The river of challenges Erasmus Project

Project Title

The river of challenges

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 : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Natural sciences; Environment and climate change; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

“The river of challenges” project sets as an objective to share good practices towards a harmonised and more holistic, project based teaching of science subjects, in bilingual environment, including practical experience abroad. The project aims to provide a methodological tool in addressing the key challenges of European education systems by the elaboration and testing of a subject harmonised water management project curriculum. The project idea stems in a joint endeavour of four European bilingual schools (age group 12-18 years), who got acquainted during former KA1 Erasmus+ exchange trips, to further enhance and elevate their relationship in the framework of a multilateral strategic partnership. Each school is science focused, boasting significant output results in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects, already using or planning to implement GCSE or IB evaluation systems. We agreed that the involved countries and regions can serve as a real textbook of water management challenges at not only national and European, but world level as well. Our main objective was to provide our students with working science knowledge through experience based learning, while paying particular attention to cover cross-cutting and emerging issues in Europe’s present and future, such as intercultural understanding and social awareness as well as environmental and economic interdependence regarding interactions of European climates and hydrological cycles in shared water bodies.

The main goals of the project are the following:
Education:
– To involve education stakeholders (teachers, learners, private sector, civil society) in the development of the curriculum.
– To involve a maximum number of pupils in mobilities and activities between mobilities and provide them with the experience of international cooperation and dimensions of interrelatedness
– To put self realization and key competencies at the core of the project and complying with long term needs and expectations of the present and future labour market
– To fit the project into the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (“ET 2020”)
– To promote new ways of science education
Environment protection and sustainability:
– To fit the project in the environmental dimension of 2030 European Agenda for Sustainable Development.
– To raise students’ environmental awareness
– To enhance critical thinking and holistic approach in environmental issues
– To make students understand and analyse natural processes and the complex interplay between different factors
Social sensitivity and cultural relations:
– To make students able to sense social and economic dimensions of water utilization
– To give a picture about the history of water management in each country and present typical technological challenges in the four different areas
ICT inclusion:
– To ensure smooth utilization of the eTwinning site during the whole project period and after that.
– To elaborate mindmaps and thematic maps with the involvement of different nationality students.

Four main groups of participants are involved: students, teachers, parents and stakeholders from educational, industrial, labour market sectors. In the framework of a four semester long period including student exchanges and local activities altogether 72 students and 24 teachers will take part in mobilities and an approximate number of further 100 students per school will participate in local activities.

Considering the structure of the planned activities, 3 teams from 3 partner schools will travel to the seat of the fourth partner school, who is acting in the role of host organisation in the given semester. Each school is in charge of a specific topic and mixed nationality teams of a specific sub-topic, which they have to elaborate in details. Activities between the mobilities involve students who could not travel and provide possibilities for volunteer work in order to be chosen for the next mobility trip. Host schools organize site visits to different water-related industrial installations and constructive works as well as to cultural sites (world heritage sites!).

Involvement in the project programmes encourage students across Europe to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that sustainable development can only be realized by means of cooperation. Partner schools are provided with a handbook of water-related projects, a complete harmonised project curriculum, which also serves as a template to create other project topics. Depending on the partner countries’ own national curriculums, these projects can be integrated into them to a greater or lesser extent. Project material will be also used in IB and GCSE teaching in the future. Research work and presentations can be used in the future in science competitions, e.g. Science Fair in Orchidea School.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 119584 Eur

Project Coordinator

Orchidea Magyar-Angol Két Tanítási Nyelvü Óvoda, Általános Iskola és Gimnázium & Country: HU

Project Partners

• Leibniz Gymnasium Dortmund International School
• IES MEDINA AZAHARA
• Scala College