the same. Until recently, emotional intelligence, and the
discourse around emotions, was largely reserved for outside of the office
environment. Many people falsely believe that expressing emotions should
be compartmentalized for our personal lives only. This myth that bringing
our emotions into the workplace is unprofessional, is not only dangerous
for our mental and emotional health, it is detrimental to our work efficiency
as well. As humans, we are inherently emotional beings, and it is practically
impossible to completely divorce ourselves from our emotions while
“clocked in” at work;

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Anxiety, sadness, fear, frustration, distractedness – these emotions are not
only normal aspects of the human experience, but they’re expected during
a pandemic. If we’re all having these thoughts and emotions anyway, then
the interactions we have must reflect that, in a productive manner.

Luckily for us, emotional intelligence is not an innate trait, but something
that can be developed. We can all grow and develop our emotional
intelligence and leverage the skills to support those around us to do the
same. All we need to do is understand the tools in each category and find
ways to put them into practice on a daily basis.

1.6 Set your intention
It is important to set your own specific intentions. Don’t try to develop all
these areas at one time, otherwise it is more likely that in the end you won’t
develop any of them. Instead, select one or two tools you want to be more
mindful about and truly start developing now. You can always work up to
cross more off the list, but slow and steady wins the race. Patience and
self-compassion are key to developing your EI.

Write down your personal intentions and keep them with you. We often
tell participants at our training courses to put their challenges to paper and
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post them in a visible area of their room or home to keep as a constant
reminder.
Each person is different – some might like to work on their challenge for
one week and then try another one. Others might like to stick with their
challenge for a whole month or longer.

We know people who set different daily challenges. Really decide for
yourself how long you want to focus on your intention before you pick
another one. Ask yourself what will be the most helpful and feasible plan
for you? In addition to using these tools for yourself, try and see where and
how you can share them with others. After all, we can ALL benefit when we
make the effort to enhance our emotional intelligence skills.

1.7 Self-awareness
Your ability to recognize how your feelings impact your behavior, and your
interactions with others.
Self-Awareness is actually the foundation of emotional intelligence, so it’s
the best place to start! Tools to develop your own self-awareness:

1. Name your emotions. The more you can bring curiosity to your emotional
state, the better you will be able to manage your own emotions. There are
no such things as “good or bad” emotions. Emotions can be pleasant or
unpleasant to experience, and of course some emotions are more
challenging than others; however, all emotions provide data and
information for us. Each emotion contains information from which we can
learn, that is, if we are up to it.
The best place to start is to sense the emotions in our body and to identify
them. When we name and label our emotions accurately, we can more
fully understand the reasons why we are experiencing them and eventually
take appropriate action. Developing our emotional literacy is essential in
this matter.

2. Be mindful of the language you use. When we say things like “I’m sad” or
“I’m scared” we are giving that emotion authority over our entire identity.
When we do, it’s quite easy to hold on to the motions, and feel like they’re
the ones in charge. It’s important to remember that we are not our
emotion and they don’t define us.
Instead, label your emotions in a way that creates space between you, such
as using phrases like “I’m noticing the feeling that I’m sad”, or “I’m noticing
I’m experiencing sadness”. In this way, you don’t let your emotions define
you, but recognize them for what they are – fleeting sensations and
thoughts – not facts.
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3. Show selective vulnerability to your professional network. In these times,
it would seem strange and robot-like to ignore the big fat pink pandemic
in front of us all and not confront it, or the range of emotions it brings to
the team. Being comfortable with vulnerability and sharing your own
feelings will build trust among your youth and your colleagues.

Of course, selective vulnerability is the key for leaders. While open sharing
can help people to feel more comfortable and connected, oversharing can
make teams lose faith in their leader. Mollie West Duffy, the author of No
Hard Feelings states, “Doing selective vulnerability well means walking that
fine line between acknowledgement (‘I also feel worried – you’re not alone
in that!’) and demonstrating leadership by finding a path forward (‘Given
the situation, here are the steps we plan to take to address it.’)”. (2020).
1.8 Self management
Your ability to take control over your impulses and emotional reactions.
According to George Kohlriese, professor of Leadership and Organizational
Behavior at the International Institute for Management Development
(IMD) in Switzerland, the number one characteristic that distinguishes the
best leaders is their ability to stay balanced: “We did research with over
1,000 executives from around the world, CEOs, Board members, top
leaders, about the characteristics of the best leaders. The number one
response is the ability to stay calm and collected. In a crisis, being able to
manage your own emotions and stay calm, be able to create this island of
security and not spread your tension around.” (2016).

