Unbeelievable: protecting bees through coding and robotics
The Unbeelievable initiative began as a local Meet and Code event designed to introduce young learners to coding, robotics, and environmental responsibility in a playful, inclusive way. Using tools like Bee-Bots and Scratch, students explored the vital role of bees in nature while developing key digital skills. They programmed virtual bees to collect pollen, collaborated in small groups, and created digital content that connected coding with ecological awareness. The project especially aimed to include children from under represented backgrounds, including those from disadvantaged communities and refugee children from Ukraine (children learn at School No 3 Voluntari, Romania), offering them equal access to innovative, tech-based learning opportunities.
Get to know the initiative
Building on its initial success, the initiative evolved into a larger European eTwinning project: The Un-Bee-Lievable Story. This cross-border collaboration brought together students and teachers from Romania, Spain, Turkey, France, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Netherlands. The goal was to further enhance digital literacy, creativity, and cooperation across cultures through a variety of interactive, student-led activities. Pupils used digital platforms like Padlet, Artsteps, Canva, Scratch, and Tinkercad to co-create a digital story, collaborative poem, cultural quizzes, virtual exhibitions, and STEAM mini-projects focused on biodiversity and sustainability. The initiative follows a strong pedagogical framework based on project-based learning, STEAM education, and inclusion. It promotes digital competence as a core skill, enabling students to express themselves creatively and critically through technology. Whether designing 3D ecosystems, coding a bee’s flight path, or publishing a collaborative digital journal, students learned by doing — together, across borders.
Why is this a good practice?
Facilitated by passionate educators and supported by NGOs and community members, the project bridged formal and non-formal learning. It brought together children of different ages, abilities, languages, and cultural contexts in a safe digital space that fostered empathy, curiosity, and 21st-century skills. From coding basics to creative digital storytelling, pupils became not just consumers of technology but confident creators and collaborators. Ultimately, Unbeelievable demonstrates how a small coding event can scale into a vibrant international community, using digital tools to pollinate both minds and hearts with knowledge, responsibility, and inclusion.
