Let´s take care of our land Erasmus Project

Project Title

Let´s take care of our land

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 school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Natural sciences; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

Let´s take care of our land!

The need to take care of our land – planet is obvious. Global warming is serious issue, so is many other environmental issues such as ecosystem degradation. The issue is very relevant as our youth is getting more aware of the environmental crisis we are facing. We want to build on that interest and provide the young generation an opportunity to learn how to take care of their land. They also need to believe that they can have impact on the issue so that our children in the future can protect their land and also find ways to live in it.

We will share knowledge between different European countries about how the challenges on land care are different. But still the task is combined, it´s about taking care of our land and our planet, it´s about our ecosystem, it´s about sustainable development.

We will also learn about how our land is important to job creation, economic growth and social cohesion.

At last we will get the opportunity of going abroad and seeing and feeling the way of living in other European countries. Living in others homes, eating their food, made by their land, feeling the landscape and learning about the geology is important factor.

In the visit to Iceland we will focus on fighting against desertification and importance of using land responsibly. Also on how the harsh nature in Iceland affect land. In Iceland we will also learn about green energy use, why it´s possible in Iceland to produce hot water and electricity from use of water. We will cooperate with the The Soil Conservation Service of Iceland .

In the visit to Portugal we will focus on reforesting after wood fires. Why wood fires happen and how it´s possible to grow plant ourselves to plant in the land. As the school already has a greenhouse where they already grow plants to do this it will provide a learning opportunity. We will cooperate with RAIZ – Forest and Paper Research Institute and gain knowledge about solution for the forest based bio economy.

In Finland we will have the approach of the forest industry, paper and turf and how it affects our living environment especially swamps and the insects. We will learn how the insects are important for the ecosystem. We have a teachers teaching in Oulu Education Services about those things so he will held a small seminar for the teachers when in Oulu.

In Spain we will learn about the coal mines, how they use to be and why they closed down in Northern Spain. We will also learn about abandonment of the agricultural and cattle industry and how this affects the people living in the area. This will demonstrate how the issue is complicated and what is good for the environment can be a real challenge in people lives. Fundación de Reserva de la Biosfera Alto Bernesga and Ayuntamiento de La Pola de Gordon will be working with us.

In Lithuania the focus will be on preserve the peatlands and wet forests. How the ecosystem in peatlands and wet forests are and how we the men are part of the nature and responsible of taking care of it.

In France the focus will be on living from the land in the mountains. How to grow food responsible and importance of using food that grows near you. We will visit responsible farmers that grows food in eco friendly way and learn about the culture of buying fresh products and markets in France. We will also learn about the impact of pollution and what we can do to fight that threat.

This project will open a new window. Window into other countries, who are also struggling to take care of their land. This will get a sense in each school that our land not only belongs to our own country but to a community of European countries. We own the planet together their problems are our problems and we can help each other.

The outcome of the project will be learning and sharing. It will be learning for the participants who travels and their families but also for the school community. The knowledge will be shared, it will be documented, we will have a portfolio – a project´s web site, the teachers in the schools will learn new ways of teaching and we hope that it will lead to better quality of education in our schools.

We will keep the learning together in one place and establish project web page that will be a portfolio for the learning. There we will document the learning journey with pictures, videos and power point presentations from the visits. Texts from children diaries where it´s possible to read about their reflects and learning. Article about logo competition held in each country where you need to put in a lot of thinking about the project in order to take part. There will also be interviews with parents about the hosting process and articles from teachers about what they learned from the trips. We hope that the web page will be helpful to others to open windows. It can be used as teaching tool for teachers around Europe and further so that you can compare land care challenges in different countries.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 241247 Eur

Project Coordinator

Sæmundarskóli & Country: IS

Project Partners

• IESO LA POLA DE GORDÓN
• Lycée Pierre du Terrail
• Siauliai “Rasos”progimnazija
• Laanilan koulu, Oulun kaupunki
• Agrupamento de Escolas Rio Novo do Principe – Cacia