ACTIVE in NATURE, ENJOYING the NATURE! Erasmus Project

Project Title

ACTIVE in NATURE, ENJOYING the NATURE!

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 Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

This project was meant as a continuity of the previous project , “United in Nature – International Nature, International Heritage!”-“U3N”, but with another focus and activities, in order to have a meaningful development in our further work with national parks and local nature.The idea was that during the implementation of the project we should make a number of products, with the purpose to be used by both teachers and students in their further/future school work with for example the project’s tasks. We kept our main focus on international cooperation, foreign language learning, ICT-improving the digital competences (the use of Web 2.0 tools) and practical outdoor activities.

The project was designed for both students and teachers and therefore the activities are focused on the Key competencies identified at the European level, with focus especially on ICT/digital competence, international cooperation and teaching/learning foreign languages. Besides compulsory subjects and knowledge acquired in our schools, teenagers need training equipping them for adult life, particularly for working and social life, as well as making them more conscious about the importance of having national parks. It is our conviction that such a project will connect not only school life to real life, theory to practice, national environment to European environment, but also local community to European communities. We believe that this approach can be easier to achieve by using own national protected nature as a common link.
Because we see on this project as a unique opportunity to continue with relevant and necessary work related to national parks and local nature in general, we felt that was important to still have objectives with focus on the “key competences” of the working program (LLP) of the European Commission, the participant school’s curriculum and their educational needs:

1. Learning to learn:
We created a variety of workshops with focus on English language learning; ICT -lessons or outdoor activities, where pupils were placed across nationalities. The pupils were encouraged to be creative and take responsibility for their own and others’ learning. They cooperated with ech other in solving the requested tasks within each workshop during every mobility.

2. Communication in foreign languages:
With these joint workshops such as outdoor activties, ICT integrated lessons, English lessons or other transcurricular lessons, we got the impression that the involved students used actively their skills in English either they had to read, speak, listen or write. The teachers who led the diverse activities without being English teachers, showed good improvements in English as well,

3. Cultural awareness and expression:
Through cross-cultural interaction with outdoor activities in the surrounding nature as learning arena, among other things; our students created a number of relevant products, such as multilingual dictionary, Christmas letters , Christmas cookies- recipies collection, texts with focus on own cultural language traditions and presentations of both own place and culture and their understanding of the other partners place and culture.

4. Digital competence:
Based on what we have learned during the mobilities, we managed to develop a confidential and critical use of basic skills in ICT. We took advantage of already tested ICT bank of resources (eTwinning, Web 2.0 tools: Skype, closed and open Facebook social forum, Issue software for publishing e-books, interactive quizzes with Kahoot/Quizlet and evaluation through Edmodo learning platform- VLE, video shoots on Youtube, Servio, etc.). By using these digital tools, we were able to show to a broader public our work and most important publish our finished products on our website and TwinSpace. Most of the work was conducted at each mobility in special prepared workshops.

5. Social and civic competence:
The intention was to improve our students’ social competence in terms of personal, interpersonal and multi-cultural skills, and all forms of behaviour that can encourage each individual to participate both effectively and constructively in the workplace and in social life. We tried to prepare our students to be citizens of a multicultural and multilingual society in continual change, where the awareness of, respect and interest in other cultures with their protected nature, will be crucial in their understanding of the global society they live in, . We believe that cooperation with other European countries, from both norths, south, east and west can be a help factor in the work process and the ability to communicate with our partners will become a much more valued skill!

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 90219,96 Eur

Project Coordinator

Engerdal barne- og ungdomsskole & Country: NO

Project Partners

• COLLEGE DES ECRIVAINS COMBATTANTS
• Gedminu progimnazija
• IES Leonardo da Vinci