This is certainly no easy feat during a global pandemic and the various
emotions it brings. However, our emotions are contagious. Therefore, as
leaders it is critical to be aware of which emotions we bring and spread to
our colleagues and youth groups.
In her book, Emotional Agility, Dr. Susan David, emphasizes 4 key steps to
creating emotional strength and adaptiveness to change: showing up,
stepping out, walking your why, and moving on (2016).

1.Showing Up:
One of the easiest ways to keep yourself in a miserable loop of unpleasant
emotions is by guilting/shaming yourself that you “shouldn’t” feel a certain
way. Tough emotions are on the other side of the coin of joy and optimism.
You can’t have one side without the other. Instead, it’s best to sit with the
discomfort. Own it, be present, face your thoughts and feelings with
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curiosity and acceptance. Only in that way can you eventually ask yourself
“why are you feeling a certain way?” and what information can it bring to
you to support you in moving through it, and releasing yourself from the
vicious cycle?

2. Stepping Out:
Create space and detachment from your emotions and inner thoughts
(like being mindful of the language you use, which we spoke about earlier).
As psychologist and Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl wrote, “Between
stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to
choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom”
(1984).
Mindfulness exercises and Box breathing can help create that space and
distance between our thoughts and our unfiltered reactions. They provide
us with time to deliver responses, which is a reaction with thought and
intention.
Essentially, you inhale for 4 seconds, hold it in for 4 seconds, exhale for 4
seconds, and hold it out for 4 seconds. While it seems like an extremely
basic tool, it is actually used by the United States Army Seals to destress in
their most challenging obstacles. (2019).

3. Walking Your Why:
Our values are at the core of who we are. If we can outline clearly what our
values are, and define them, we can leverage them to be the driving force
out of our unpleasant emotions. For example, we can ask ourselves, “How
are my current actions reflecting my top values?”, “What can I do
differently right now to live into my values?”
As these are unprecedented times, there is no doubt Coronavirus will be
written about in history books. In the future, when you look back at this
period of your life (maybe you’re telling your children or grandchildren
about this period), what is it you want to say about who it is you’ve been
during this time? How can you leverage that to drive your actions now?

4. Moving On:
The fourth step of Emotional Agility is moving on, which involves making
small, deliberate, adjustments to your mindset, motivation, and habits to
align them with your core values.
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There are a variety of ways to do this, but we are particularly fans of simple
reframing techniques – saying “I choose to… instead of I have to…” can
change our whole outlook and how we develop habits that reconnect with
our values.

As mentors, trainers and NGO managers, we have to first manage and
move through our own emotional obstacles before we can empower
others to do the same.
It’s a similar concept to when you fly on an airplane and the flight
attendant instructs you to “put your oxygen mask on first,” before helping
children; if you run out of oxygen yourself, you can’t help anyone else with
their masks. Our own emotional health is quite similar, so be sure to take
the time you need to focus on yourself – it will actually allow you to help
others more effectively.
1.9 Other awareness
Your capacity to tune into others and their feelings.
Keep in mind that COVID19 is impacting everyone, not just you and your
work. Reminding yourself that you have no idea what other people are
17

going through will ground you and make you a more understanding
leader.

Tools to develop other awareness/empathy:
1.Show up with compassion, not judgement. We are all managing the crisis
in our own way, and to the best of our abilities. Even if we may not agree
with all of the actions of those around us, it is important that we show up
with compassion and kindness. For example, we can ask ourselves, “What
is that person experiencing inside themselves that is driving this response
to buy excessive amounts of toilet paper?” Move out of judgement and
move towards grace and empathy for others.

2. Check in with your team. Despite the fact that our training programs
may no longer be running, or our weekly office meetings may have faded
out, reaching out to our network regularly is still important. People may be
suffering in silence, especially as they adapt to remote work, support family
and friends that may be ill or recovering, and navigate financial obstacles. If
you haven’t done so already by now, be sure to dedicate some work time to
truly check in, assess, and support your co-workers. However, be sure to do
it in the right way; a simple “how are you?” can easily spiral the
conversation into a negativity avalanche. Mollie West Duffy (2020)
recommends these five questions, that balance specificity and sensitivity,
as a starting point:
– How can I/we/our team best show up for you right now?
– What kind of flexibility do you/your family need right now?
– What’s challenging or surprising to you about working from home?
– What have you learned about yourself?
– How are you investing in your resilience right now? How can I support
that?

