Going Green – Teaching regional solutions to environmental challenges Erasmus Project

Project Title

Going Green – Teaching regional solutions to environmental 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 : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Environment and climate change; Research and innovation; Energy and resources

Project Summary

Three of the participating four schools have successfully co-operated on previous Comenius projects. Based on the experiences we have had and after analyzing the impact of the previous projects, we felt that another project was needed in order to further improve the quality of education and to provide the students with competences they could not develop in regular classwork.
Co-operating with colleagues from other countries has given the teachers valuable information about new and innovative teaching methodologies and techniques used in different parts of Europe. Something new for all the participants was the concept of Trialogical learning, through which we hoped to make the education more attractive. Furthermore, we improved students’ key competencies that are relevant when preparing them for their future careers, such as communication in foreign languages, intercultural awareness, basic competences in science and technology, digital competence, learning to learn as well as added civic competences. We raised students´ awareness of environmental problems and dealt with them in a sustainable way in the different parts of Europe by producing informative, pedagogical material, visiting local authorities, chapters of NGOs such as BUND and NABU, involving local organizations such as the CEAS (Centre for Environmental Eduaction and Sustainability) in Italy, visiting solar power plants and recycling centres like the “Helsinki Metropolitan Area Reuse Centre”, and disseminating the material in our respective communities.
Four schools have participated in this project. 12 students from each school took part in the mobilities, accompanied by 1-3 teachers. At the schools, this core team disseminated the results to a wider public through presentations in the schools, and by uploading the products onto TwinSpace and the schools’ homepages. Some local newspapers also published articles on the EU’s involvement in the schools’ activities. Biology and science teachers were involved in order to guarantee the quality of the material produced by the students as well as experts from NGOs who created teaching material together with the students.
Prior to each mobility the students did research on the different subtopics. They organized their work and shared their ideas with students from other participating schools using eTwinning or other appropriate virtual methods. In the project meetings, based on the research, the students created material that can be used for teaching the subject and disseminating the results. During the mobilities the students also received additional information through visiting local companies and organizations relevant to the topic.
In this project we implemented the pedagogical approach of Trialogical learning which means those forms of learning where learners are collaboratively developing, transforming, or creating shared objects of activity (in this project: teaching material) in a systematic fashion. Trialogical learning concentrates on the interaction through developing these common, concrete objects (or artefacts) of activity, not just between people (“dialogical approach”), or within one’s mind (“monological” approach).
According to the principles of Trialogical learning, this project produced different kinds of results, such as posters, videos or other kinds of digital presentations. These products created a lasting teaching resource that has already been used and can be used when the subject is dealt with in future courses and that can also be developed further. Student evaluations have confirmed that long term impacts include heightened awareness of specific environmental issues in the participating countries and of the benefits of European citizenship. Exchanging ideas and sometimes intensely debating pedagogical issues led to very productive reflections on one’s own methods as well as beliefs and assumptions about one’s own and the foreign culture. We feel that this has given us fresh ideas and new insights for our own teaching.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 163440 Eur

Project Coordinator

Kardinal-Frings-Gymnasium & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Helsingin medialukio, Helsingin kaupunki
• Colegiul German Goethe
• ISS G. Galilei Mirandola