FIND YOURSELF IN THE HEART OF NATURE Erasmus Project

Project Title

FIND YOURSELF IN THE HEART OF NATURE

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: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills

Project Summary

The project “Find Yourself in the Heart of Nature” is coordinated by an Italian school and its partners are schools in Poland, Portugal, Greece, Turkey. The duration of the project is 24 months. A total number of 120 students aged 12 – 15, accompanied by 40 teachers, will participate in transnational learning activities.
Our natural world is not only a source of beauty and admiration, but it also provides unique opportunities to teach students the fascinating world of STEAM and other twenty-first century skills. The natural environment motivates students not only to learn and to pay attention, but it also awakens their imagination while developing their Math, Science, Technology, Engineering and Art skills by employing their five senses. This strategic partnership among schools will boost excellence in education and get students ready for global competitiveness while teaching them efficient strategies to relate STEAM to nature. It will also encourage our students to relate to nature as a guide which helps them to observe, question and research, while offering them new skills and knowledge on an international, European level.
The objectives of the project are: to encourage students to integrate knowledge from several school subjects, to give students opportunities to become twenty-first century creative, innovative, solution-generating critical thinkers who are interested in science while cooperating with others, to increase the students’ interest in STEAM education and careers, to create new content and to encourage the integration of STEAM skills in the school curricula, while enabling teachers to teach STEAM subjects in a different and more appealing manner.
The activities of the project include: making an insect hotel, making figurines out of natural materials, making solar cells by studying plant leaves, designing a terrarium, making sundials to tell the time, designing bird feeders, designing simple bridges and machines, designing ecological and natural houses made with natural materials, designing solar ovens, designing aircraft models inspired by birds, poetry-writing inspired by nature, pottery design workshop, sun prints, creating musical instruments from natural objects and playing them, nature collages, painting with flower petals, redesigning/ restoring the school’s grounds, creating a maths center, discovering fractals in nature, revealing mathematical structures through origami, making 3D shapes with natural materials, designing a weather station, using the stop motion technique, the design competition, the STEAM Fair, the eTwinning seminar, the entrepreneur pitch, the speaker events, or using apps such as Audubon Bird Guide and iNaturalist.
Contact persons in partner schools, coordinator in the whole project are responsible for the project management. All schools meet once a month, fulfill the duties and responsibilities according to the 24-months work schedule and inform the coordinator from the result.
The results of the project are: students will acquire STEAM skills inspired by nature, they will understand how subjects like mathematics, sciences, technology, engineering and arts work together, they will learn to improve critical thinking and problem-solving skills, they will become more aware of STEAM and its applicability, while they will improve their ability to apply an interdisciplinary integration. At the same time, resources on teaching STEAM will be much improved, teachers will improve their skills of teaching STEAM, the educational process will be improved, while the new curriculum will ensure the integration of knowledge and skills in the everyday lessons. At the same time, cooperation among partner schools and other key stakeholders will be strengthened. The European dimension of teaching will increase greatly, improving the students’ chances to be much better prepared to pursue a scientific career.
The exchange of best practices in nature will be included in the curriculum of all partner schools. Therefore, every school will make use of the new knowledge and skills which result from the project and continue to develop them after the project ends. Students will make use of the newly-acquired twenty-first century knowledge and skills in the following educational stages and be even more successful due to them. Key staff in the schools involved in the project will share the project outputs and results with other teachers in local schools. The latter will be encouraged to use the output materials and to take advantage of the shared experience.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 163080 Eur

Project Coordinator

Istituto Comprensivo Brolo & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Publiczna Szkola Podstawowa im. J. Ponikiewskiego w Nowym Belecinie
• Agrupamento de Escolas do Viso – Porto
• Dumlupinar Ortaokulu
• 2nd PYLAIAS PRIMARY SCHOOL