Active Learning Academy Erasmus Project

Project Title

Active Learning Academy

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: Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

The aim of this project is to build a European network of schools that enables students’ personal development. Offering innovative way of teaching we will motivate our students to effective collaboration and learning. This way we will act to solve many of the problems of modern education: we will lower school absenteeism and early dropout, we will get higher involvement in participation in the classroom and introduce a new teaching model, by bringing the trainees to the very centre of the education process. In order to achieve that we are to deal with two major factors: curriculum (subject of studies) and methodology (ways of studying). Both can be largely improved by effective communication with students and by organizing collaborative workshops in modern, international project. Planning our work, we have refered to one of the most applied pedagogical theories worldwide – the “Social learning” theory, developed by Lev Vygotzky in the 30s, which focuses on communication as a key factor to develop learning skills among pupils and students.
A large number of researchers and professionals of education have implemented and confirmed the validity of the ideas that Vygotzky developed and that took form in the “interactive groups” methodology, which is based on creating the right conditions for students to interact and work together to solve a given task, under the supervision of the teacher.
As stated before, this technique is widely spread and continues producing considerable results from the pedagogical point of view. Nonetheless, the task to be carried out, the core of the whole process, is usually a “traditional” one, i.e. belonging to the analogical world, such as mathematics problems, geography questions, history analysis etc.
The motivation at the basis of our project is providing more stimulating tasks within the interactive groups’ methodology, connecting it to the innovative practices in the digital era we’re living in. The schools participating in the project have often detected that providing the right stimuli is an essential aspect of the learning process. It’s not by coincidence that each one of them has implemented new technologies in their methodologies for years, obtaining considerable results. We have therefore formed this partnership in order to share our knowledge on innovative technologies and merge it with the social learning theory, in order to provide our students with a stimulating and effective environment which will foster their “soft skills” (creativity, collaboration, cooperation, critical thinking, resilience and assertiveness), along with the basic skills included in the curriculum (3Rs: reading, writing, arithmetic; other school subjects), digital competences, European citizenship and of course the ability to speak foreign languages.
Either Vygotzky’s theory or modern technologies or project-based learning have proven to be remarkable tools in the classroom, so why not blend them in order to obtain a new, innovative practice that takes in consideration the multiple issues that characterise the learning process. A cutting-edge methodology, built upon solid pillars and with a high degree of applicability.
The reason why our project should be funded rely not only on its novelty and degree of ambition, but also on the actual cost of the modern technologies involved. Robotics, virtual reality, 3D printing, app design and web 2.0 are considered worldwide as extremely useful tools, but they undoubtedly require investments that not all European schools can afford.
We can therefore easily identify the expected results of our project as: creating a more participative class environment; increasing the knowledge and usage of digital technologies such as robotics, 3D printing, virtual reality, app design and web 2.0; achieving a higher degree of key competences among students; improving school results and avoiding early school drop-out.
The planned six Learning Teaching Training Activities are also expected to bring results like Erasmus Plus Club: a reference point for the students who are willing to join the project; open TwinSpace on eTwinning, digital works and PDF print-outs of LTTAs, E – DIARY, interviews, questionnaires.
The outlined objectives and results will also allow us to work according to the multiple intelligences theory, which aims at providing the right learning environment for the eight types of intelligences known so far: visual, musical, kinesthesic, linguistic, logical, intrapersonal, interpersonal and naturalistic. Implementing this theory implies getting closer to the personalised education that so many students, teachers and parents long for.
As a result, our project is characterised by both short-term and long-term objectives and results, which align in the vision of modern school who strive to challenge the traditional teaching model and replace it with one that allows the children and young people to thrive not only as students but also as human beings.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 0 Eur

Project Coordinator

Zespol Placowek Oswiatowych w Piekoszowie & Country: PL

Project Partners

• 1o GENIKO LYKEIO AIGIOU
• Perifereiako Lykeio Livadion
• Escuela Santiago Apostol
• Istituto d’Istruzione Superiore Statale “Pascal-Comandini” – Cesena
• SU Sveti Kliment Ohridski