Awareness is Power Erasmus Project

Project Title

Awareness is Power

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: Natural sciences; Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

We live in a time where production has grown bigger than consumption, where most of the non-renewable resources have been used up. We must think about our future more than ever, and the best way to do it is to start from children. We cannot wait for our governments to take action and solve environmental problems, but which is more important, the active contribution of individuals in their daily lives matters. It is important that students understand how their lifestyle and choices affect the environment.
The main objectives of the project are raising awareness about the environmental issues in order to change the behaviors and worldview of the students and through them the communities as well. For that reason some of the most important environmental topics have been integrated to the project – pollution, energy production, wildlife preservation, recycling and sustainable development. Through getting to know and exploring environmental issues students come up with possible solutions to ensure the sustainable use of resources and establish deep-rooted behavioral patterns. The new knowledge would reach students’ families through them, and the circle of conscious members of society would expand even further. Today’s students are entrepreneurs and consumers of the future. Gaining practical experience raises interest in the development of various currently not so popular subjects (mathematics, science, technology). Learning through practical experience (constructing models, drawing posters, composting, recycling, helping animals, etc.) and using ICT tools (posters, digital conference between schools, presentations, etc.) lead to deeper knowledge and provide a basis for more informed decision-making skills in the future.
At the same time teachers face the problem of how to integrate global and environmental education into regular curriculum. Sharing our best practices of teaching and facilitating workshops and lessons will promote the integration of environmental issues into everyday school life. Teaching and learning through practical activities is extremely relevant to the various global issues, through them the participants and teachers can exchange tools and knowledge, experiences and materials, teaching methods both formal and non-formal. Planned activities will ensure that participants become learners with different knowledge, interests and skills, and develop competencies that will create the capacity to effectively operate in their chosen field or area of ​​activity (entrepreneurial, digital, communication and social).
The participants will be from Estonia, Greece, Norway, Romania, Serbia and Spain. This project is aimed for the whole school and through that can impact the whole community of all the partners. Each country will also host one project week at their school where four students and two teachers from each school can go. The reason behind the variety of participating countries is that sustainable development is a topical issue in all those countries. Some problems we have in common, like recycling percentage is currently one of the lowest in Romania, Spain, Greece, Serbia and Estonia. At the same time, it is possible to see good solutions that save the environment, like Norway’s circular economy. Norwegian industrial companies are world leaders in environmental and climate friendly operating principles. In Estonia the Food Bank has been well established. We want to learn from the best examples and aim to strengthen and broaden the partnership between participating schools at European level.
One project meeting will last 5 days and will contain presentation of homework about some severe environmental issues in Europe and the world – like food waste, electricity production, overproduction of food waste, wildlife protection, etc. Workshops will be implemented by each partner school’s teachers and students. Homework will be done beforehand at home together with other teachers and students. The host school’s teachers will facilitate and partners will visit two regular school lessons, which are connected to the topic. We are planning to have visits to interesting places to know some local pollution issues. On the last day we will have a meeting of the coordinators, reflection, and evaluation of the first project meeting.
The impact on students, teachers, and community will be extensive. Students and teachers will develop practical skills, can better evaluate the situations in the world and in their communities, enlarge their competence in interdisciplinary work and teaching methods. Our communities will lead a more sustainable way of life and set examples to others. It is also expected to improve knowledge of foreign languages and promote the EU’s broad diversity and intercultural awareness. This project will broaden the horizons for a more creative and open school with more experiential learning that departs from the traditional way of teaching where students are passive recipients of knowledge.

Project Website

https://twinspace.etwinning.net/132144/pages/page/1166989

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 127725 Eur

Project Coordinator

Kiltsi Põhikool & Country: EE

Project Partners

• Scoala Gimnaziala Pietroasa
• CEIP Mediterráneo
• 3o GYMNASIO. AMALIADAS
• Osnovna skola ”23. oktobar” Sremski Karlovci
• Lyngdal Ungdomsskole