Anyone who walks across Linz’s main square these days will be struck by the white and green truck with the inscription “missimo – your mission tomorrow” immediately catches the eye. On two floors with 100 square meters, a height of 6.5 meters and a length of 16.5 meters, exciting tasks are hidden in the interactively equipped truck, with which elementary school children can playfully work out the technology of the future.
“Our goal was to make access to technology easier and more tangible – especially for students in rural areas, because they rarely have the opportunity to complete digital education programs than schools in metropolitan areas. The digital world is coming to us all, and the 3rd and 4th grade primary school children must be prepared accordingly”, says Marco Alfter, CEO of the Kaiserschild Foundation. Together with the Ars Electronica Center Linz, the plans for the educational project have been worked on since 2019, and the interactive truck has now been put on track.
From sensors to robotics
60 minutes, the time is ticking. The elementary school students have no more time to complete the six stations in the missimo truck. “It’s a bit like an escape room. Except we’re not about getting off the truck”says Christoph Kremer, head of the Ars Electronica Center Linz.
At the beginning of the interactive station operation, each student receives a so-called micro:bit, a mini controller with which children from the age of eight learn programming in a playful way. They can also use it to create their own robot, which will accompany them during their time in the missimo truck.
At each of the six stations, the students are accompanied by digital trainers from the Ars Electronica Center. How do you connect cables correctly in electrical installations? How is a matrix designed? How does sensor technology work? Also the game “Scissors stone paper” teach the children the artificial intelligence, which is then the referee.
One of the pilot schools where the educational project of “missimo” has already been carried out is the Klaffer elementary school in Hochficht. “For students and teachers, this was a highlight in the context of basic digital education, which is part of the curriculum at the beginning of the new school year. Everyone was highly concentrated at the stations, and at the end the students proudly presented their self-designed robots”, says director Christine Haselsteiner. But not only for the students, but also for the teaching staff there are additional training opportunities to integrate the MINT subjects (mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology) more into the lessons. After “missimo”project, a workshop kit is made available to the students, which can also be used individually in the classroom.
Schools can apply
250 elementary schools in Upper Austria have already applied, but the application period is still running. At the end of September, the truck will start its journey to the rural areas of Upper Austria, and the routes are also to be expanded throughout Austria. This means that around 5,000 children can be reached per school year. According to the project initiators, the truck tours are planned for the next five years – with an option to extend.
Source: Nachrichten
