A better Europe: it’s up to you Erasmus Project

Project Title

A better Europe: it’s up to you

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

Our Erasmus Project “It’s up to you” focused on implementing activities to encourage students and all the school community to be environmentally aware, contributing to raise awareness about the importance of individual daily actions that could potentially make a difference in the future of planet Earth.
This aim was achieved through different sorts of good practices among children and teachers from the four European countries participating in the project. These practices included innovative methodologies, making children actively involved. The approach was interdisciplinary and included different subjects which were fundamental for the implementation of most of the activities. Language improvement was one of the main aims in the project and English was the language of communication throughout the project both for contacts and work.
Contents covered from Biodiversity to Pollution, Sustainable Development to Responsible Consumption. These were approached through different kinds of hands-on activities.
Collaborative work played an important role during the implementation of the project. It provided our students with time of reflection and discussion along the project when working together organizing green teams, or, when proposing solutions to reduce our carbon footprint. This also contributed to building up students’ “learner autonomy”, fostering students’ self-motivation and sense of responsibility. Also including students with learning difficulties and special educational needs.
The mobilities were also essential to carry out the project. Students who travelled from other countries were integrated into groups of host students of their school age and they worked in experimental and playful activities:
Meeting in Spain: visit to Montserrat Mountain to learn about the mountain flora and the disastrous effects of fires, visit to the CRAM Rescue Centre and Sea Animal Hospital and workshop about sea pollution, visit to Park Guell and learning about Antoni Gaudi’s sustainable projects, and visit to CosmoCaixa Science Museum with the amazing simulated piece of the Amazon rainforest.
Meeting in Greece: visit to Mount Parnassus National Park to attend a workshop on how to use the special biodiversity frame, how to use the environmental monitor and sound level measuring instrument, and how to use an age estimating tree-friendly marker; visit to the Delphi Museum and archaeological site, participation in schoolyard games with recycled constructions.
Meeting in Sicily: visit to Museum of Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples, the historical city of Syracuse, Latomia del Paradiso and the Greek and Roman Amphitheatre, and the Puppet Museum & Theatre-Workshop, to attend a puppet craft workshops with recycled materials. Field trip to Mussomeli, a farm for schools, to attend to an eco-workshops and made bread and ricotta cheese.
Meeting in Lisbon: the Portuguese school counterbalanced the cancellation of this Meeting (due to covid19) by proposing a Very Green Task for students from all participating countries. They worked on this PBL (project based learning) by responding to a challenging problem – a survey about our carbon footprint.
During mobilities students experienced the negative effects of pollution, appreciated nature landscapes, learned about cultural similarities and differences, practiced English with European friends, established positive relationships of friendship, of cooperation, sharing emotional moments and cultural growth, and used technological devices to communicate and work.
E-Twinning has been the safe platform to share all the results and be in touch among all the project partners, both teachers and students. Teachers also used GoogleSuit in order to manage all the project documents.
Regarding the project dissemination, we would like to note that the students have been the project’s multipliers disseminating objectives and activities, as they have had an active and participatory role during all the project.
All mobilities, activities and products were reported in local newsletters and in the project website itself. As well as in different social media like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, in order to give visibility to the project, to reach to all the European community.
The project has benefited us in many ways. All the new methodologies used have been incorporated into our school projects, diversifying the teaching methodology. It has been a positive change towards the use of ICT, both by teachers and by students and their families. Students could understand the need of learning English to be able to communicate with other cultures. Also, the need of working collaboratively became an asset of this task based project.
But above all, this project has created a sense of belonging to a wider European community, in which everyone is responsible for their own future in a sustainable way. Our products will be sustainable over time and could serve as an example for other European schools.

Project Website

https://sites.google.com/xtec.cat/itsup2uerasmusproject

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 77967 Eur

Project Coordinator

Escola Nadal de la Generalitat de Catalunya & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Direzione Didattica Statale 1° Circolo “E. De Amicis” San Cataldo
• Agrupamento de Escolas D. Filipa de Lencastre
• 1st Primary School of Amfissa