#BeyourownSuperEco Erasmus Project

Project Title

#BeyourownSuperEco

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: Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions; Energy and resources; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

Meeting teachers
14.10.-16.10.19 (Frankfurt a.M.)
The first teachers’ meeting took place in October 2019 in Frankfurt. The main goal was to coordinate the project and to get to know the TwinSpace and e-twinning platforms.
During the meeting, the process of the project was discussed in more detail; the topics of the individual exchanges were determined and the dates of the trips were narrowed down. Furthermore, ideas were collected on how the individual student trips could be designed. Special focus was put on the topic “water”, since this should be the focus of the first exchange in January. In addition, the further procedure up to this meeting was discussed; the individual schools should already introduce the topic with their students in a small project work.
In addition, the meeting was used to get to know TwinSpace and e-twinning. There was an internal training conducted by the representatives of the Swedish school. They had already used it and supported the rest of the teachers in creating accounts and setting up a project page and how to use the platform. This was to be used for communication as well as for recording results. The functions of the platforms were explored together and the first steps were taken in designing the project group.
In addition, a lecture on the topic of “Development of Sustainability” was attended at the Goethe University in Frankfurt.
Meeting students
27.01.-31.01.20 (Frankfurt a.M.)
The first meeting of students took place in January 2020 on the topic of “Water”. The individual schools had already conducted research on this topic in advance, so that it was possible to build on the previous knowledge.
Over the five days, various activities were organized to deepen the students’ knowledge of the topic of water, including presentations by the schools on the results of their research, a workshop that showed, among other things, the path of a bottle of water and where different types of water could be tested, and a tour of the municipal drainage system. In preparation for this visit, technical terms were worked out in the national languages of the participants as well as in English. There was also a workshop by Greenpeace on waste prevention and recycling. Other activities served to get to know each other and strengthen the group feeling, for example a scavenger hunt in which environmentally related places in the city of Frankfurt had to be found and a group challenge in which water had to be transported by hand in buckets from the Main to the school. The students also designed various logos, the best of which was chosen and printed on group shirts by the Schillerschule’s student company.
All results were recorded by the students on self-designed pages, which were repeatedly worked on in work phases throughout the week and later collected and posted on TwinSpace. The aim was both to secure the results of the acquired contents and to make the acquired knowledge available to others.
The topic of the exchange week and the project in general complements the curricula of all participating schools, as environmental aspects and taking responsibility are obligatory topics in the upper school. Furthermore, the students were able to deepen their language skills and intercultural knowledge.

How was the project continued afterwards?
After the first exchange, several online meetings took place between the teachers and the students. The former focused on planning further exchanges and later on possible continuation of the project despite the Corona pandemic, the latter on the conclusion of the topic “water”.
In order to stay in touch and on topic, it was decided at an online meeting of the teachers that each school would design tasks that could be worked on digitally by all and published on TwinSpace. The Schillerschule set the tasks to look again at the personal carbon footprint as well as to write a Corona Diary and publish the results on TwinSpace. In this way, all participants were able to gain an insight into the pandemic situation in the respective partner countries and create occasions for communication.
Finally, the students of the Schillerschule engaged in an online discussion on the question “Corona – curse or blessing for the environment? Unfortunately, the different Covid starting points in the individual countries did not allow for further joint actions or tasks.

Why was the project cancelled during Corona?
This was mainly due to the school closures, which made communication between schools and students difficult and further trips impossible. Due to the increased cancellation of classes and the unfamiliar situation of online classes, the focus was placed on maintaining a normal school day as much as possible. It was considered to extend the project, but since some of the students would then have been preparing for their Abitur or would have already left school, this idea was discarded as impractical.

The contact with the partner schools has not broken off, but has decreased due to the inactivity of the project. We are trying to make a new project start or a new project for the next application period.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 39690 Eur

Project Coordinator

Schillerschule Frankfurt am Main & Country: DE

Project Partners

• lycée Joseph Vallot
• OSG Hengelo
• Möckelngymnasiet