First Balkan student Summer School on Astronomy and Astrophysics
The Balkan Physical Union, the Hellenic Physical Society and the European Physical Society under the auspices of the Municipality of Thessaloniki organized the first Balkan student Summer School on Astronomy and Astrophysics. The main objective of the summer school is to promote the idea of teaching cutting edge Physics and Astronomy in Balkan schools.
Participants had the opportunity to strengthen their knowledge in Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics, to forge connections with researchers and peers and to get acquainted with new discoveries in the frontiers of scientific research. The summer school aims to promote friendship between the young citizens of the Balkans. At the same time, the students’ mentors, Astronomy and Astrophysics Professors and teachers, discussed the position of the Astronomy course in the Balkan schools and the way that Astronomy can be included in the curricula of the different countries.
The summer school was held in Thessaloniki, between August 26th and 30th.
The participants were 20 students, (10 boys and 10 girls) aged 13-16 from the 10 Balkan countries which are members of BPU, along with 10 teachers, representing each country. Along with the guest students from the Balkans, 25 more Greek students also participated upon selection.
In the course of the summer school, students performed several activities within an Exploratory Learning Environment (ELE), in which an AI-agent is integrated. By monitoring the performance of the students in the ELE and collecting data, we had the opportunity to measure in real time students’ problem-solving competence. This action is taking place in the framework of the Discovery Space Erasmus+ Forward Looking Project and the FAITH (Fostering Artificial Intelligence Trust for Humans) Horizon Europe Project.