3. Create a safe space for emotions at work. The more you do to create the
setting for vulnerability and openness, the more beneficial it will actually be
to help people get back on track at work. In her Ted Talk, “ The Gift and
Power of Emotional Courage,” Susan David states, “When people are
allowed to feel their emotional truth; engagement, creativity, and
innovation flourish in an organization.” Only by addressing our emotions
and working through them, can we eventually re-focus on the professional
18

tasks at hand. Of course this is only possible if psychological safety exists,
which Google coined the number 1 most important factor for highly
successful teams. (2016).

With our learner groups it’s no different. More than ever, our role as trainers
and mentors is to create psychologically safe containers for them to
express the emotions that may be overwhelming them. Placing high
importance on understanding, instead of fixing, can help youth to feel
heard and recognized during what can be isolating times. Listening to
people’s fears and uncertainties, without judgement, goes a long way to
create trust and understanding. To evaluate the level of psychological
safety within your own organization take this quick assessment here.

1.10 Relationship management
Your ability to induce desirable responses in others.
As trainers, mentors and directors, it’s more important than ever to foster
belonging within our organizations, among our co-workers, and with our
youth as we all navigate change and uncertainty.
Things to do to develop relationship management competences:

19

1. Invest in relationships. Keep in mind that It’s not social distancing
– it’s physical distancing. Don’t just stick to the professional talk – set up
virtual coffee breaks, happy hours, and/or social meetups to bridge the
distance and foster a greater sense of belonging in the new remote work
environment. You can do this as well with your learner groups to enhance
their social interactions during quarantine and give them a reprieve to take
their minds off of the current challenges they face.

2. Express Gratitude. Gratitude is what I like to call the quick
mind-hack to happiness. The more we share our gratitude with others,
even for the small things, it not only boosts their mood, but ours as well.
Don’t forget to show appreciation to your colleagues for the big and small
things they are contributing to your team. Recognize their efforts during
these troubling times, and you’ll boost their morale and motivation at
work.

3. Connect to a greater purpose. While we may usually be attached to
our purpose and the impact we are making in the field of youth work on a
regular basis, Coronavirus and the delay of projects may lead us to feel
disconnected from the greater meaning behind our work. As trainers,
mentors and leaders, we can inspire others to use their creativity to offer
innovative solutions for engaging in meaningful interactions, coming
together, and helping each other, even with all the restrictions set in
place.For example, lately I’ve seen small acts of kindness for humanity –
donations to food banks, local volunteering efforts to support senior
citizens to get their groceries, gift cards to future meals at restaurants to
keep them in business, and much more. Even if you are unable to work in
the scope and area of your organization, doing something to give back and
empower your youth to do the same can support everyone’s mental and
emotional health.

Spend some time free writing and brainstorming multiple ideas to
complete this sentence: “Something I can contribute to the world right
now is….”
Be creative and think outside your usual scope of activities. There are many
ways to bring more connection and joy into this world if you are willing to
try.

20


2. Why use a robot in adult disadvantaged women education?

A situation of disadvantage or vulnerability for women may occur for
several reasons:

● Low level of education
● Low socioeconomic status
● Linguistic issues
● Being a victim of abuse, or women who live in violent environments
● Having a criminal record
● Cultural differences
● Disability
● Low self-esteem and confidence
● Other non mentioned reasons

In order to help disadvantaged women, all these issues must be addressed.
If the robot can't directly help disadvantaged women, on the other hand, it
could be a useful tool to support them: the robot could be a direct
teaching instrument, so that educational and linguistic levels could be
improved, or could be a support for motivation, stress management,
group work and inclusion, moreover the robot could be intended as a
medium in the communication between people, to increase
communication skills, and to bridge culture gaps and opinions.

Education through robotics helps students feel part of the learning
process, keeping them engaged and motivated. Moreover, when
educators build positive relationships and environments, students learn
better and at higher cognitive levels. Furthermore, such educational
settings can help increase self-esteem, confidence, respect between
students and group respect and identification. Robots can provide such
tools to educators, and help them achieve this kind of teaching
environment set-up.

2.1 But I am not a technician!

On your first attempt at educational robotics, you may find yourself
uncomfortable or scared by robot-supported teaching/learning. This is
totally normal because you are facing a new approach to teaching, and you
still do not know this perspective.

