There is no plan(et) B – Can renewable energies fight climate change? Erasmus Project

Project Title

There is no plan(et) B – Can renewable energies fight climate change?

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Environment and climate change; Energy and resources; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

CONTEXT, OBJECTIVES & PARTICIPANTS:
During this project students from all over Europe find out about CLIMATE CHANGE and the importance of RENEWABLE ENERGIES respectively bring the use of them into question. The project aims students to adopt more sustainable behaviours towards our ENVIRONMENT. The project is carried out by 5 schools from Germany, Greece, Croatia and Portugal. Although there are two schools from Portugal, they both enrich our project in various ways: on the one hand, their geographical location is completely different (island vs. mainland) and on the other hand they both contribute a great knowledge about environmental education. For example, Funchal has won the international eco flag for the last ten years.
All participating schools establish a club for about 20 students aged about 14 years who work on the project’s topic.
All of the PROJECT´S PARTNERS have – due to different reasons like problems with too little groundwater or catastrophies – great interest in SPREADING KNOWLEDGE about an essential topic: CLIMATE CHANGE. For all of us it is a big aim to educate our students and raise them to NATURE CONSCIOUS ADULTS who are willing to protect our planet.

The project is divided in 5 SUBTOPICS, which culminate in a mobility:
1. Our school, our region and our climate (Coordinating country: Germany)
2. Climate change – Facts and figures (Coordinating country: Croatia)
3. Power to the people – Generation of electric power as a cause and answer to climate change? (Coordinating country: Greece)
4. Renewable energies of our regions – chances and limits (Coordinating country: Portugal – Lixa)
5. The renewable energy directive of the European Parliament – How EU policy works for renewable energies? (Coordinating country: Portugal – Funchal)

METHODOLOGY & ACTIVITIES:
By performing various methods and activities like
… RESEARCHING (for example on the disadvantages of fossil energy sources)
… MEASURING the consumption of electric power in an electricity diary
… TAKING PHOTOS of beautiful places in our regions to show why they have to be protected from climate change
… EVALUATING questionnaires about the climate change in our regions
… VISITING different renewable power stations
… PRESENTING their results in a foreign language
… COOPERATING with students from other countries (by using our own website to release vlogs as a basis for online discussions, each student gets access to the website comparable to Instagram)
the students develop intercultural, creative, communicative, scientific and social skills and use new technologies as a valuable tool to communicate.

RESULTS & BENEFITS
Results of the project are VERSATILE and will be used for various lessons for the NEXT GENERATION of students after the end of the project:
The main result of the project will be a FILM which includes the BEST VLOGS made by students. They will research on each topic so that they can become EXPERTS who explain the topic for peers and film themselves. The vlogs can include written key information, also photos or music. Therefore different types of learners are appealed. In the final version of the film all different subtopics of our project will be focussed on and used in STEM subjects.
Another result will be a LEARNING POSTER about climate change showing what climate change means, reasons for it or causes we will face in the future.
Besides the students take part in a PHILOSOPHICAL CAFE discussing the link between climate change and human rights. It’s like a talk show with a moderator in a relaxed atmosphere. It will be filmed and uploaded on the website.
Thus, they acquire not only the skill of CRITICAL THINKING in complex issues and learn to use the media competently and socially but also gain a deep understanding of the project´s topic. In the end they are EXPERTS at their own schools and messengers for FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE.
All in all, our students sophisticate their possibilites to reflect themselves as politically active members of the European Union and consider themselves as European citizens.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 164971 Eur

Project Coordinator

Anne Frank Realschule & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Agrupamento de Escolas da Lixa
• 4o imerisio gymnasio kavalas
• Gimnazija Fran Galovic Koprivnica
• Escola Básica e Secundária Gonçalves Zarco