The Future is on our table Erasmus Project

Project Title

The Future is on our table

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: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Natural sciences; Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions

Project Summary

The main goal of the project is to introduce practical teaching solutions to high school science subjects (ie biology, geography, chemistry). The aim is to take the theoretical and abstract content of high school learning into the pragmatic contexts and search how they can be applied to provide new ways of approaching some of the key aspects of Finnish and Italian food production. The project has been started during the previous academic year (2018-2019) as self-funded planning meetings and exchanges, in which the basics of the renewed Finnish and Italian curricula have been examined in order to find common ground for the project. The project partners have worked previously together in a larger Erasmus-funded consortium project for renewable energy. Then, the idea of future co-operation was rooted as so many similarities related to school teaching and learning ideologies were found.

Through the meetings of the last academic year and preparatory project visit at the end of 2019, the planning work to concretise the joint project continued. Science subjects were quickly discovered as the foundation for the project, through which food production was selected as a key theme. The project members of both partners stated that food production is a topic that, on the one hand, is easy for students to understand but, on the other hand, it can present challenging scientific questions and dilemmas, even for advanced learners. In science subjects, a constructive mindset and creative pathways definitely advocate structured learning as part of a broader understanding of the theme and subjects.

In this project, we intend to develop critical thinking towards the ethical issues and choices concerning the environment, animal wellbeing and consumer choices. We also aim at encouraging students’ sustainable attitudes towards food and making them aware of food innovations. At the end of the project, we would like our students to become aware of the future threats such as water shortage form the point of view of food production and develop confidence as well as a positive and an active attitude towards the future. In other words, we will support students’ civic engagement and participation in society.

One of the focus areas of the high schools in the Seinäjoki area is internationalization. The forthcoming national curriculum update will also further emphasize the increasing selection of international opportunities to high school students. In Italy, similar aims have been promoted for a little longer than in Finland, and San Doná High School has been self-financing their participation in various local and international networks. Among the San Doná high school’s priorities language and cultural studies are the strongest, but the popularity of so-called hard sciences is also growing at a rapid pace. For this reason, too, the project, which combines the strong scientific expertise of Nurmo High School and San Doná’s international expertise will bring added value to both schools and the motivation for the project rises from the everyday lives of the schools.

The project has attracted interest in both schools and school administrations give their strong support for the proposal. This is especially due to the fact that, unlike many international projects, the curriculum contents that guide the teaching of schools have been used as a tool for planning the work to be carried out in the project. The programme focuses in particular on the practical applications and concrete implementation of scientific subjects, which may usually remain in a smaller role in theory-oriented subjects.

The upcoming project is expected to be an invigorating and inspiring force for both schools in question. The schools have a committed staff of teachers who have expressed interest in working in the project. Because the project focuses on the strengths of school curricula, it is also easier to be integrated into the schools’ annual plans. Through this, the project actors have

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 65830 Eur

Project Coordinator

Nurmon lukio & Country: FI

Project Partners

• Liceo Statale “E. Montale”