21

Our thought could be best expressed using a quote by Seymour Papert
(from "Teaching children thinking," in The Computer in the School: Tutor,
Tool, Tutee, edited by Robert Taylor) "The phrase 'technology and
education' usually means inventing new gadgets to teach the same old
stuff in a thinly disguised version of the same old way.". This means that
you are simply using a new instrument, to teach your usual topics.

Another element that can scare you at first approach is the apparent
difficulties of robotics. We can assure you: educational robots are explicitly
designed to be as simple as possible, and usually no prior knowledge or
background, nor hard technical skills, are needed. Just pick one instrument
- without any prejudice -, and start experimenting with it: you will surely
learn how to manage it, and you will imagine plenty of activities that you
can do with your students. Remember: there are various online - and offline
- communities and resources that can help and inspire you, also dozens of
other teachers and educators who have dealt with robotics, and shared
their experience and ideas.

2.2 Educational approach

As stated before, education through robotics does not stray far from
´ordinary´ didactics, so there is a wealth of educational approaches that
can be used. We have selected some of them, according to our educational
experience.

One of the best approaches in education through robotics is storytelling.
In this case, of course, we are talking about storytelling supported by digital
devices. Using digital storytelling, students can combine several learning
topics in a unique activity such as reading and writing skills,
communication and interaction skills, creativity and imagination, digital
and technical skills, and so on.

Robotics and digital software become mediums to animate and make
interactive stories. Robots can be characters of the story or could be
involved in human recital, as supporting actors that interact with humans,
or they could work as triggers for digital animations (i.e. make a
background recital transition when a defined action from an actor occurs).

In simpler terms, stories can be told through digital animation software,
creating a sort of digital storybook, that could be only virtual, or that can
interact with physical robots and devices.

22

Another interesting approach is the 4P's of the creative learning
approach. The 4P principle of creative learning - project, passion, peers,
play - were created and adopted by the MIT Media Lab research group, led
by Mitchel Resnick. They are inspired by the learning and didactics used in
kindergartens, where children develop their creative thinking going
through all phases of the realization of a project. They develop an idea,
create a project based on it, experiment with alternatives, and collaborate
and share experiences with their friends. The idea of the research group is
to extend this process in every phase of education, associating a meaning
to each of the 4Ps.

When you work on a project - instead of an abstract case - you learn better,
and develop skills and abilities in a motivating and realistic context. The
problems to be solved become part of the project, take on a concrete
meaning and are interrelated.

Peers can have several meanings. In Resnick's idea, this concept is related
to the fact that most creative learning is not individual, but a social activity,
with people exchanging ideas and collaborating on projects, confronting
and sharing both doubts and solutions.

When we work on projects that we are passionate about, and to which we
are attached, we are willing to work longer and harder, to be persistent in
case of difficulties, and we tend to do it better than when we have to do
something that we are not passionate about.

The word 'play' contains several meanings, all of which have deep didactic
value. In all these activities, we continuously experiment, try new things
and situations, take risks and expand our boundaries. As all this occurs, we
are also learning. If we think only about the concept of play, understood as
play and fun, we can realize that learning is better and more effective if
done through activities that allow us to have fun.

So, robots are very useful objects that allow working and playing with
peers, with passion for what we are doing, and in real cases and projects.

Two other methods, which are direct extensions of the 4P's, but that could
also be independent of it, are: the Project-Based Learning, and
Challenge-Based Learning.

These methods take into account that the students' learning takes place in
a mainly experiential way, while working on a project or challenge as real
23

and concrete as possible, which responds to a real and tangible problem.
Then, cooperation, evaluation, reasoning and critical thinking are
stimulated.

These approaches are aimed at real-world problems and the development
of skills that can be useful there. PBL and CBL help learners to develop a
variety of skills including the ability to work well with others, make
informed decisions, take initiatives, solve problems, and develop
self-learning skills and motivation to learn.

In class, opportunities are offered for teachers to communicate and
establish relationships with their students. Teachers must be ready to
change their role according to modern teaching practices and become
facilitators and structures for and of the learning process.

2.3 How to pick up a device
In the field of educational robotics, and whenever you want to use a robot
or a technological device to teach or learn something, you have to
remember that this device is only a tool that helps you achieve a goal and
that is to help the educational/learning process. As you use pens, pencils,
paper, books, video and so on to better teach something or to understand
and study a topic, you can use robots to support the learning.

In keeping with this point of view, looking to the robot as an educational
device, you understand how the device you pick up for the activity does
not matter, and the goal of the activity is not "teaching robotics", but
"teaching through robotics". The important element is the educational
approach you choose to use.

