Hosted by our Spanish partner CreativiTIC, the 2nd Transnational Project Meeting of Playing with Protons Goes Digital took place from 12 to 13 April 2022 in the creative spaces of Bilbao Berrikuntza Faktoria – Mondragon University in Bilbao, Spain.

The meeting started with a warm welcome by the project coordinator Dr. Pierluigi Paolucci (INFN) and was followed by an update of the project’s status by Dr. Angelos Alexopoulos (Ellinogermaniki Agogi). The partners were then presented with the results of the Needs Analysis Survey that was completed in winter 2021-22 based on a sample of 138 primary and secondary school teachers from Greece, Italy, Spain, and the UK.

Amongst its results, the Needs Analysis Survey showed that while 7 out of 10 teachers have heard of Augmented Reality (AR), only 17.5% of them have used it in the classroom. Of particular value to the project was the finding that almost 8 out 10 teachers expressed their interest to be trained on how to use AR technologies in their teaching. The partners stressed the importance of this finding that confirms the strong potential that AR applications – and specifically the Playing with Protons Goes Digital platform – can offer for enhancing STE(A)M teaching and learning in the post-Covid era.

The meeting continued with a status update on the project’s Intellectual Outputs, giving more emphasis on the “Conceptual and Methodological Framework” which is due to the end of May 2022. Several activities with teachers in the context of Multiplier Events (MEs) were also presented.

INFN’s feedback on a remote ME was very positive, with participant teachers expressing their strong interest to be part of the project’s community. More MEs are scheduled to take place in Greece, Italy, Spain and the UK during spring time.

The second half of the day was devoted to the much-anticipated AR workshop curated by the CreativiTIC team.

On the second day of the meeting, the communication and dissemination activities were discussed amongst the partners. Natascia Conforti (Città della Scienza) also presented the social media strategy of the project and provided feedback and advice on reaching and engaging further our target audiences to increase the visibility of the project. The partners then discussed how to incorporate social media and email campaigns into the overall communication and dissemination effort of Playing with Protons Goes Digital.

The meeting was concluded with short reflections on the contributions of each partner and a summary of key action points to facilitate the further development of the project.

The consortium decided that the 3rd Transnational Project Meeting will take place next autumn in Athens.