Landscape yesterday and today Erasmus Project

Project Title

Landscape yesterday and today

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: Natural sciences; Environment and climate change; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Landscape is an integral part of our lives. The landscape around us has changed a lot in last hundred years. Some species of plants have disappeared, and the number of insect species has decreased. On the other hand, some species of invasive plants, which had not been there before, appeared. The issue of the presence of water in the landscape has become more and more acute in a few last years. There is a connection between these changes and the activities of people. People have a great influence on the landscape – they have transformed the landscape a lot in last hundred years.
This project called „Landscape yesterday and today“ is focused on researching the landscape around us, it tries to capture the changes which have happened in the landscape, and explain these changes from the historical, biological, geographical, and environmental point of view. We are going to explore these changes comprehensively, so the students can better realize that one small change can evoke a lot of other changes in the landscape.
We will use modern digital technologies when exploring and mapping the landscape – geographical information systems (GIS) and GPS devices. GIS, which is these days used in a lot of spheres of people’s activities, will serve especially for mapping the landscape, and for capturing the changes of using soil in the landscape. It will be also used to create maps which will become a part of our most significant objective – Atlas of landscapes in chosen parts of Europe. In the Atlas, the current state of landscapes in the surrounding of our schools will be captured as well as its changes during last hundred years and its problems.
The schools from the Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden, and Portugal will be engaged in the project. All these schools will bring some extraordinary experiences (e.g. with managing the project or using ICT in different subjects). The Czech Republic, as the coordinator of the project, will take most responsibilities for the project. Nevertheless, in order to divide the responsibilities among all the states, each partner country will become a guarantor of one sphere of exploring the landscape – Romania of the historical point of view, Sweden of the geographical sphere, the Czech Republic of the environmental issues, and Portugal will be the guarantor of exploring the landscape from the biological point of view. At the same time, each partner school will be responsible for one mobility (its preparation, realization, accommodation, etc.), for publishing the materials, presentation of the project, the quality of materials, etc.

When arranging the mobility, the biggest emphasis is placed on the attractiveness of it, and on its benefits for both teachers and students. Before each mobility, the teams will explore the landscape from some point of view, they will make the presentations and worksheets, and they will prepare the workshop for all teachers and students. After these workshops, there will be lessons in a terrain where all the teams will explore chosen problems. After each mobility, the single chapters will be created and they will become parts of the Atlas of landscapes. These materials can be used anytime by whoever (not only by the teachers from partner schools but also by the wider public) as these materials will be available on the project’s websites.

The main objective of the project will be the „Atlas of landscapes in chosen parts of Europe“, which will be freely available to download on the project’s website, on the schools’ websites, and on Twinspace. Another output will be methodical materials for GIS, particularly for the program QGIS.
In this project, we will also focus on the work with different target groups of people – teachers and pupils of primary schools, the wider public, and our students’ parents. For the primary schools’ teachers and pupils, we will prepare terrain lessons focused on the landscape in the past and today. For the wider public, each partner school will prepare the meeting, and our students’ parents will be informed about the project at the meeting, during the school’s open days, via the project’s websites, etc. Then the project will get a new dimension, because not only the teachers but also our students will be employed in the work with these target groups.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 89828 Eur

Project Coordinator

Stredni odborna skola a Gymnazium Stare Mesto & Country: CZ

Project Partners

• Colegiul National Anastasescu
• Escola Secundária de Loulé
• Nordens Teknikerinstitut AB