Healthy lifestyle – power from nature Erasmus Project

Project Title

Healthy lifestyle – power from nature

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: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Health and wellbeing; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

Our pupils are generally spending their free time with online games and with their mobile phones and don’t love practicing sports; they are often driven to school by public or private means, lack the possibility to exercise on the way to school and don’t have many close sport centers. Despite the fact that they are surrounded by amazing natural places, they aren’t used to appreciating their local environment as a source of well-being and their local food as a healthy one. Our aim is to stimulate pupils to reconnect with nature and help them improve their knowledge of healthier eating habits. Students, families and teachers are given the possibility to learn and appreciate different examples of healthy lifestyles; lastly, by interacting with a variety of European cultures, we promote in pupils, teachers and their families European citizenship and tolerance.  This project enhances the stakeholders’ capacity for organization and recognition of learning periods abroad. With these measures we promote engaging, connecting and empowering our students.

By limiting the use of mobiles, pupils study the benefits of the physical activity on their physical and mental health, are encouraged to be more active through outdoor learning and functional teaching methods (for example hiking, trekking, walking on the sand, flash-mob, games, orienteering, skiing, ice swimming). Visits to Nature Friendly Companies and agricultural enterprises will help pupils to acquire stronger and lasting cultural skills through experiential learning. Preparatory Chemistry classes are organized through flipped classroom and problem-solving tasks. They learn how to make a healthy meal by using local food and the basics of the Baltic and the Mediterranean diets; healthy recipes are collected in a leaflet/web page/e-book.

The objectives for students are: 1) increasing awareness of the positive aspects of physical activity 2) encouraging the new generation to eat more local, in-season food to fight unbalanced diet 3) building up respect for nature and environment 4) promoting the acquisition of Key Citizenship Competences in an intercultural and not formal context .

The objectives for teachers are: 1) fostering intercultural competence 2) promoting digital competence thanks to the knowledge of the different digital platforms and devices 3) acquiring new innovative teaching methods and thus improving their professional development 4) receiving good practices and new teaching methods such as outdoor learning and functional teaching method.

As for the number of participants, 10 students and 3 teachers per country will be engaged in each mobility but all stakeholders, according to their tasks and their potentials, teachers, students, headmasters, administrators, families will be involved in the realization of the project and its dissemination. Pupils will be 13-16 years old, belonging to different classes or Science courses. They will be prepared and supported in all the phases by giving them the guidelines to follow. Students not travelling will take part in different ways, such as preparing presentations on their English and science classes. Teachers involved are the ones who show their interest in initiating and promoting the school’s international relations, interested in the topic, have the right competences linked to the objectives of the project and wish to contribute in all phases.  

Through explanatory videos and educational games (e. g. Kahoot, eTwinning uploading) information is shared, digital and language competences are enhanced. Questionnaires are made via Google modules; school presentations, reports about nature protection are created via PowerPoints, infographics, Padlets or videos.
A small vocabulary in English, Latvian, Italian and Finnish is created by selecting the main expressions to be used in the project via peer-to-peer work (e-book: final output). English competence is improved by creating materials and meeting students, teachers, host families and communicating with them in English. Our students will be more motivated in eating healthily and preparing healthier meals, understand the benefits of using local, in-season ingredients, find recreation from nature, produce leaflet/web page/e-books (Different ways to get fit and Healthy recipes). They’ll understand the importance of keeping nature clean; acquire digital competences by using various platforms and apps, learn how to search and use data in a critical and systematic way. Thus they’ll be better prepared for their school curriculum and constitute a determining and involving support for the project fulfillment and its dissemination. Partner teachers will improve their English communicative skills and strengthen their European contacts for future. The projects results will be used in curricula planning and the collection of good practices.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 95656 Eur

Project Coordinator

Riistaveden koulu & Country: FI

Project Partners

• Jelgavas Spidolas Valsts gimnazija
• LICEO SCIENTIFICO STATALE ENRICO FERMI PATERNÒ (CT)