Cooperative EU school teams: the winning future Erasmus Project

Project Title

Cooperative EU school teams: the winning 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: Creativity and culture; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Learning is a vital ability of human beings especially in teenagers and the range of 12-15 is critical in their future as professionals. Teachers can create an environment to support learning, but in this case, the student should take the active role. Student’s motivation and compromise are the key points in learning process. Teacher’s work does not matter, if the student does not work, he or she does not learn. On the other side, transnational learning is another important point in motivation that these kind of projects provide. We understand that short-term exchange activities are essential in the project but it is also necessary a close contact during all the project life. In this sense, the use of technology can definitely help us to achieve active implication of students in different countries along the project. As a result of this, this project needs to be carried out transnationally. Our partnership includes five schools from Spain, Italy, Greece, Latvia and Poland and it helps to promote the international dimension of our schools.

We have decided to focus the project on five areas: Maths, Science, Arts, Sports and Culture Heritage. Each of these skills is accurately selected taking into account the partners’ needs, background and what they especially can offer in terms of inclusion and emotions. In this sense, Arts is the best way to allow students to express emotions, creativity and the possibility to know and appreciate different cultures around Europe. Sports, on the other side, is well-known as a way to foster inclusion and equal opportunities as well as a healthy life style. It is also linked to fair play in competition that we like to promote and Sports is another way to link easily with society and external entities that are already collaborating with the school. Being Greece and Italy in our partnership, we will look into their ancient Cultural Heritage to understand better our common EU background. Finally, we have selected two traditional competences, key competences in the future of students: Maths and Science. We would like EU TEAM project to have a therapeutic aspect too: many students are very stressed by Maths or Science lessons.

The key point in achieving the main goals is the methodology we are going to use for the activities reflected in two practical guides. We propose two methodologies:
– Gamification: we propose a structure gamification because it implies using videogame elements but activities are not game-based. The correct application of the videogames principles can have a strong impact, becoming a transforming force together with other learning methodologies. In all the exchanges there will be transnational competitions with the Olympic spirit.
– Cooperative learning in a context of open space technology (OST): Our aim is to show that in small groups students can learn and cooperate regardless of the linguistic and cultural differences or obstacles. They will be pushed to progressively dismiss their individualistic behaviour and enjoy the process of investigating, discovering, elaborating and creating together with their own schoolmates and international peers.

Therefore, activities proposed will be:
– Challenging, funny and interconnected.
– Suitable to work in teams and using ICTs
– English as the main language but respecting minority languages as Valencian, Italian, Greek, Polish or Latvian. Students will create and update along the project their Europass.
– Showing the culture and heritage connected to each area.

The engaging activities are supposed to change their attitude towards Maths or Science and raise their self-confidence. We also hope that cooperative learning and teamwork enhancing activities in EU TEAM project will develop our students’ social skills. Active participation in the project will be a beneficial alternative to the time spent online.

The real impact is to apply the two methodologies in a real learning environment when the project finishes, in this sense it is essential:
– The evaluation we do of the whole project but mainly activities during the selection and short-term exchanges.
– The two practical guides we will design (gamification and activities) using open license and available and free to everyone.

Finally, it should be emphasized that to guarantee the success of the project we have decided to:
– Start contacts like the Italian partner has already done with local authorities to support the project.
– Organize a teacher training activity in gamification and cooperative learning.
– Organize five exchange activities with students, one for each topic trying to reflect the interconnection of all the fields selected
– Agree in safety conditions for all the participants.
– Allow teachers to do job shadowing in each school.
– Organize regular local and transnational meetings using ICT tools (email, videoconference, whatsapp, Google Drive) and also a coordinating meeting in September 2019.
– Set Etwinning project and blog.

Project Website

http://euteams.iesmariablasco.com/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 117700,83 Eur

Project Coordinator

IES María Blasco & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Zemgales vidusskola
• Szkola Podstawowa nr 16 im. Fryderyka Chopina w Lublinie
• Istituto Comprensivo Don Aldo Mei
• Diapolitismiko Gymnasio Evosmou