Help Our Mother Earth Erasmus Project

Project Title

Help Our Mother Earth

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 : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

H.O.M.E.- Help our Mother Earth project was written by 7 schools from Spain, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Italy, Greece and Hungary (applicant) in several activities, for a period of 24 months (01/09/2017 – 31/08/2019). Unfortunately, Greece did not start the project with us, so 6 partners made a project cooperation.
The project idea came from the awareness that the environment we live in is getting more and more polluted. That is the consequence of our lifestyle, which does not keep the severe damages we are creating to the planet into account. It is a clear consequence of an almost total lack of that sensitivity that we, as teachers, should help to develop. Focusing on the students it was an effecting starting point to build up a sense of responsibility they might be able to transmit to their families, too.

When writing the project, our main goal was to make students more environmentally conscious, to open their eyes for the enviroment problems and find solutions how we can solve them, to expand the colleagues’ methodological toolbox using cooperation among subjects, learning modern methodological strategies and trying them in practice. The other main goal was to include SEN, less talented students or students with disadvantaged backgrounds in the project in order to give them a sense of achievement, to decrease early school-leaving and to be part of an international cooperation.
In everyday practice we tried to implement the tasks planned. During the implementation we examined how it is possible to take the enviromental problems into everyday activities, to make the learning process more colourful, to deepen our knowledge and to make the students more motivated. We have tried the theories in practice on local school level, sent the results and reflections to the partner countries, show them on trainings and meetings and shared them on google drive, facebook page and the common web page. We tried the partners’ ideas back at home, compared the feedback on TPMs and exchanged ideas, methodologies.
Our task was to involve the students to an active research in the collection of information and scientific data observing and investigating nature, monitoring air and water quality, studying how renewable energy resources are exploited.

The important point of the project was to give equal educational chance and engage working on the project as many students as possible, particularly pupils with special educational needs. Moreover, carrying out project theme on different subjects pupils developed a lot of skills such as literacy and numeracy, practical knowledge usage, reading diagrams and concluding. Due to developing mentioned skills students get the opportunity to be more successful at schools on a higher level and get to know and cultivate interests. These actions help them to choose their educational career more consciously and to be aware of the natural environment.
Our further aims were to get to know the other nations’ school life, compare the similarities and differences of the education systems, to gain and give good ideas, to make friends between teachers and students from different countries (penpal partners amoung the schools), to learn about foreign cultures and to present ours.
For the institutions this 24-month-long cooperation was very useful, it has its direct and indirect impacts.
Our collagues participated in the international work with great enthusiasm. They learnt new pedagogical methods on trainings and can use good practices on their practice.
Their digital and foreign language competences also improved.

Each participating school has, on average, about 250 attending students and 12 teachers involved into the activities.
During the project we developed learning materials (lesson plans,presentations and a book for using other teachers) and supported the effective use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in education and training.

In formal and informal learning within the frame of school with new teaching tools, we could achieve the increase of students’ knowledge, skills and competences.
We could also force critical thinking, especially through teaching science in environmental problems.
Our students had a perfect chance to analyse natural problems from their own point of view and shared their experiences and analysis with their partners who had different backgrounds.

Summing up, all the mentioned factors explain why this ecological project is very important for us – teachers and our students. We have a very important mission to carry out for our students and future generations. We have to teach how to protect places in which they live and have an input into saving endangered species from extinction.
We have some different partnerships: between the Polish school Zespol Szkol w Karczmiskach and the Hungarian Újlaki Primary School we would like to make a twinschool partnership. With the Italian Piazza Gustavo VI Adolfo school pupils we organised an exchange programme.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 126690 Eur

Project Coordinator

Újlaki Általános Iskola & Country: HU

Project Partners

• ISTITUTO COMPRENSIVO “P. EGIDI”
• Zespol Szkol w Karczmiskach
• Scoala Gimnaziala Radu Tudoran
• 15 DIMOTIKO SCHOLEIO PATRAS
• C.E.I.P. Lapachar
• Menderes Ilkokulu