Birthplace of STE(A)M

DAY 2 / INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTATIONAL THINKING & COMPUTATIONAL PEDAGOG

Tutor: Psycharis (Dr)

We start our day with a visit to the island’s Arts Factory Museum where you will be introduced to the industrial past of Santorini and the cultivation, processing and production of its world-famous cherry-sized tomato.

Rest assured that you will do more than just look, as there will be plenty of touching and tasting activities involved, especially over a luscious lunch with lots of local delicacies.

The first lab session of the day will introduce you to how Mathematics and Art can be combined, and you shall use your Arduino to exhibit the algorithm and pattern of the triangles you will be constructing.

Next, you will learn how to create your very own robotic painter using open-source software for a 3D printer. You will also put your pictures from the Art Factory Museum to good use as you will create your own Agamograph.

Dinner will be enjoyed in the island’s capital, Fira, with its many little shops and narrow streets. Instagramers shall appreciate its hidden spots overlooking the caldera for perhaps some of the most memorable pictures you will ever take!

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

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DAY 3 / GREECE, THE BIRTHPLACE OF COMPUTATION IDEA I

Tutor: Psycharis (Dr)

We start our day with a short drive to the excavation site at Akrotiri where archaeologists painstakingly unearth to this day one of the best-preserved settlements dating as far back as 4,500 BCE. Comprised of multi-storey buildings preserved under volcanic ash, Akrotiri is Greece’s very own Pompeii, although its inhabitants were fortunate enough to safely evacuate it before the volcano erupted. All excavation findings are safely kept and displayed in the island’s Prehistoric Museum where we will be spending the rest of the morning learning about Santorini’s geology and Neolithic and Late Cycladic history.

Lunch will follow at yet another unique spot, one of the island’s best vineyards. Appropriate local mezzes shall accompany the wide variety of wines available to your sampling.

The first lab session of the day will initiate you to the intriguing Antikythera Mechanism with the help of your Arduino. You will learn how to put Scratch Software to good use to improve your computational thinking skills in tackling real life challenges.

You will also learn how to create simple programs to measure natural quantities such as solar radiation and vibration, as well as how to use actuators in collecting data from real phenomena, how to analyze them and make inferences.

Dinner will be served at a picturesque tavern offering more than just great food – the view will certainly blow your mind!

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

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DAY 4 / GREECE, THE BIRTHPLACE OF COMPUTATION IDEA II

Tutor: Psycharis (Dr)

There are 7 seas in the world and 372 thousand miles of coastline. There is only one volcano, though, you can swim in! Today, we will take a private cruise to the volcano and a little inhospitable and uninhabited island in the caldera created by its eruption. Pictures are guaranteed to be out-of-this-world, much like the experience of swimming in the warm volcanic waters in the open sea on the way to another small island also created by the eruption.

After our hour-long stop off-shore, we will proceed to the picturesque Thirasia Island, where we will be riding donkeys up the hill to a local fish tavern waiting for us to take our lunch. Our accompanying professor shall be explaining the history of all three islands, their creation and importance through the ages.

The first lab session of the day will “rock your world” as you will be asked to simulate Thira’s volcanic eruption! You will explore the seismic equipment currently used by scientists and be initiated to the lost world of Atlantis using your Arduino platform. Your part will be rather tricky as you will be asked to explore the bottom of the sea in search for Atlantis using your very own electronic device that you will have just created using your Arduino platform and ultrasonic sensor.

Finally, you will be asked to create your own digital story on Atlantis which you may share with your friends back home if you want to!

Dinner will be enjoyed in Fira at a restaurant favored by locals for its home-cooked dishes.

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

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DAY 5 / GREECE AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STEAM

Tutor: Psycharis (Dr)

We start our day by visiting the famous Santorini windmills at the southern end of the island, Emporio. Over 70 mills were built over the ages, some of them dating back to the 14th century. We will also have the chance to dive in to Aegean waters at one of the island’s most popular beaches.

Lunch will be enjoyed by the sea before we proceed to the first lab session of the day during which you will be asked to develop a windmill using a DC motor on your Arduino platform. Later in the day you will learn how to program and control your windmill through Arduino sensors.

Your dinner tonight will be rather special as it will be enjoyed to the sound of live local music.

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

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DAY 6 / IMPLEMENTING AUTOMATION IN WINE PRODUCTION I

Tutor: Kalovrektis (Dr)

Our day today holds a morning visit to a black volcanic beach and an afternoon visit to yet another vineyard, one of the finest the island has to offer. Appropriate local mezzes shall accompany the wide variety of wines available to your sampling. You will be introduced to local wine making techniques and collect information on optimum climate conditions to refer to in developing your own greenhouse during the lab session that follows.

You will be asked to use temperature and moisture sensors to develop an automation network to help you regulate the environment in your greenhouse.

Perhaps this activity will help develop a new appreciation of nature and its products, which you will be feasting on at dinner tonight!

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

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DAY 7 / IMPLEMENTING AUTOMATION IN WINE PRODUCTION IΙ

Tutor: Kalovrektis (Dr)

Our day starts with a drive to the highest point of the island, Prophet Elias Monastery, offering a birds-eye view of the entire area, the submerged crater and the bluest of blue seas, the Aegean.

Whether it is the fresh air or your accompanying professor’s depiction of Santorini’s gastronomy that has opened your appetite, it will be handsomely satisfied during your private gastronomic tour of the island’s unique Mediterranean tradition.

Today’s lab session will have you finetune yesterday’s greenhouse in creating the optimum environmental conditions for the crop of your preference. You will explore the potential of sensors in agricultural activities and put them to the test by simulating sunlight using Arduino programming.

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

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DAY 8 / GREEK MYTHOLOGY - TALOS, THE FIRST ROBOT
OPEN HARDWARE, OPEN SOFTWARE I

Tutor: Kalovrektis (Dr)

First visit of the day is at Santorini’s Archaeological Museum where you will be guided through its vast collection of artifacts, evident to the island’s early sea domination and subsequent natural disasters that tormented it through the ages. Your accompanying professor shall introduce you to the early settlement of Thira and the events that followed until its eventual demise.

After a mouth-watering lunch, you will be asked to build a 4-degree-of-freedom robotic arm as Deus ex machine to solve a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story. Not so easy as it sounds, but super fun! Neverthless, you will acquire the ability to create didactic scenarios for teaching robotics.

Dinner will be enjoyed in the picturesque paved streets of the island’s capital, Fira.

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

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DAY 9 / GREEK MYTHOLOGY - TALOS, THE FIRST ROBOT
OPEN HARDWARE, OPEN SOFTWARE II

Tutor: Kalovrektis (Dr)

We start our day with a refreshing morning swim before we proceed with our first lab session during which you will be picking up from where you left off yesterday. Today you will be programming your 4-DOF robotic arm into completing your desired tasks, all the while learning about the first documented robot, the fearsome Talos!

Dinner tonight will be a treat for the eyes and the heart. There is no better way to say our goodbyes than raising our glasses to the famous Santorini sunset at Oia. You will have your chance to discuss your best memories of the trip over a three-course dinner overlooking the Aegean Sea.

 

 Breakfast     Lunch     Dinner

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DAY 10 / DEPARTURE

All good things must come to an end. After 9 days of building robots and experimenting with STE(A)M, it is time to part our ways until the next time we meet again!

Whether it was the devastating eruption of the island’s volcano, the lost Atlantis or Talos that excited your imagination, your heart and mind will undoubtedly have been filled with new knowledge, stories, images, thoughts, sounds and flavors, and the abundant Greek kallos!

 

 Breakfast