This, however, does not mean that every robotic kit could work for this
purpose. You have to select it, primarily, according to your educational
approach and your audience.

In this section, we are going to analyze some of the software and hardware
that could fit the objectives of this course and could aid in the education of
disadvantaged and inexperienced women.

The objectives of the use of these kits are to:
● Develop in a practical and didactic way, theoretical concepts
● Help women to improve their technological, creative and
entrepreneurial capacities
24

● Give a general picture, in a simple and fun way, of the possibilities of
using robotics and AI to improve the quality of life;
● Update the participants´ knowledge in the fields of mathematics,
science, logical thinking and literacy skills
● Suggest possible future updates through other courses or school
enrolment;
● Outline some ethical, legal and social aspects behind robotics

We propose, whenever possible, open-source systems. Whenever a viable
open-source option does not exist, we will suggest a closed-source tool
option.

2.4 Software and Educational platforms

Scratch - https://scratch.mit.edu

Description: The Scratch 3.0 GUI as of October 2018.
Date: 16 October 2018
Source: Own work
Author: Thenerdie
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike
4.0 International license.

SCRATCH is a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group, of the MIT Media
Labs. It is made available completely free of charge. It will allow the user to
create digital, interactive animations, stories, and games. The approach is
to code through a visual system, moving and placing instruction-blocks.
Scratch fosters creative and logical-systemic thinking and, moreover,
invites users to collaborate and share opinions, ideas and creations.

SCRATCH itself, or other software derived from it, can also be used to
program a wide range of educational robots.

25

On the webpage https://scratch.mit.edu/explore/projects/all is a collection
of public projects, created and shared by other Scratch users, that you can
use to explore the world of coding in SCRATCH, to learn how to program,
and to inspire you. You can look at every project, play with it, look at "what's
inside", understand the code, and you can "remix" every project, starting
from a published one and creating your own creation from it.

Furthermore, on the webpage https://scratch.mit.edu/ideas is a list of
educational ideas, lesson cards/plans, guides, starting projects and official
tutorials.

Google's Blockly Games - https://blockly.games/
Google's Blockly Games are a series of educational games that teach
programming. They are based on the Blockly library. All code is free and
open-source. This software was created to teach people with no prior
experience with programming, and lead the participants through a series
of games and challenges that help them to understand the basics of
programming. Starting from coding in a visual environment to creating
textual programs in javascript.

This software is explicitly children-oriented, but this does not mean that it
could not be used in adult education as it is engaging due to the structure,
based on challenges.

More information at https://github.com/google/blockly-games/wiki, and
information for educators is also available at
https://blockly.games/about?lang=en.

SNAP! - https://snap.berkeley.edu/
SNAP! Is a graphical programming environment, inspired by SCRATCH -
but based on a different architecture -. It allows for the creation of games
and animations, simply by coding using instruction blocks. These
capabilities are similar to that offered by Scratch. And while it has a less
esthetically pleasing Graphical Interface, it can achieve more complex
tasks.

Snap! is open-source.
Official manual available at
https://snap.berkeley.edu/snap/help/SnapManual.pdf. Example projects
can be found at https://snap.berkeley.edu/examples. You can find projects
published by other users an the homepage of the software.

26

Makey Makey - https://makeymakey.com/

Description: A Makey Makey circuit board
Date: 21 June 2015, 13:03:40
Source: Own work
Author: Padaguan
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike
4.0 International license.

Makey Makey is a board that can turn any conductive material into a
controller for PC's, as it turns the closing of a contact - through a
conductive material - into a keypress signal. It can be used to explore the
world of coding, giving it a counterpart in the physical world. It allows for
the exploration of conductivity, insulation, and the basics of electronics.
Furthermore, it stimulates cooperative and creative learning.

Resources and information on the official website.

27


2.5 Example activity: use computer’s sensors

Snap4Arduino - http://snap4arduino.rocks/
Snap4Arduino is a modification of Snap!. It inherits all the structure of
visual coding and the option of creating games and animations, with the
added feature of the possibility of programming a physical Arduino board.
It also offers the option of converting the code for the Arduino from the
graphical language to a textual language.

