Favourite Colour Green – Together for a clean environment Erasmus Project

Project Title

Favourite Colour Green – Together for a clean environment

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 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Environment and climate change; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions

Project Summary

Plastic vortex in the ocean, felled jungles, dangerous electric scrap metal in Africa, insects´ demise worldwide – all these pictures shake us but they are so far gone anyway, that we don’t see any mandatory necessity in our apparently clean everyday life to reconsidering our consumption and mobility habits. The problem but exactly lies there: We consume ruthlessly at the expense of the environment far away and also in the native country of our own. Everyone is globally affected by the results of every ecological disaster and is confronted trend-settingly with these problems over limits. With our project we were able to sensitise all participants to this responsibility. Through various action days and the integration of the project topic into the interdisciplinary lessons, our pupils were able to understand the origins of environmental pollution across national borders and were confronted with the consequences of their own actions. In this way, connections between consumer behaviour and the effects on the environment, for example, could be made visible and alternatives could be sought together in cross-border action.
We were able to draw on the experience of previous school cooperation and set new accents in pedagogical exchange through the joint planning of school processes. Involved in the project, language courses for all participants were included, which introduced the respective neighbouring language, took up previous knowledge and expanded it.
The project involved primary school pupils aged between 6 and 12, who were learning in grades 1 to 6, and all teachers from both schools. Due to school closures and further restrictions in school operation and travel, activities could only be carried out in the first half of the project period. The Steinberg primary school organised four action days on the topics of healthy lifestyle, consumer behaviour, production, transport and packaging of food. The focus was on acting offers to motivate and effectively follow up on learning in an age-appropriate way. Everyday routines were critically examined from a practical point of view, e.g. checking bread boxes, buying chocolate or rethinking one’s own Christmas wishes in order to change personal behaviour in the future. In addition, environmental and nature conservation issues were integrated into the teaching of individual primary school subjects and learning goals were reformulated with a view to the future.
The Chyse Primary School focused on the topics of animal welfare and forest protection for several weeks as part of inter-year project lessons. In addition to an active pedagogy in nature, feeding stations were created in the handicraft lessons in order to take responsibility for the care of the animals in winter in the future.
The planned tree planting campaign, a joint working week in the forest park and the final project had to be cancelled due to the travel ban. Unfortunately, this meant that the important element of personal exchange and the planned film and photo documentation were cancelled. Nevertheless, personal messages by letter, e-mail or WhatsApp made it possible to maintain contact throughout the entire period. Since the partnership between the two schools will continue beyond the project period, we are aware of the happy prospects of further expanding our cooperation.
During the time of the project, when it was possible to broaden our knowledge, dealing with the protection of the environment was an essential pillar of our school activities. This always included the self-image of the transnational partnership and the learning of the neighbour language. Through our action- and product-oriented implementation of the project topic, all participants learned the skills needed to personally participate in environmental protection.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 9750 Eur

Project Coordinator

Grundschule Steinberg & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Zakladni skola a materska skola Chyse, okres Karlovy Vary