School gardens around Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

School gardens around Europe

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Natural sciences; Environment and climate change; Agriculture, forestry and fisheries

Project Summary

The CEIP La Vallverda of the rural village of Valverde, in Elche (Alicante) intends to initiate a process of environmental improvement that entails an improvement in educational practice and promotes coexistence, global training for the exercise of European citizenship, quality and educational research, the exchange of good practices and the development of scientific culture. All this through the strategic partnership for the care of children with backgrounds in Belgium, Portugal, Italy, Latvia and Greece who have similar situations in their environment and a common rural context.

It aims to promote the development of skills in students to know, interact and intervene in the environment favoring responsibility and personal involvement in this task, not only of students, but also families, municipalities, European schools, associations and organizations of its environment. It is also intended to give continuity to the project Erasmus + KA1 developed during this course on the same theme of school gardens, which has been promoted by the management team and the faculty that bet on educational innovation and is in continuous recycling and training in new skills .

The objectives to be achieved with this project coincide with some of the Europe 2020 Objectives for education:
– Improve basic skills.
– Introduce European culture in our environment.
– Strengthen creativity and innovation, including the entrepreneur spirit, at all levels of education and training.

It also aims to achieve other specific objectives:
– Increase awareness of biodiversity in other European countries.
– Acquire greater knowledge in organic farming techniques through the exchange between partners.
– To improve the academic results of the students in the scientific areas.
– Acquire innovative skills and methodologies.
– Take advantage of school gardens for their introduction in the curriculum in a cross-disciplinary and multidisciplinary way.
– Introduce the centers in the European Eco-Schools Network (Ecoschools).
– Encourage students to contribute to the change towards sustainability.
– Introduce healthy eating habits.
– Encourage creativity through the development of activities.
– Contextualize the concepts of natural sciences in the physical, chemical and biological processes that occur in the school garden.
– Develop skills to process information through the collection of culinary recipes with local products from each country.

With the achievement of these objectives it is intended to achieve the following results:
As tangible results it is intended to make a dossier of teaching resources for teachers, school garden diaries, a teaching methodological guide, presentations on start-up and maintenance of organic gardens, joint celebration of emblematic days for the environment, publication of works and workshops for students and teachers, surveys for families on habits of respect for the environment.
As strategic results we propose the achievement of innovative work dynamics to be applied in the partner centers as “outdoor learning”, “learning by doing”, and learning by projects starting from the garden as a center of interest.

In order to achieve the objectives and results proposed, seven joint short-term training events are proposed, in which two teachers from each partner center will participate. In addition, there will be activities in which students and families from the participating centers will participate such as pet selection contests and project logo, lectures on organic farming and start-up of gardens, making dossiers on fauna and flora and school garden diaries , ecological awareness activities, formation of environmental committees, reflection on the generation of waste, educational itineraries to natural landscapes, introduction of healthy habits, action plans and environmental codes of conduct, joint celebration of the relevant days related to the environment, development of a European seed bank and surveys on waste habits and energy consumption.
All of them, using a proactive methodology, are aimed at creating new outdoor learning spaces, taking advantage of the rural environment of the centers of the association and the implementation of ecological values ​​and respect for nature that will contribute to the future to the creation and development of sustainable educational communities committed to the environment.

Project Website

https://schoolgardenserasmus.com/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 36730 Eur

Project Coordinator

CEIP LA VALLVERDA & Country: ES

Project Partners

• ISTITUTO COMPRENSIVO STATALE DI MONTA’
• GO! basisschool Ter Elzen Wijtschate
• Primary school of Anavra, Greece
• Rugāju vidusskola
• Agrupamento de Escolas Poeta António Aleixo