BACK TO NATURE, FURTHER INTO THE FUTURE Erasmus Project

Project Title

BACK TO NATURE, FURTHER INTO THE FUTURE

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: Health and wellbeing; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Natural sciences

Project Summary

Modern living has become risk adverse and interaction with a natural environment has become reduced due to lack of opportunity, lack of confidence, and a perception of heightened dangers from ‘strangers’ or from injury. Families are under more pressure to identify time for enjoyment and interaction and without support are not prioritizing outside activities but are relying on technology and media for entertainment. The rise in migration to cities and loss of outside space available has further impacted on the time spent outdoor. Children’s time has become more restricted with additional homework or responsibilities. Personal connections with nature seem hard to come by, an aspect which threatens to reduce the care about the environment on the part of future generations.
Increasing evidence demonstrates the benefits of nature on children’s psychological and physical well-being, including reduced stress, greater physical health, more creativity and improved concentration. increased recess time and greener playgrounds encourage children to learn more effectively, and improve a child’s ability to concentrate in the classroom. There is a high correlation between successful learning outcomes and good physical and mental well-being.
Creative exploration and first-hand experience of nature are the best ways for children to learn about subjects-including science, art, music, math’s. We used critical study results to develop a project based on alternative activities to encourage students to perform better in class and to engage with their wider environment. We have designed this project in the hope that we will be able to pilot a new methods to attain the desired results and share them with other schools all around Europe.
We believe this initiative will be more successful as a transnational project because we there will be added value in observing pupils in differing environments relate to nature, how schools with a differing social, cultural and economic dynamics tackle similar issues.
Our main objectives are:
1. To improve the competence of teachers in designing activities to be conducted outdoors and integrating them in regular practice
2. To enable teachers in EU countries to cooperate and produce a common output which will be used further in their schools, as well as by other schools
3. To promote nature as a learning environment
4. To improve the acquisition of skills and competences by pupils
5. To make parents aware of the importance of outdoor time
6. To develop teachers’ and pupils’ critical thinking and intercultural competence
7. To develop participants’ communication, interpersonal skills
Participants
Teachers (5/country/LTTA) will attend transnational events to meet with their peers from different countries. There, they will be able to test their methods, compare and contrast the realities of different systems of education, participate in cultural events and activities and then disseminate the information locally.
Activities
C1 – Learning outdoors – current trends in Europe (organized in Italy in Nov 2018)
C2 – Nature activities and numeracy (Turkey in Feb 2019)
C3 – Nature activities and literacy (Poland in May 2019)
C4 – Nature activities and science (Romania in Oct 2019)
C5 – Nature activities and the exploration of the self through arts and crafts (UK in Mar 2020)
Results
– Report about activities in the nature developed regularly in the schools, their purpose, objectives and methodology, the frequency of such actions (as discussed during LTTA1)
– Collection of activities to develop numeracy which can be performed outdoors (as presented during LTTA2)
– Collection of outdoor activities to develop literacy (LTTA3)
– Collection of outdoor activities to enable the study of sciences (LTTA4)
– Collection of outdoor activities to boost self-awareness, self-expression through arts and crafts (LTTA5)
All these collections will be put together in the final output of the project, “Getting students outside – ideas for outdoor activities to improve school performance”.
– 5 newsletters, one after each transnational event, which will also be used for dissemination purposes.
– A brochure with pictures and information about all the partner countries which will be distributed in the schools and displayed in the Erasmus+ corner
– The project website
– Certificates of participation
– Students’ work
– Pictures of activities

Impact
It is envisaged that schools will strengthen their relationship with the parents, students and teachers. There will be improved dialogue among all the school community, as a result of the new activities. This will benefit the school in the development and improvement planning. It is also hoped that this project will prompt future collaborations with parents and increase parents engagement and

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 21408 Eur

Project Coordinator

Kingsmoor Academy & Country: UK

Project Partners

• Katolicka Jezykowo-Sportowa Szkola Podstawowa w Kwidzynie
• Fikret Yuzatli Ilkokulu
• Istituto Comprensivo “G Caruano”
• Scoala Gimnaziala Decebal