Bat on volcano Erasmus Project

Project Title

Bat on volcano

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: Creativity and culture; Natural sciences; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

The educational institutions in Straden and Sveta Ana have had a school partnership since 2003. In September 2018 a new attempt was started with a new project and additional project partners (elementary school and kindergarten Maribor).
“Bats on the volcano” was chosen as a common theme. The educational institutions in Straden and Sveta Anna (Steirisches Vulkanland and Adventure Park and Geological Museum in Grad, Slovenia) have a volcanic background. The bats connect Maribor and Straden. “Our” bats hibernate in the Hudnija Luknja bat cave near Maribor.
The aim was to bring the students and teachers closer to nature, in particular the biology and habitat of bats, geology and volcanism in Styria and Slovenia. The participating children and young people (between 5 and 15 years of age) worked with different methods, in different groups, in one-day and multi-day school events, in various projects with the support of teachers, but also external experts (biologists, geologists, craftsmen, etc.) , through manual work the content of the overall project. The focus was on learning through discovery (excursions, experiments, collecting and determining, nature conservation measures …). A total of around 500 children and around 70 teachers were involved in the overall project, with the core group consisting of around 150 people. The highlight was probably the project days in Tieschen. Over 150 enthusiastic children from the NMS, the VS and the kindergarden Straden and the partner educational institutions from Slovenia experienced our fascinating and exciting living space “nature” in joint activities and workshops. Experts, who burn with enthusiasm, true luminaries in their field, accompanied the children on their explorations and managed to amaze young and old at the wonder of nature.
The topics of volcanism, bats, nature were dealt with in cooperation with local responsible persons (biologists, volcanologists, geologists, bat specialists, forest educators, butterfly experts, physicists, …) in workshops in the station operation. If you were once out and about with the volcanologist Ingomar Fritz, chief curator for geology & palaeontology at the Landesmuseum Joanneum, in the Styrian volcanic region, whose landscape was shaped and shaped by volcanoes, a stone is no longer just a stone. Oliver Gebhardt told fascinating stories about the strictly protected bats. Hundreds of bats fluttered out of their summer quarters in Klöch to hunt insects at night. Siegfried Haberl, founder of the Tieschner woodschool, showed the children, that the forest is definitely the most adventurous playground and an excellent place to learn. The girls of the 3rd grade of the NMS Straden thrilled the audience in the Jörgen quarry with their dance performance, for which they had rehearsed the choreography themselves. Also perfectly staged: The Great Vienna Night Peacock, one of the largest butterflies in Europe, was spotted again on that very evening in Styria after twenty years. Not only for the profound butterfly expert Leo Kuzmits, who set up and illuminated a butterfly house in the forest to attract the moths. Not equipped with flashlights but with magnifying glasses, the children went on a meadow safari with the biologist and meadow specialist Bernd Wieser during the day and got to know this special habitat with its typical animal and plant species. The element of water was also amazing. In the Drauchenbach, the children fished creatures out of the water with a natural detective and a landing net, so that soon many aquatic animals were cavorting in the aquarium provided. The nature educator Andreas Tiefenbach helped identify the animals before they were let back into the cool water. The actor Ferdinand Pregartner kidnapped the youngsters into the world of theater. While the artist Helmut Hable accompanied the younger children with their visual representation of bats, Hans Eck from the University of Education amazed the students with cool experiments on the fascinating subject of volcanism. The goal of the Erasmus + project came closer through these eventful project days: Cross-border learning took place and the young people must have felt how important it is to appreciate the value of our living space and an understanding of the protection and care of our unique nature to develop.
The teaching and learning materials and other items (test series, brochures, T-shirts, calendars, …) produced in the project can also be used again and again in other school years. The project brought the schools and their children and teachers even closer together and the partnership between the educational institutions was further strengthened.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 58639,3 Eur

Project Coordinator

MIttelschule Straden & Country: AT

Project Partners

• VRTEC STUDENCI MARIBOR
• OS JANKA PADEZNIKA MARIBOR
• Volksschule Straden
• Osnovna sola Sveta Ana
• Pfarrkindergarten Straden