RIDE AND SMILE Erasmus Project

Project Title

RIDE AND SMILE

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Environment and climate change; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Climate change is one of the main challenges our planet is facing and its effects became extremely visible to all. Transport accounts for a quarter of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions and its share continues to grow. This project aims to foster the development of active European citizens who are aware of the relevance of their individual choices as triggers of change, by introducing in the daily life bicycle as transport mode to schools.

The specific objectives of the project are:
● to promote raising awareness about environmental challenges and a better understanding of the importance of individual choices as factors of change
● to promote sustainable urban mobility principles among pupils and the use of the bicycle as the most effective means of transportation
● reinforcing the development of key competences in pupils, such as communication in foreign languages, digital competences, social and civic competences, including climate action

To achieve these objective, the RIDE&SMILE partners will produce the following outputs:

– RIDE&SMILE Interactive Learning Platform (ILP), which is supposed to boost and support the Bike to School Cycling Challenge involving school pupils from all over Europe. Through an effective game-based approach already tested by the project proposers on themselves, the BTS Challenge is aimed to foster the use of the bicycle among the pupils, who are going to contribute to the points collected by their teams (school classes) in terms of run kilometres and saved CO2. This will be done by going to school by bike and adding the corresponding distances on the ILP, thus directly impacting on families’ habits and allowing them to discover a better and healthier solution for daily displacements, also contributing to the well-being of the community.

– RIDE&SMILE educational activities on environmental awareness: the innovative aspect of this output is the integration of environmental and sustainability issues in a complementary way to the other subjects. Furthermore, the environmental issues will be weaved together with other important learning paths such as active citizenships and aware behaviour. Teachers will define
their own needs and build tailored learning paths.

– 5 multipliers events will be organised by partners to promote and diffuse the main project outputs, including huge final events in Rome and Brussels. In addition, as one of the most outbreaking activities within the whole project, the RIDE&SMILE partners aim to do something that nobody has ever been doing within a European project, a symbolic bike trip from Rome to Brussels: a zero-emission 1.600 km ride on two wheels across six countries to bring the project results directly to the heart of the European Union.

– 3 Joint Staff Training Events will be organised by partners as key steps in the process leading to the production of the intellectual outputs as well as for the achievement of the project objectives

The main TARGET GROUPS addressed by the project are:
– Primary school pupils and their families/tutors will benefit from new learning methods and tools improving civic engagement and environmental awareness through a game-based learning approach
– Teachers and primary school staff will benefit from innovative didactic activities adapted to the needs and scope of primary schools
– Non-formal educators involved in school education, NGO’s and associations’ staff will benefit from strengthened cooperation between formal and non-formal education and will broaden the local/national perspectives concerning climate actions.

The project is promoted by a composite consortium aiming at consolidating the cooperation between schools and civil society and synergies between formal and non-formal education. In particular, the consortium is composed by 3 primary schools, 3 associations/NGOs experienced in collaboration with the world of school and dealing with sustainability and environmental issues, a European association (Eurogeo) committed with environmental issues and the University of Salzburg, providing a fundamental scientific and technical expertise.

The global scale of the environmental challenge cannot be tackled under a local or even national perspective. The promotion of cycling must be spread all over the continent starting from the youngest generations, which represent the future of the European Union. Change must start from the school, because it is in the school where individuals shape their identities and develop a sense of belonging to a wider community. This project aims to foster the development of active European citizens who are aware of the relevance of their individual choices as triggers of change. Within this context, the exchange of good practices and international cooperation is fundamental to stimulate a behavioural change in the daily habits and in sharing formal and non-formal teaching approaches.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 260555 Eur

Project Coordinator

ReBike ALTERmobility & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Eco Logic
• OOU “Johan Hajnrih Pestaloci” – Skopje
• Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Bike to school
• PARIS-LODRON-UNIVERSITAT SALZBURG
• EUROGEO VZW
• SCOALA GIMNAZIALA DR. BALASI JOZSEF
• Istituto Comprensivo Simonetta Salacone