#EU CodeWeek on Maker Faire Zagreb and Roma
Publication date: December 13, 2021
By Sanja Pavlović Šijanović & Davor Šijanović, Vukovar Gymnasium , Croatia
As part of the third Maker Faire Zagreb 2021 in the European Square in Zagreb, accompanied by prominent exhibitors during the weekend of 2-3 October, natural science and mathematics students in the 2nd grade at Vukovar Gymnasium, Emma Stankoski Hrgović and Lara Šijanović accompanied by their mentors Davor Šijanović and Sanje Pavlović Šijanović, presented the results of the project Assistive solutions with the help of Arduino wireless communication.
As part of the project, the students created their own fleet of three cars remotely controlled by Bluetooth voice and manual control and NRF24L01 communication module and joystick, for which they won a gold medal at INOVA MLADI 2021 and a silver medal at INOVA BUDI UZOR.
As students and active participants in the eTwinning project: Accessibility of digital technology for people with special needs, they had adapted their vehicles to be used by children with developmental disabilities to make them equal and active participants in an educational process that respects their needs, capabilities and abilities. At the annual eTwinning conference held on 4 November 2021, organised online by the European Union Agency’s National eTwinning Support Service, the project won the highest national COMET Award 2021.
All the details of the project, including how they worked on it, what resources they used, what challenges they faced and much more is available here.
The students also participated in Maker Faire Rome via Live Streaming and created a video for the purposes of the presentation.
The aim of their presentation was to encourage children, young people and others to work with Arduino technologies as a creative way to acquire new knowledge and skills, since the assembly and programming of highly intelligent robotic vehicles are a predictor of the development of special abilities that are important for understanding mathematical and engineering concepts that, combined with Arduino technology, form a winning combination.
