2nd Transnational Meeting and Learning Activity of the Project Story Changers: Enhancing Pupils’ Social Skills and Enriching Teaching Methods Through Storytelling and Virtual Reality  – October 2021

The 2^nd Transnational Meeting and the Learning Activity of the Story Changers project took place online on 30^th and 31^st August 2021 via Zoom with the participation of the project partners: M.M.C Management Center Ltd (Cyprus), EUROCIRCLE ASSOCIATION (France), OMEGATECH (Greece), Apostolos Varnavas Primary School (Cyprus), St Joseph Mater Boni Consilii School (Malta), Iera Moni Agiou Iosif / Ellinogalliki Scholi Jeanne D’Arc (Greece), Escola A. Aguilera / Escola Sant Josep (Spain) and Mythos: Center for the Study and Dissemination of Myths and Folktales (Greece).

Story Changers targets pupils and teachers of primary education and aims to develop a training package which will contribute to the development of pupils’ soft skills (e.g., empathy, critical thinking, problem solving, self-consciousness, etc.) through a combination of Storytelling and Virtual Reality. Furthermore, it aims to acquaint pupils with new and innovative technologies and contribute to the enhancement of teachers’ teaching and ICT skills through the integration of the concepts of storytelling and VR into their teaching.

At the 2^nd Transnational Meeting, the project coordinator, M.M.C Management Centre Ltd, provided the consortium with an overview of the next tasks to be completed to fulfill the project’s aims as well as the expected outcomes and deliverables. Next, the leader of the first Intellectual Output, Eurocircle Association, delivered a report on the completion of the Best Practices Guide on the Use of Storytelling and VR in Primary Education which derived from the partners’ desk research. In addition, Nikos Papastamatiou of OMEGATECH discussed with the participants the use of the “You Tell” stories and scenarios template and the elements that are needed to be developed to transform a story into a VR scenario.

The project’s learning activity on the creation of the “You Tell” stories started after the completion of the 2^nd steering committee meeting. Mara Kaisari, Nadia Filippopoulou and Katerina Theodorou from Mythos Center for the Study and Dissemination of Myths and Folktales (Greece) outlined the techniques and theories available for storytelling and story creation.  In particular, the theories of Vladimir Propp as well as Eugene Trivizas and Gianni Rodari’s techniques were presented in detail.

Subsequently, a presentation and discussion in relation to two stories that were created by MYTHOS and included in the Guide on how to create the “You Tell” stories took place. The stories were narrated and animated by Nadia Filippopoulou and were in turn analysed according to Propp’s and Rodari’s storytelling techniques.

On the second day of the learning activity, MYTHOS coordinated a group activity in which the partners created a story collaboratively by putting into practice Propp’s and Rodari’s storytelling techniques.

Finally, the participants discussed and agreed on the topics and number of “You Tell” stories that each participant must create by the end of November 2021.

The Story Changers project is funded with the support of the European Commission.