Mixed emotions today: it was the final transnational meeting of the Pappus partners, in beautiful Olomouc, Czech Republic and there was sadness at saying farewell to a group of Erasmus+ partners we've grown very fond of. Equally, there was joy at having been able to meet at all (much of Pappus has been adversely affected by Covid-19) and satisfaction at the progress we've made as a working partnership of six European countries.
We missed on most of the planned transnational meetings and study visits due to travel restrictions, and like much of the world, learned how to collaborate via online conferencing tools.
Pappus Hungarian partners Zsuzsa and Virag facilitated one of the Pappus activities for us, a reflection tool to help us share how we've felt over the last 2 ½ years - and it was a fascinating exercise.
Gathered in the pocket park adjacent to the Palacky University Library, Virag asked us to find natural objects that were moving in the slight breeze, observe them for a short time and be mindful of the emotions or senses these objects aroused, and then bring them back to a 'timeline' she'd set up on the ground.
The timeline included our very first meeting in St Polten, the virtual meetings we'd had, the training session in Slovakia and the last two transnational meetings, in Gdansk and Olomouc respectively.
We placed our natural objects onto the timeline to most accurately represent our feelings at each milestone, and those that wished to, shared their thoughts. Zsuzsa then encouraged an honest discussion about the ups and downs of delivering a pan-European project of this scale during a pandemic, with the English partners from Play Learning Life and the University of Gloucestershire expressing sadness that this will be our last Erasmus+ project.
This activity would work with children and adults, and in keeping with the Pappus principles, is playful and insightful at the same time. It also encourages physical movement, which has also been a core concept as we've developed the learning and playful springboards. Let us know if you try it yourself!