It’s time for an electric bike – designing and constructing the electrically powered bicycle and intergenerational partnership in Europe. Erasmus Project

Project Title

It’s time for an electric bike – designing and constructing the electrically powered bicycle and intergenerational partnership in Europe.

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: Research and innovation; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills

Project Summary

Project: „It’s time for an electric bike – designing and constructing the electrically powered bicycle and intergenerational partnership in Europe” was realised by the partner schools ZSM 1 in Cracow and BBS1 in Mainz, which are reliable partners in the implementation of educational projects for students and training projects for teachers. The project was the result of a long-lasting cooperation and the exchange of coordinatorsˈ experience in international partnership between the two schools. It also took into account the needs of Polish and German participants. It was an innovative project which consisted of the development of skills and technical competences of Polish and German students and teachers, and involved them in local community life. The project consisted of innovative technical solutions far beyond school curricula in Cracow and in Mainz. The students had to design and construct four bicycles with electric drives, two for each school. As a result, in BBS 1 the participants built: a three-wheeled rehabilitation bike donated to a disabled person, and a fast cross bike (fun-bike), which remained at school and serves as a didactic tool for students. In Cracow the students built a three-wheeled rehabilitation tandem, which was donated to a Social Welfare Home, and a fast recreational extreme bike (fat-bike), which is a didactic tool for students in one of the professional workshops. The bike models were completed thanks to the cooperation between international teams and their experience in this field, which was a valuable asset of the project. The combination between the subject matter, its educational objective and the European aspect of the project allowed the electric bicycle to become a symbol connecting generations and integrating young people from Europe.
Thanks to the realisation of the project, the following goals were achieved: increasing the professional knowledge of participants and their technical skills in the field of design and construction of modern solutions for electric drives used in bicycles and other vehicles of that type, developing key and communicative competences, the usage of information and communication technologies, strengthening the intergenerational integration of participants with senior communities in the respective school areas, and getting to know the regions of Lesser Poland Voivodeship and Rhineland-Palatinate. In order to ensure high quality of the project implementation, knowledge and experience of teachers from ZSM 1 in Cracow and BBS1 in Mainz were used, as well as the expertise of the engineers from universities and employees from bicycle services in Cracow and in Mainz. During the project realisation, young people got to know the technological basis for electric drives, as well as the ways of assembling the technical elements. All the students together prepared a brochure in English presenting the particular stages of the bikes construction, as well as a photographic documentation and multimedia presentations of the whole project. Both Polish and German students had a chance to broaden their professional skills and put the idea of voluntary work, international and intergenerational cooperation into practice. Project outcomes: electric bikes built by students and a manual describing bikes construction are a tangible result of the project in which technological solutions developed thoroughly by Polish and German students, as well as the skills gained by them, were used.
The project benefits will be visible long after it is finished. Electric bicycles and the manual will be used in both schools to conduct professional classes in the field of bicycle mechanics and electric motors, which will serve as a support for gifted pupils who can develop their abilities under the supervision of well prepared teachers. This will contribute to improving the quality and effectiveness of students‘ education, both schools work, and increasing their educational offers in the long term. Established during the project implementation, the cooperation with seniors, universities, social organisations and bicycle services will be continued after the end of the project. The possibility of using ecological, electrical bikes by seniors and the benefits of their physical activities will be widely promoted by young people in Lesser Poland Voivodeship and in Rhineland-Palatinate. The project and its visible results, together with the participants‘ high evaluation of the activities performed, will certainly influence further cooperation between the schools in Cracow and Mainz, which focuses on the integration of young people in Europe according to the motto „Europe thrives on cooperation“. This motto has been a driving force of lasting for 10 subsequent years partnership between ZSM nr 1 in Cracow and BBS 1 in Mainz. It is the present school year when the implementation of another Erasmus+ project between the schools started, this time incorporating a new school from the Czech Republic.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 46530 Eur

Project Coordinator

Zespol Szkol Mechanicznych nr 1 im. Szczepana Humberta w Krakowie & Country: PL

Project Partners

• BBS1-Mainz