The group of teachers participating in the first Transnational Meeting C5 held in Portugal from 14th to 18th
February 2022, implemented the following activities and made some decisions as follows:
Sunday 13th February 2022
Arrival day for all participants. The families picked up all the students at the airport and took them to their homes and the teachers picked up all the teachers and took them to the hotel that had been reserved for everyone in Oliveira de Azemeis.
Monday, 14th February 2022
- Arrival at school and contact with the Portuguese students and the teachers;
- Welcome reception of the visiting schools in the school's lobby.The School Principal, teacher Ilda Ferreira, the President of the General Council, teacher Antonio Santos, delivered a speech and the Portuguese students made some performances: Gustavo Valente on the piano, Leonor Gilvaz on the flute, Gustavo Valente and Guilherme Mendes singing and playing the viola respectively and Juliana Soares in dancing;
- School presentations where the schools presented their school and the place where they come from; - School presentations where each team introduced two endemic marine species from each country, one of the activities previously prepared by each school and also presented two sustainable recipes with marine species from their country;
- Departure to Aguda Coast Station in Vila Nova Gaia (laboratory and aquarium) where they became aware of the different fishing gear that supported the population, as the main economy of the region; there was also a temporary exhibition, “Achados do Mar”, which consists of a collection of objects found in the sea;
- Due to meteorological issues and sea conditions, there was a need to change the institution of the visit. We visited ELA instead of Bioria, but despite the changing of the institutions, the activities promoted with the students met the goals we wanted to achieve;
- A digital album with the fauna and flora was not made due to weather conditions (mobility was rescheduled and moved to winter), but a video was made with photographs of the main moments of the week.
Tuesday, 15th February 2022
- Departure to Porto - Visit to CIIMAR which is a leading research and advanced training institution of the University of Porto, working at the frontier of Ocean Knowledge and Innovation, fostering an integrated approach to Ocean and coastal areas promoting the understanding and knowledge of Biological, Physical and Chemical dynamics of these environments and the impact of natural and human activities aiming to unravel the links between these processes, grasp Ocean and ecosystems functioning and responses to Global Changes; in CIIMAR the group visited the facilities and was able to prove the scientific value of a large number of laboratories and researchers in the area; Lecture Cyanobacteria and Microalgae: sources of natural products with diverse biotechnological applications; two activities were carried out:
1) Otoliths: The Fish Identity Card (possible to get to know these structures so important and unique to fish, addressing their importance for the animals, but also the uses we make of the various information provided by these structures, focusing in particular on their application in the management of aquatic resources. During the activity, an extraction of otoliths of some fish specimens and a later estimation of the age of the same);
2) Ocean acidification (students investigate the phenomenon of ocean acidification and how this takes place, addressing the consequences of ocean acidification for life marine life, especially for animals with a shell. Also discussed will be concepts related to climate change and the increase in carbon dioxide of carbon in the atmosphere as well as the Greenhouse Effect); the students collected material and information to prepare the workshops, to present to the whole group and scientific reports were made;
- Porto Walking Tour (Avenida dos Aliados (avenue), Hard Rock, “Livraria Lello” (bookstore), Torre dos Clerigos (church tower), Train Station “S. Bento”, Rua das Flores (Pastel de Nata - a kind of custard pie), Cathedral, Cais da Ribeira.
Wednesday, 16th February 2022
- Departure to Aveiro; - Visit to “ALGAplus” - a portuguese SME originated in the transference of academic knowledge to a business activity. They produce, process and commercialize sustainable and high quality seaweeds and seaweed-based products;
- Visit to the Maritime Museum in Ilhavo - The museum was and still is a witness of the strong relation between the people of Ilhavo and the sea and the Aveiro lagoon. The “Faina Maior” – cod fishing with lines and hooks in single man dories in Newfoundland and Greenland – as well as the agro-maritime activities are the patrimonial references of the museum; The Maritime Museum’s of Ilhavo mission is to preserve the memory of work at sea, promote Portuguese culture and maritime identity and a proof of the strong connection of local populations to the sea and the Ria de Aveiro. The students were able to watch to see an exhibition on cod fishing in the Greenland seas, fishing in the Ria and the dispersion of the local population along the Portuguese coast;
- Departure to Aveiro (visiting the colourful houses of Costa Nova);
- Visit to the Troncalhada Ecomuseum where students learnt about how to explore the salt pans and also about traditional methods of salt extraction. Walking tour in Aveiro (We visited the buildings of the University Campus of the University of Aveiro, the Cathedral of Aveiro and the Campus Factory, today transformed into a Cultural Center where exhibitions and meetings take place);
- Due to the unavailability of the CESAN institution to receive us as defined in the application, we managed to get Alga+, a portuguese SME originated in the transference of academic knowledge to a business activity where they produce, process and commercialize sustainable and high quality seaweeds and seaweed-based products; - A guided boat trip was planned in Aveiro along the city's central canals to show the historical aspects and the city's connection to the estuary. Due to the time of year and because rain was expected, we did not make this visit and we explored the canals by foot.
Thursday, 17th February 2022
- Workshops for students in the school library for a morning of work with the aim of creating a written document (padlet) about what everyone saw and the experiences they had in the institutions they visited during the week( Aguda Coast Station, CIIMAR, Algaplus, Maritime Museum of Ilhavo, Ecomuseum of Troncalhada); - Teacher’s meeting, questions about upcoming meetings were discussed and how the meeting of Portugal was going:
1. It was the opinion of all the participants that everything was going well, with many activities and that it would also be important to have a little more free time for everyone; Regarding this situation, the Portuguese team said that the program was designed with the aim of keeping students busy during the day with activities, avoiding a lot of free time and also providing that everyone would be together and not in smaller groups.
2. Regarding the meeting in Germany for teachers, the coordinator Peter asked the number of teachers who are going to travel and added that the hotel is preferably in the city center; the means of transport from the airport to the city will be the train.
3. Then, the coordinator from Latvia said that she is also already preparing the meeting, asked how many teachers and students each delegation was thinking of taking to Latvia and referred to some ideas about the week and gave us an idea of the cost of living in the country.
4. The schools will use the document created by the Portuguese teachers, for the students to fill in their profile and in this way it will be easier to pair the guests with the students who will receive them.
- Departure to Porto to visit Sea Life, and the Port Wine cellars on the Cais de Gaia; - Sea Life in Porto is a public access aquarium, located in Porto, occupies an area of about 2400 square meters, housing about 3000 marine creatures, belonging to more than a hundred different species (sharks, rays, seahorses, octopus and specimens of tropical fish (clownfish, pufferfish and lionfish), as well as species indigenous to the Douro River such as barbels, trout, carp and minnows), in 31 aquariums;
- The cellars are related to the wine trade. The harvest was carried out in the Douro Vinhateiro in the interior of the country and along the Douro River and then its transport for commercialization was carried out by the same river, in the characteristic boats of the time, showing the importance of the river and sea for the local and national economy.
Friday, 18th February 2022
- Reception at the Town Hall where the entire delegation was kindly received by the Vice President, Dr. Rui Luzes Cabral in the Noble Hall of the Municipality of Oliveira de Azemeis;
- Workshops - The students showed the whole group the work developed throughout the week in the school auditorium namely the technical sheet of marine animals, creation of a digital album and sustainable recipes and presentation of the final products made in the workshops; - Certificates were given to all participants;
- We ended the week with a “Fado Moment” and dinner at school for tasting Portuguese cuisine and enjoying traditional music and folk dance from each country, a party prepared by the families, students and all the school staff.
Saturday, 19th February 2022
- Departure day for all schools.
