The first Multiplier Event in Greece took place on 20 May 2022 in Florina, a small and remote town in Northwest Greece. The training seminar was co-organised by the Western Macedonia Education Authority of Primary and Secondary Education, the Education Innovation Hub of the same region, the Florina ICT Teachers Association, in collaboration with Ellinogermaniki Agogi in the framework of the Playing with Protons Goes Digital and the Schools as Living Labs EU projects.

Taking into account the rapid educational changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the aim of the training seminar was to familiarise primary and secondary teachers from remote school of the region with a new model of interaction between schools and informal learning organisations by integrating digital technologies into their everyday school activities.

The 29 participants thus had the opportunity to:

– Learn new ways of collaboration between schools and informal STEM organisations (e.g., research centres, science dissemination centres, etc.) that respond to students’ digital needs and interests;

– develop their digital competences and skills through the use of new digital augmented reality technologies;

– enhance their face-to-face and distance learning through more interactive and personalised STEAM activities proposed by the Playing with Protons Goes Digital project;

– share their experiences and interact with communities of school Living Labs, in a European platform The Schools As Living Labs’ Community Platform contributing to the design of hybrid STEAM environments that benefit not only from “smart technologies” but also from the added value of combining formal and informal learning.

Of particular interest was the presentation by primary school ICT teacher Sotiris Georgiou, demonstrating his teams’ newly developed AR app that enhances Grade 4 history book with attractive audio-visual narratives, offering participants the opportunity to appreciate the pedagogical merits of AR technologies in STEAM teaching and learning.

Following pilot implementation in selected remote schools in Florina and the region, the organisers promised to repeat the training seminar in spring 2023.