Represented at the meeting:
The Netherlands
de Krijtenburg: Ben Matoren,
obs De Wielen: Jannet Bosma, Arjan Verbeem
obs De Zeester; Cees Visser
The House of Design: Eileen Blackmore, Tobias Strating
Provincie Fryslån: Simon Tijsma; Thijs Tijsma; Albert Ruiter
UK England
Alde Valley School: Samantha Jay
Jonathan Keep – independent artist
AB International Network Ltd.: Ann Brown
Sweden
Eriklundskolan: Heenrik Liljenberg-Hansson
Navet Science Center: Anna Gunnarsson
Germany
Alstergymnasium Henstedt-Ulzburg: Nadine Heisterberg, Bente Rickmers
(hamburgunddesign.de: not represented)
Portugal
SUS Design: Ana Mestre
(unable to attend this meeting – on the reserve list for Comenius funding: Externato Nossa Senhora do Rosário – Instituto das Filhas de Maria Auxiliadora)
On Sunday 15 September delegates from outside Vlieland met at the ferry terminal at Harlingen. Everyone managed to find each other at the terminal and enjoyed good company during the sometimes rough weather of the crossing.
Ben Matoren and other teachers from de Krijtenburg school met the group at Vlieland harbour and everyone checked in at the Hotel Golfzang. Ben welcomed the group to the island and all enjoyed a meal at the hotel.
On Monday 16 September delegates were met at the hotel by Ben Matoren and we walked (in the rain!) to de Krijtenburg school. On arrival at De Krijtenburg and welcomed to the school and the Province of Fryslån by Simon Tijsma. Lydia Matoren presented her point of view as a pupil, who had suggested the idea of 3D printing, having experienced it at “Into the Great Wide Open”.
Each country group gave a presentation about themselves (school + design centre) and explained what they found interesting in the project. We continued with a reminder about the project proposal and the Comenius objectives.
Separate group meetings were held.
Ann Brown led the schools to look at how Comenius projects work, study visit methodology, and what the important milestones are for this project Eileen Blackmore led the Design Centres group, looking at what is possible and how to work with schools. They shared information about what sort of projects they have done, what equipment they use and whether they had worked with schools already.
They discussed how they use different media, which 3D printers are used,
which software, etc. During this time 4 de Krijtenburg children worked with the House of Design and were introduced to the 3d printer. After lunch the delegates were shown around the school by pupils from de Krijtenburg.
An introductory workshop for teachers and design centre representatives, was led by The House of Design and Jonathan Keep. This also provided a demonstration of 3D printing.
There was discussion about how sustainability and recycling can be introduced into the project. Ben Matoren thought that this was an important concept for the project as a whole, and maybe the focus should change to demonstrating how waste plastic of all sorts can be recycled to provide the “glue” for the different kinds of media used in 3D printing
Following this, the schools and design centre groups met in their country groups to plan how they would work together and made an initial outline plan for the first year.
The need for a change in the work programme was discussed, now that it is most likely that the Portuguese school will not get funding. It was agreed that Suffolk would host the third project meeting in the summer of 2014. Convenient dates were difficult to identify. It was not possible for Suffolk to agree the dates at this stage, but 20 to 23 May 2014 was preferred. The meeting in Germany was agreed to be held in September 2014, with dates to be proposed later. The dates for the Swedish meeting were confirmed as 20 to 22 January 2014 (arrival on 19th January).
All delegates were invited to ??? for an evening meal hosted by the Province of Fryslån.
Tuesday 17th September
A feedback session was held where each country group described their initial plans.
Following this, pupils from de Krijtenburg told the delegates about their experience with the 3D printer. They were enthusiastic and gave several interesting ideas about what they thought the new technology could do. We learned that pupils do not like to wait while the printer is printing.
Simon Tijsma from the Province of Fryslån gave a talk about the new revolution which was coming as a result of developments in 3D technology. 3D printing is about a machine which is not to copy, but to create.
Eileen Blackmore led a session on the work of the House of design. Jonathan Keep gave a presentation about work which he had done using 3D printing with ceramics, and also a more general overview of work in 3D printing which had been done in various countries. This is available as a presentation.
At lunchtime the delegates had the chance to see the island, and take time to look at its culture, either walking or by bicycle. A visit was made to the lighthouse to see how the shipping in the area is monitored and what safety routines are in place.
In the evening, everyone walked to the restaurant ??? where an excellent meal was enjoyed, again hosted by the Province.
Wednesday 18th September
Ben Matoren issued Comenius attendance certificates to all the delegates.
A general session helped to cover various issues which had been identified during the previous days.
Ann Brown dealt with issues of dissemination and evaluation of the project, also what had to be done for Comenius regulations. A mid-project report would have to be completed at the summer 2014 meeting and a final report at the last project meeting. A revised workplan was presented to show what had to be done up to the second meeting in Sweden.