Using software of this type, lets users create games and animations, that
can interact with tangible devices, in the physical world, not being
constrained to a virtual environment.
28
EXAMPLE ACTIVITY: use computer’s sensors
Title Sensors in computers: digital sensor-controlled games
Target Group This scenario could be adapted to every educational need
Duration At least 4 hours
Expected
outcomes
-basics of coding and programming,
-what a sensor is
-how to make a computer interact with the environment,
-design
-collaboration
Methodologie
s
PBL
Learning
setting
IT Laboratory
Tools/resourc
es
-Computers
-visual programming software (like Scratch, mBlock, Snap!...),
-projector,
-audio system
Activity
description
Students
-Analyse several simple games
-project and design their own game, working in groups
-makes the main character be controlled using a PC sensor
(like microphone loudness or webcam). A board like Makey
Makey can be used instead.
Feedback Demo show


You can find more information, examples and demos on their website.

Arduino - https://arduino.cc

An Arduino Leonardo
Image from pixabay.com, author multiplexer, public domain image.

Arduino is both an open-source programmable hardware board and an
Integrated Development Environment to code the board itself. There are
different types of Arduino Boards in existence, but all of these can be
programmed through the Input/Output pins that can be used to connect
the board to several - virtually infinite - sensors and actuators. For this
reason, the Arduino boards do not have a unique purpose, and they are
commonly used in education, robotics, automation, and domotics for a
variety of different things.

The Arduino boards can be used in an educational environment because
they are quite easy-to-use, the official programming language can be the
first approach to textual languages, and both software and hardware are
well known and supported by a broad and active community. Moreover,
Arduino can help users to easily learn and understand the basics of
electronics and electricity.

Furthermore, Arduino can be programmed with unofficial languages,
simpler than the textual one, such as Snap4Arduino, Open Roberta Lab,
and others.

A lot of activities, examples, tutorials, suggestions and more, can be found
on the resources, community and help sections of the website.

Makeblock - https://makeblock.com
Makeblock is a company who deals with educational robotics. It developed
various interesting robots and software. On their page
http://learn.makeblock.com/, you can find the open-source projects which
29

involve several moving robots, 3D printers, plotters, and laser engraving
machines. The robots - such as the famous mBot - can be programmed
both through textual languages, and Scratch inspired visual language
(mBlock). These products let users experiment with the basics of coding
and robotics.

Open Roberta Lab - https://lab.open-roberta.org/
Open Roberta Lab is an open-source, cloud-based, programming
environment inspired by Scratch and other similar systems. Developed
during the German Education initiative "Roberta - Learning with robots",
initiated by Fraunhofer IAIS, the software allows for coding of several
species of robots, as well as to simulate a virtual wheeled robot, in a visual
language called NEPO®.

On their site, https://jira.iais.fraunhofer.de/wiki/display/ORInfo, you can find
the official documentation for Open Roberta lab, here you can find FAQs,
instructions, tutorials and lessons. Moreover, a Google community Group
exists at: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=de#!forum/open-roberta.

Thymio - http://www.thymio.org/
Thymio is a ready to use, yet easily modifiable in its appearance,
open-source robot developed to be simply programmable and
personalized. Moreover, it can be coded in different languages: from the
extremely simple visual VPL - that connects a reaction to an event - to
Aseba, a textual programming language, as well as the already seen
Scratch and Blockly. Furthermore, a simulator of the robot, to try a virtual
version, is available for free.

More information, examples and lessons on their official website.

30


2.6 Example activity: Simulate robots

31
EXAMPLE ACTIVITY: Simulate robots
Title Geometric shapes using simulated robots
Expected
outcomes
-basics of coding and programming
-geometric shapes
-basics of robotics
-collaboration
Methodologies Problem-solving
Learning
setting
IT Laboratory
Tools/resource
s
-Computers
-robot simulation software (like Open Roberta Lab,Thymio
suite, ...). Real robots can be used instead.
-projector
Activity
description
Students
-Observe simple geometric shapes (starting from squares and
rectangles), measures and think about the concept of angle,
extern and intern angle, edge, area, perimeter
-Program the simulated robot so that it can move following a
given geometric perimeter path
-Try to find a relation between the physical parameters of the
robot (i.e. wheels dimensions and position, number of rotation
of the weel…) and travelled distances and angles
Feedback Group discussion


SketchUp - https://sketchup.com
Sketchup is a software (unfortunately, not open-source but with a free to
use online version) created by Trimble. It is not strictly related to robots and
educational robotics, but it can be used in a digital supported learning
environment. The software allows for the creation, modeling, and
managing of 3D objects and shapes. It allows users to improve their
creative skills, as well as logical thinking and technical know-how. Quite
often used indirectly in the field of robotics for the creation of 3D models to
be printed, and may be used to assemble a robot or a robotic part.
While SketchUp is not open-source, it is suggested due to its extremely
high ease and capability ratio.

