Connect-enjoy mountains & learning outdoors Erasmus Project

Project Title

Connect-enjoy mountains & learning outdoors

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: Natural sciences; Health and wellbeing; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

In daily interaction with our students and encouraged by contemporary research, we have noticed that young people increasingly escape into virtual worlds, which results in the reduction of their cognitive, affective and motor skills and increases the possibility of developing psycho-physical illnesses. For this reason, using the natural and socio-cultural resources around us, we have designed a project that inspires students to engage in experiential and field-based learning. Students would stay outdoors and learn and recreate themselves through a multidisciplinary program. In a fun and creative way, with the application of modern, innovative and interactive methods, they would study topics from different disciplines such as geography, biology, physics, maths, history, mother tongue and literature, visual arts and at the same time engage in physical activities. The project is intended for all students, especially those who do not have the opportunity to engage in recreational sports. However, our main concern it to provide opportunities for socially deprived students and those with impaired mental or physical health.
Mountains and the surrounding highland areas are our underlying motive, namely, the preserved environment where activities and field research will be carried out in order to develop an awareness of the need for sustainable development. The purpose is not only to learn about material and immaterial heritage and build cultural identity, but also to find similarities and links with peers from other regions in nature conservation, ecological preservation, historical, geographic and geodetic specifics and monuments, local terrain features, sites of historical, cultural, ethnological or anthropological value, folk literature, customs, dance, music, old trades, language specifics, historical and geographic links that enable linguistic contacts and influences. With our partner schools, we would like to explore all these fields of interest and jointly discover the benefits of returning to nature and the need to respect and preserve environmental resources as a pledge for the future.
Our plan is to design attractive activities that would enable students to master the basic skills of hiking, orienteering, skiing, sledging, walking and camping. Furthermore, the forest ecosystem and its benefits to the individual, society and all other living world would be explored with the help of reference literature and direct field measurements in the domain of biology and physics. We would learn about the most common types of trees, apply trigonometry in geodesy, search network tools and use them for altitude measurements and GPS locations, learn orientation skills, seek ways to build mountain trails and use mathematical measuring and calculation methods in all these areas. We would analyse the geological structure of soil by making mineral, rock and fossil collections and explore areas under legal protection and cultural monuments. Likewise, we would study regional linguistic diversity, language specificity, and detect linguistic interdependence resulting from similar geographical and historical development and influences among countries. We would look for similarities in nurturing folk literature, find common features and mountain motives, thus, together with the actual biodiversity observe folk mythology and tales we share and even create artwork from natural materials.
Hence, we want to connect with local geodetic and ecological experts, hiking and walking instructors, licensed ski instructors, physicians and physiotherapists, ethnologists, curators, local writers, culinary educators, mountain rescue teams and environmental protection agencies.
Our emphasis will be on creating interesting sporting competitions that take into account traditional culture, quizzes, presentations, posters, interactive maps, charts, picture exhibits, comparative dictionaries, geolinguistic atlases, anthologies of local tales, digital photo albums, video works, respectively, various entertaining and creative activities depending on the students’ interests so that in a natural environment they can discover their strengths, talents and develop interests. We also intend to develop future learning scenarios to use and disseminate at schools, within the local and professional community and other formal and informal teaching. In the spirit of multiculturalism, by developing intercultural communication and finding biological, geographic, historical, artistic, linguistic and traditional meeting points with partner countries, we want to encourage our students to understand and respect other cultures and raise them as true European citizens. In this respect, we want to achieve long-term cooperation with our partner schools.
In conclusion, our ultimate goal is to acknowledge that mountains can be conquered by all students regardless of their psycho-physical limitations, health or social problems.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 107945 Eur

Project Coordinator

Istituto Istruzione Superiore “Isa Conti-Eller Vainicher” & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Gimnazija Fran Galovic Koprivnica
• Eitminiskiu gimnazija
• NAZILLI SOSYAL BILIMLER LISESI
• Solski center Velenje