Learning In Circles Erasmus Project

Project Title

Learning In Circles

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: Civic engagement / responsible citizenship; Energy and resources; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

“Children are often told they are ‘tomorrow’s leaders’. But if they wait until ‘tomorrow’ there may not be a future in which to lead,” this was just one of the statements in the news last year when speaking about the strikes organized in 1,659 towns and cities in 105 countries in 2019. And a 16 years young Swedish girl Greta Thunberg, the founder of the Youth Strike for Climate movement of thousands of young people, was nominated for the Nobel peace prize. She did not get the prize and the strikes have stopped. However, our project offers education and solutions instead of strikes. Sustainability is a paramount to ensure a future to the world. In recent years the concept of circular economy has gained momentum, substituting the previous linear economy model. The three pillars of sustainability to be achieved are economic and social development, as well as environmental protection. As the future is going to bring about countless problems our students have never seen or imagined before, education will surely play a strategic role in increasing awareness of our students motivating them in taking active actions. So it is obvious that the first objective is to make students conscious of the advantages that a circular economy provides and aware that even their minimal contribution, e.g. recycling habits, is necessary to stop evolving of environmental disasters. Our project will encourage the young people to understand that facing climate change today and solving the problems before they escalate will help prevent environmental migration tomorrow. The facts researched and knowledge gained during the project will help the students to feel as a part of a global community Europe where there is intense mutual dialogue and involvement among different people from different cultures to achieve the same sustainable goals. Another aim is to motivate students to improve English language skills and communication competences, promoting their readiness to listen to others’ opinion, gain skills to read, understand and interpret information using critical thinking. While helping the students to develop and reinforce 21st century’s intermingled skills the project will foster environmental economic civic literacy and at the final part we will attracted the interest of the EU Commission by the final petition written by the students of LTT event in Latvia. The additional goal of the project is to support the teachers in educating the students in environmental issues because only experience shared and effort joined can ensure the best innovating lessons on the green lifestyle which is one of the most essential issues in the school curriculum now. The project will involve the majority of the students in the participating schools and selected students will travel to the hosting countries. There will be learning in circles that will create new and new circles. Every mobility will involve 5 students and 2 teachers per school. The total number of mobilities will be five where four are organized as short-term exchanges of groups of pupils and one as a short-term joint staff training event. The age of the students 14 to 17. The students are not required to have any specific knowledge about the topic, but they have to show motivation and curiosity. They will be taught the basic knowledge in the preparation phases. During the LTT events the students will be hosted by families of fellow students in the hosting country. The project activities are divided into four levels that will start from the first LTT Awareness that gives a historical background of the beginnings of the nature protection and define today’s situation and evolve into the second LTT Profundity that provides a deeper scientific view of the circular economy. The third LTT event Contradictions will deal with the controversial aspects of the green lifestyle debating, e.g., the real price of electric cars when the child labour is used in mining cobalt in Congo. Debates will play a crucial role here. The last LTT Visions will have a more optimistic view on future solutions and encourage the politicians of the European Parliament to take stronger actions. Warm up activities, brainstorming, researches, speeches, developing specific environment vocabulary, documenting inspiring experiences, surveys, mind maps and diverse creative activities during and between LTT will be carried out and result in videos, photos, presentations, a musical, fashion show, articles for local press, photo exhibition, a book of inspirations. Also a portfolio of lessons on environment will be compiled. All the results of the project will continue to provide long term effect through the project’s webpage, social media sites and eTwinning platform, however, the most important result – the consciousness of the participants will be changed and it is known that “A mind, once expanded by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions” so the potential longer term benefits are undoubtedly all the participants.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 87332 Eur

Project Coordinator

ASSOCIATION DE SAINT-SAUVEUR DE MAZAMET & Country: FR

Project Partners

• Istituto d’Istruzione Superiore Statale “Pascal-Comandini” – Cesena
• Babites novada pasvaldibas Babites vidusskola
• V Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace im. Jana III Sobieskiego