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On 21st and 22nd October 2022, the German national agency for international exchange and cooperation in the field of school education invited organisations that are engaged in Erasmus+ projects to Bonn, the former German capital. The two-days-event was conducted in order to do networking among the organisations and their representatives, exchange experiences with the projects and create new ideas.

37 organisations followed the invitation, also solaris FZU from Chemnitz as the lead partner of the Explore+ project. As the project is about rethinking established methods, finding new paths and creative solutions, it was presented by the so-called talking poster: Interested people could tap on the element they want to experience more about - by that action, an audio file started presenting more details about that part of the project. So Harry Potter is not magic any more! This method was developed by the Junge Tüftler gGmbH from Berlin.

The event showed a wide variety of project subjects, ranging from the influence of mathematics on our thinking to the question of how a school building should be designed in order to support the learning process.

In October 2022, the Portuguese project partner Museu Zer0 started its workshops in Augmented Reality with the artist Alexandre Piedade, in Pinheiro e Rosa school, in Faro.

These workshops are going to happen in the classes of biology, chemistry and geography in this school, in classes of about 20 students, showing them that through this area of Digital Art is possible to learn in a modern and fun way.

At the end of June, the partners of the Erasmus+ project Explore+ met in Faro, Portugal, for a meeting directed by the leading partner solaris FZU, in order to overlook and discuss the goals already achieved, and to define the course and tasks for the second half of the project. Intermediate results, such as publications about the project, as well as project´s website were examined, and the next steps discussed accordingly.

An interesting project result emerged, for example, from the Portuguese partner Agrupomento de Escolas Pinheiro e Rosa — inspired by the previous activities of Explore+, a new concept for school curriculum, which creates access to science through art, has been created. In the further course of the project, the main task is the finalization of the structure of a learning material set for teachers, educators, social workers and other people working in the cultural and educational sector. In addition, content creation of an interactive learning course, which will soon be integrated via a corresponding platform, was discussed.

The next meeting in Timisoara, Romania, in 2023 will also be the last face-to-face meeting in the project. Explore+ is to be presented there as part of the cities´ European Capital of Culture program and thus reach a broad audience.

In May 2022, all the project participants met up for a study visit in Germany, Chemnitz. The meeting was hosted by project lead partner solaris FZU, and among the guests were project partners from Latvia, Portugal and Romania.

The first project day started at the EU office of the city of Chemnitz, where the visitors learnt a lot about the history of Chemnitz, had a small tour of the town hall, and enjoyed the views from the tower over the city.

The next days were spent at solaris FZU facilities, where the focus was the education of children and young people, and project participants were learning and discussing how to embrace various interests of youth in a way that brings positive impact to the society. The guests could slip into the roles of students and experience the learning process first-hand. For example, in Kosmonautenzentrum "Sigmund Jähn" (Space Centre "Sigmund Jähn) the group could test their abilities to become astronauts, as well as try out teambuilding activities, such as archery. The following day participants visited solaris Jugend- und Umweltwerkstätten  (Educational Centre for Youth and Environment), and did some chemistry experiments, created sensors for determining moisture in soil of potted plants, and handcrafted “solar flowers” that rotate, when exposed to sun. At the Deutsches SPIELEmuseum  (German Games Museum), the project team had a guided tour, where they learned some interesting facts from the history of games and saw some unique exhibits. However, the main activity was a workshop with game developer Ronald Hild, with whom the participants created their own games and learned the basic techniques and mechanisms of game development. On the last day of the visit, the group took part in the “Neighbours´ day” at the Mehrgenerationenhaus Chemnitz  (Multi-generation House of Chemnitz) and helped planting an apple tree in its garden. Afterwards, as the last activity before the end of the stay, participants tried out a monotyping workshop at the Chemnitzer Kunstfabrik (Chemnitz Art Factory), and created their own art pieces.

The next Explore+ meeting will happen in June 2022 in Faro, Portugal, where the next project activities and goals will be discussed, before the final meeting in Romania, in 2023.