Think, act and protect global nature as European Citizen Erasmus Project

Project Title

Think, act and protect global nature as European Citizen

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: Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions; Health and wellbeing; Energy and resources

Project Summary

The goal of the modern secondary school Senne in Bielefeld, Germany was to develop a common project in connection with the 1. high school in Xanthi, Greece. The project was called ”Think, act and protect global nature as a European citizen“. Within the context of the strategic school relations this project was supposed to make the younger generation of students live with more awareness towards their environment and the natural resources as well as to develop environmentally-friendly and sustainable ideas for European countries as the “Europe 2020 strategy” requires. The central aspects of the project dealed with protection of animals, plants and climate, healthy and balanced diet, sustainable usage of resources and energy as well as health of human being as a part of the ecological system.
Students aged 12-17 from both schools were supposed to participate in the project. Although the Erasmus group at both schools was heterogeneous in terms of age, there were younger and older students in both groups and thus a common learning, communication and interaction in and between age homogeneous groups was guaranteed. Students with special needs were included in the project, in Greece as in Germany.

The modern secondary school Senne has 672 students, the high school in Xanthi is attended by 420 students. 8 teachers from Greece as well as 8 teachers from Germany were cooperating and working on the project from the beginning. Both schools had different forms of environmental-friendly concepts for their students. For example, the Greek school had started a project for stress reduction and offered ”motion breaks“ as well as a cooking club which combines a local cuisine and gastronomic culture and environmental aspects of the region. The German school offered special training in connection with energy saving. Each class must send 2 students to a special training at the beginning of each school year. (They are called “energy saving detectives”.) Garbage separation is also a field of the educational training.

The goals of the project were diverse and offered students different opportunities like getting to know a new European culture and sights in both countries, practicing a foreign language with peers from another European country, visiting each other for working on a common project, learning together, building up environmental consciousness and organizing their own new environment supported by ideas of environmental protection and natural resources management.

The following table presents the different aspects of work and activities in both schools in different terms:

1. term: problem and needs analysis / The goal was to fix and analyse the current state here and abroad (concerning protection of animals and plants, sustainable usage of resources and energy as well as health of humans); e.g. meat consumption is too high, much plastic packaging
2. term: problem-oriented working / The goal was to start projects in connection with raw materials and energy; e.g. to show alternative behaviour
3. term: problem-oriented working / The goal was to start projects in connection with protection of animals and plants; The actions planned here could not be carried out due to the pandemic.
4. term: problem-oriented working / The goal was to start projects in connection with health; e.g. balanced nutrition from the own garden, creation of a school garden

Unfortunately the second real meeting in Greece could not take place due to the pandemic.

The following methods were expected to be used:

– writing papers, publishing the achieved results, evaluating and analysis, comparison
– setting up a questionnaire for consultations with experts
– create a pesonal ecolocical footprint
– presenting results of surveys as charts
– producing photo documentation
– preparing an exhibition and carry out workshops
– create little videos of some carried out activities
– learn how to use digital media more professional (skype, eTwinning, teams…)
– preparing presentations
– having live discussions on special topics with peers (Skype, organized online meetings)

Some of the developed material, e.g. the survey and the results, the videos and photos from the schoolgarden in Bielefeld and Xanthi, are on the project result platform and can be used by others and inspire other schools.
All expert documents are published at eTwinning and the 1. Gymnasio of Xanthis published them on a page of the Greek Ministry of Education

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 44273 Eur

Project Coordinator

Realschule-Senne & Country: DE

Project Partners

• 1o Gymnasio Xanthis