32
EXAMPLE ACTIVITY: Simulate robots
Title Dog-follow using simulated robots
Expected
outcomes
- coding and programming
- conditional structures
- robotics
- sensors
- collaboration
Methodologies PBL
Learning
setting
IT Laboratory
Tools/resource
s
- Computers,
- robot simulation software (like Open Roberta
Lab,Thymio suite, ...). Real robots can be used instead.
- projector
Activity
description
Students
- Have to program a robot that keeps a constant and
given distance from an obstacle
- So they have to learn how to use a distance sensor
- And define an approach to achieve the goal
- The simplest one is to code with conditional structures
and setting a threshold -> but the system is unstable
- (optional) A better solution is to set up a proportional
controller (it needs at least 2 hours more)
Feedback Group discussion

Tips and Tutorials on the official YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/SketchUpVideo

Autodesk® Tinkercad® - https://www.tinkercad.com/

A 3D No Gender Gap Keychain, made with Tinkercad

Tinkercad, from Autodesk, is a closed-source, but free, collection of tools
developed for people who want to create, teach and learn. It offers two
main options: 3D modelling, and electronic circuits.

In the 3D modelling section, users can create their own 3D models in an
extremely simple, but powerful, way. Moreover, there is an option "model
by coding" which can be used to create 3D shapes using a visual
programming environment. Through this option, users can experiment
both the basis of coding and 3D modelling. In "circuits" mode, users can
simulate several types of electronic components such as resistors, LEDs,
capacitors, inductors, batteries, and commonly used Integrated Circuits
(including Arduino programmable board). In Tinkercad the Arduino boards
can be simulated, creating simple projects and experimenting with coding
and electronics, without buying anything. Simulated Arduino can be
programmed via its original programming language and also with a visual
blockly language, inspired by Scratch.

Tutorials, lessons and projects can be found at
https://www.tinkercad.com/learn/designs.

An alternative to Thinkercad, exclusively for its 3D modelling functions,
could be SugarCAD

33

2.7 Example activity: 3D modelling

Instructables - https://www.instructables.com/
Instructables, from Autodesk, is not a robot nor a programming software.
Still, it is a point of interest for those who want to create and learn. It is a
repository of instructions and tutorials - released with different types of
licensing - devoted to crafters, DIYers and makers. On this platform, you
can find instructions related to different topics, not only coding and
robotics.
34
EXAMPLE ACTIVITY: 3D modelling
Title monuments, cities and museums
Duration 3 lessons, 1 to 2 hours
Expected
outcomes
-3D modelling
-3D printing
-art
-design skills
-collaboration
Methodologie
s
PBL
Learning
setting
IT Laboratory
Tools/resourc
es
-Computers
-3D drawing software (i.e. Autodesk Tinkercad, SugarCAD,
SketchUp, …)
-3D printer
-projector
Activity
description
Students
-Analyse 3D cultural heritage: statues and monuments, bridges,
buildings, …
-Outlines and sketches, working in groups, their personal 3D
sculpture
-Create the 3D model of the sculpture
-Search for errors and iterate until the model is printable
-Print the model
-Analyse the printed model and, if any, fix errors
-Create a presentation so that their artefacts can be shared, A
challenging and interesting element is to create a presentation
suitable for blind people.
Feedback Presentation


References

Works and speech by Mitchel Resnik
● On Seymour Papert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoczAscGYeQ
● "Give P's a chance: Projects, Peers, Passion, Play" Constructionism
and Creativity conference, opening keynote. Vienna.
https://web.media.mit.edu/~mres/papers/constructionism-2014.pdf
● "Projects, passion, peers and play"
http://web.media.mit.edu/~mres/papers/Creating-Creators-final.pdf
● "Come i bambini - Immagina, crea, gioca e condividi - Coltivare la
creatività con il Lifelong Kindergarten del MIT" - Mitchel Resnick - Edizioni
Centro Studi Erickson

RoboESL Erasmus+ (2015-1-IT02-KA201-015141) IO's
http://roboesl.eu/

Challenge Based Learning - A classroom guide
https://images.apple.com/education/docs/CBL_Classroom_Guide_Jan_2011.
pdf

"Human centered robotic design" - E. Micheli, N. Casiddu - Ed Alinea

35

3. The new technological era in the Portuguese education
system
3.1 Overview
In order to understand the evolution of the portuguese education system
and how technology and robotics are inserted in it today, we will have to
give an overview of the before and after. Let's look at the education system
in Portugal. Many of the values that the schools transmitted were based on
order, respect and discipline and the education had major religious
influences, since it was the church that controlled the school as well as the
syllabus.

