Sustainability with digital media: recycling faced by finland and germany Erasmus Project

Project Title

Sustainability with digital media: recycling faced by finland and germany

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Environment and climate change; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Environmental pollution through waste is a major problem worldwide and cannot be ignored even in the school institution. Both the separation of the waste and the large amount of waste present difficulties. A group of interested Finnish and German students should address this problem. It is planned to offer an environmental club at both locations from the 2020/21 school year onwards, which will deal with various aspects of environmental protection/sustainability and above all focus on the project topic of waste separation and waste saving. Participants are 14 students from both schools aged 13 to 15 years.

One aim of the project is to sensitize the pupils and to create an awareness of the worldwide problem of “garbage” and “waste separation”. The students should be given an impulse to become active in their own school (and in the partner school) and to contribute to the improvement of waste separation and the reduction of waste. The exchange between the partner schools has the further objectives of supporting each other in the implementation, exchanging ideas and implementing concrete improvement measures at both schools. In the working groups, the reasons for ineffective waste separation (e.g. ignorance, indifference, …) are to be identified and the problem documented with the help of digital media, e.g. by means of a video. This should make the pupils aware of how much waste is produced in the school alone and how the environment is polluted by improper waste disposal. The participants of the clubs send each other the two videos in order to use them as a basis for a common exchange. The aim is to identify both differences and similarities between the two schools with regard to dealing with waste and to exchange, develop and test possible courses of action in the schools.

During the course of the project, the students and teachers work on the content of the problem in the clubs and lessons and develop concrete ideas for solving the problem. There is a regular digital exchange between the two schools. Activities include the implementation and evaluation of a student survey on the topic.

The young people then develop concrete measures for improvement and integrate them into the everyday life of the school. Concrete improvement measures could be, for example, that recycled paper is used instead of fresh fibre paper throughout the school.
Furthermore, an interactive rally on the subject of recycling is to be developed, which can be used by a created QR code. Videos with instructions for the disposal of specific waste products are also to be produced and broadcast via the screens in the school building to inform all pupils about the correct separation of recyclable materials. Different apps are used for the production of the videos and/or presentations, thus enhancing the media competence of the students. Here peer learning is an important part of the work, as students and teachers should coach each other.

The first two meetings (November 2020 and March 2021) between the participating teachers have the purpose of evaluating activities already carried out by the project groups and discussing further contents and procedures and their feasibility. In joint workshops the teachers are to train each other and develop the didactic-methodical approach. Furthermore, the use of the eTwinning platform will be reflected upon and, if necessary, structured differently. It is also a matter of making arrangements as to which apps and programs are to be used for further work and e.g. for the creation of the work results.

During the reciprocal student visits (September 2021 and May 2022), the project groups get a picture of the products that have been jointly developed beforehand (e.g. a developed rally on the subject of waste separation) and document and reflect on the implementation, successes and possible improvements at the respective locations. This should result in a joint presentation (e.g. PowerPoint, video etc.) which documents the development of the project topic at both schools.

The video should be presented in both schools at suitable occasions, e.g. in lessons, during a project week, at an information event at the school, in the school building during a break in the yard, in order to reach as many pupils as possible and sensitize them to the topic. The video can also be used as a working basis for the continuation of the environmental club in order to achieve long-term further development.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 43182 Eur

Project Coordinator

Grund- und Gemeinschaftsschule Pönitz & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Mäntyharjun yhtenäiskoulu