Let´s Explore Our Natural Treasure Erasmus Project

Project Title

Let´s Explore Our Natural Treasure

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: Natural sciences; Environment and climate change; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

The subject of this project were national parks in completely different countries and climatic zones and it had folowing basic topics which the students and teachers deatl with and include into the final products.

The project offered a variety of topics from the area of our environment and natural treasure. The students and teachers from all partner schools are very close to the nature either by their location or their specialization. Geography and natural sciences belong to their important subjects and all schools occupy themselves with environment and its protection within their curriculums. In this project the students and their teachers could improve their knowledge about ecosystems, different biotopes, natural history, flora and fauna, they tried real fieldwork during investigating them, take photos (plants, animals, minerals, geomorphological and geological formation, distinguishing different minerals, climate conditions etc.)

This project was aimed at cosmopolitan awareness of the natural treasure and heritage, its variety and common features and characteristics. Through participation in this project, we wanted to encourage cooperation and intercultural communication and strengthen the sense of European citizenship based on understanding and respect for other people and their environment. Pupils became more open-minded and interested in other cultures and their natural environment and its protection through the experiences gained in the project.

Each country has several national parks with their typical features and characteristic, uniqueness and rarities. Some of them are similar and some of them are completely different and unique. The students with their teachers explored the parks in theory but also in practice by real fieldwork during the stay in a foreign country. They worked in teams, which had specific assignments. Each team traced the information (internet, encyclopedias, textbooks etc.) and explored the parks from above mentioned assignments.

The students were involved in different activities and work on the final outputs. As the partners were from Norway, Sicily and the Czech Republic, we concentrated on the most significant national parks in these countries.
The students explored what they had common (from a point of view of natural history, geological processes, minerals, fauna, flora, environmental protection, legislation, economical and agricultural use, climatic zones, localization in the maps, chemical process, formulas etc.) and by using excel they elaborated charts, graphs, average values, statistics and so on, during the exchanges they participated in the fieldwork, took digital photos. They should have found out reasons, rarities of national parks and their significance, translate the texts into English or make own parks definitions. They communicated via Facebook, Skype, e-mails, practised their ICT skills etc.

The students produced a great variety of outputs which were planned to be done by an interesting and funny way. All these activities resulted in the main product – a guidebook through national parks. The inseparable part of it were photos with legends taken and done by students. There also were some minor outputs. The students made documents with the brief summary where the similarities and dissimilarities were highlighted and Power Point presentations with own legends, photos and pictures. Students made a simple dictionary with the vocabulary which had connection to the national parks and what we could find there. This dictionary was in English and the other partner languages and if neccessary in Latin. Finally the students invented their own definitions of national parks and their significance. Everything was translated from the native languages into English.

The main target group of this project were students. All our activities were student-oriented and could be only accomplished with their participation. The activites enabled them to gain new knowledge and skills and practise them. The young people could see their national variances as well as many similarities which they found in natural history, traditions, languages, environment. They learnt new things, cooperated together without the difference from which country they were or which skills they had. The other group was made by teachers and school staff who were students´ supporters and they helped them with all the activities. The teachers provided a guarantee that the project would proceed smoothly and its results would be sustained and used after project finnishing.

This project was carried transnationally through the fieldwork and outdoor activities because it was based on comparing of different landscapes and their evolution. Without this possibility the project would have lost its significance.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 68460 Eur

Project Coordinator

Stredni skola zemedelska a veterinarni Lanskroun & Country: CZ

Project Partners

• Gauldal videregående skole
• Istituto Superiore “Enzo Ferrari”