In an introductory way, we will explain the objectives of the 4 important
periods in education, such as: Education in the middle ages, education
during the “Estado Novo” (The New State), and finally, our current education
set-up.

During the medieval period, the main objectives were the transmission of
acquired techniques, religious training, Latin reading and writing. It was
also important to develop skills such as speaking, reflecting, thinking,
debating and concluding.

Moving Further into the middle ages, the curriculum was then based on
grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, logic, music,
astronomy and Latin learning was still present. At that time, different types
of schools were available to the population, such as parish, monastic,
palatine and medieval universities. At this time, most of the students
during the middle ages came from noble backgrounds. Commoners did
not have enough means to gain access and relegated themselves to
agriculture.

Moving forward to the times of the “Estado Novo” or “the New State”,
where dictatorship dominated the Portuguese state with António de
Oliveira Salazar as dictator. The whole country was under the control of this
regime and schools were instrumental to it, governing and teaching with
the objectives of instilling order, respect and discipline.

Students were forced to wear uniforms and teachers often applied severe
corporal punishment. The subjects of the time were Mathematics, History,
Portuguese Language, Geography, Science and Religion and Morals.
Primary school textbooks remained the same for decades. At that time,
they had to re-do the multiplication table, the name of all the rivers,
36

mountains and railways in Portugal and all the Portuguese colonies. It is
worth noting that, generally, young women didn’t go to school, as their
parents did not put value in learning but, instead, preferred to integrate
them into domestic chores and housekeeping routines.

School hours in the province were distributed by shifts, the morning were
for girls and the afternoon for boys. Since they could not mix, boys and girls
attended different schools, there were no mixed classes at the time. School
hours in cities were from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and the only recess was at
lunchtime.

3.2 History of today

Moving on to today's schools, we adopted the inclusive school model that
holds two general missions, namely:

1st - Receive / accept all students, without exception;

2nd - Have answers and solutions for everyone to be able to be successful
and thus avoid school failure and dropout;

The major changes at school level were the creation of school clusters and
mega clusters in 2010. The official insertion of computers in 2008 with the
“Magalhães” program, and the remodelling of old schools as well as the
creation of new schools, properly equipped and prepared for the new
technological era that the country would be entering.

3.3 The Magalhães program as best practice
In terms of digital transformation, we can mention that schools as a whole
really entered the digital age in 2008 with the “Magalhães” program that
was launched for the academic year of 2008/2009. The “Magalhães”
program was inserted in the program “e.escolinhas”, which aimed to insert
technology in all primary schools. The "e.escolinhas" program came in with
technology and its educational platforms, and the "Magalhães" program
entered with computers as a basic education tool to be mastered.

The “Magalhães” computers were free of charge to vulnerable and low
income families, and up to 50€ for the rest of the population who did not
fit this description. This allowed each child in the 1st cycle to have a
computer at home, leaving all students of basic education equipped with
computer resources. Thus, making the entire generation computer-literate.
37

The “Magalhães” computers were a streamlined model and design, with
blue and white colors honouring maritime conquests, the “Magalhães”, for
which it was named. It was manufactured entirely in Matosinhos, Portugal,
with the aim of setting up a production line which would allow Portugal to
become a computer/technology exporting country. This stemmed from a
partnership between the JP Sá Couto/Prológica consortium and the world
leader in processors –
Intel. “Magalhães” was based on the North American semiconductor giant's
Classmate PC 2, and, as was mentioned before, they were made available
to children attending the first cycle of Portuguese education. There were
other partners in addition to Intel, namely Microsoft and Samsung. The
production cost of “Magalhães” was 180 euros, but parents and legal
guardians did not have to spend that amount as subsidies left the average
price range from 0€-50€ (Depending on the household status and
income).

Images 1 and 2: Magalhães computer

But it wasn´t just basic education that was covered, the "e-schools"
program was created by the government to cover the others levels of
education. This meant that laptops were produced that would also be
given to students for a negligible amount. For this to be possible a
partnership with OPTIMUS, TMN and VODAFONE was counted on. The
latter would help ensure internet access for all.

Thus, it was through these measures and programs that the technological
age really began to enter the Portuguese school system. Each student now
counted on a computer that allowed them to work, learn and explore all
the content necessary for their learning development. These computers
were initially used in the classroom, two to three times a week, making
38

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