STEAM education for plastic-free primary schools Erasmus Project

Project Title

STEAM education for plastic-free primary schools

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: Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; Environment and climate change; Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions

Project Summary

Plastic is a key material of our economy: it can have multiple functions that simply enhance our lives or that even save human lives. However, the way plastics are currently produced, consumed and disposed undermines the economic benefits of a more ‘circular’ approach, resulting in a severe danger for the environment and subsequently for human life. Subsequently, what emerges from international and European forums is the urgent need to tackle the environmental problems resulting from the production, use and consumption of plastics. In order to do this, it is necessary to rethink and improve plastics’ functions in a more sustainable way (EC, 2018).
The creation of a more sustainable world requires individuals to become active ‘sustainability
change-makers’ who hold the necessary knowledge, skills, values and attitudes. Education,
therefore, plays a crucial role in the adoption of more environment-friendly plastic-related
consumption patterns. Such a responsibility invests all education levels and types (UNESCO, 2017).
At this regard, PLASTEAM Project is aimed at educating pupils and staff from primary
schools in responsibly using, consuming and recycling plastic items, informing them about their
environmental impact and providing didactical activities for promoting sustainable waste disposal and plastics management systems in primary schools.

In order to achieve this goal, the Project will implement the following activities:
O1 – Plastic footprint: a plastic footprint app will be developed to gather data on primary schools plastic behavior and investigate the waste disposal and recycle attitudes of primary schools.
O2 – ‘Plastic-free school’ Recommendations and contest: the Consortium will develop a set of
Guidelines at management and students level to implement sustainable practices from both a top-down and bottom-up approaches. Furthermore, Partner and Associate schools will take part in a contest to identify the best STEAM solution addressing plastic-free challenges at school level.
O3 – STEAM box and Lab: a set of innovative didactical tools and activities will be designed and used within the STEAM fields to be easily integrated into structured curricula of primary schools. The box will acknowledge pupils about the damages of unsustainable waste production and in particular of consuming single-use plastics and will develop key STEAM-related skills in pupils such as problem solving attitude. The STEAM box will be tested and used during the Labs in order to develop the solutions that will be presented at the Final Contest (E6).

From the methodological point of view, PLASTEAM relies on the whole-school approach which is considered to be particularly effective when it comes to environmental education because it
combines formal and non-formal school’s activities in a way to enforce teaching and values with their practice and experience (UNESCO, 2018). In this sense, the STEAM Model reveals to be perfectly in line with such a methodology as it is characterized by an integrated approach of different disciplines that contribute to the acquisition of an enquiry-based learning (EBL) and subsequently to a set of key skills such as creative thinking and problem-solving (Martinez, 2017).

The project directly addresses primary schools (teachers, students, headmasters etc.), but, in the view of the whole-school approach, it also addresses other educational grades (AGORA) and institutions (MIO, NEMO) in order to promote cross-sectoral cooperation.
Implementing whole-school approaches requires the development of key relationships and engagements with the local community in order to mutually support and promote sustainable actions. As a result, the project is expected to impact not only on the direct target groups – managers, staff, teachers and students – but also on all other players that gravitate around the school’s environment such as families, local communities, public authorities etc.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 271812 Eur

Project Coordinator

Stichting Onderwijs Midden Limburg (SOML) & Country: NL

Project Partners

• Finance & Banking, Associazione per lo Sviluppo Organizzativo e delle Risorse Umane
• MEDITERRANEAN INFORMATION OFFICE FOR ENVIRONMENT, CULTURE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION
• Asociatia Centrul National pentru Productie si Consum Durabile
• Scoala Gimnaziala nr. 10
• STICHTING NATIONAAL CENTRUM VOOR WETENSCHAPS- EN TECHNOLOGIECOMMUNICATIE
• PRIVATE SCHOOL THEMISTOKLIS S.A
• ST MICHAEL SCHOOL