Meeting the challenges of environmental protection and productive agriculture with modern technologies in a common Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

Meeting the challenges of environmental protection and productive agriculture with modern technologies in a common 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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Natural sciences; Energy and resources; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

The Fridays for Future movement motivates students worldwide to work towards limiting CO2 emissions to meet the climate goals. As vocational schools in the fields of agriculture, biotechnology and environmental technology (Germany), and specializing in horticulture as well as agricultural technology and machinery (Czech Republic), we regard it as our duty to teach skills and knowledge necessary to tackle the supposed contradictions between productive agriculture and environmental protection in a constructive way. The current project sets out to teach about technological and ecological concepts and to enable our students to have new experiences in the area of active environmental and climate protection. The leading questions in this context are the preservation of biological diversity in an agricultural landscape and the efficient energy production through renewable energy systems. In order to connect project-related experiences with on-the-job experience, project results are going to be integrated and further developed in the lessons that accompany the internships done by our students. By focussing on technology-oriented solution approaches, we want our students to perceive MINT subjects and corresponding professional fields positively.
Students within the age range of 16 to 19 who are interested in a school exchange are going to participate in the project. They are going to be accompanied by at least one language teacher and a second teacher. Every year two groups of 16 students and teachers from the partner schools are going to travel to the respective host country. Additionally, a smaller group from Germany will travel twice to the Christmas exhibition in Litomyšl, and Czech teachers who are involved in the project will attend the project-oriented seminar in Triesdorf.
In keeping with a quote from Konrad Lorenz who said that “we only love what we know and we only protect what we love”, knowledge of the species is essential for the efficient implementation of nature conservation efforts. In order to acquire this knowledge, our students will genetically determine plants and insects in binational teams by help of a smartphone app, and this collected information will enable them to produce an illustrated quiz game for fellow students or younger children. In Triesdorf regional flora and fauna are part of the curriculum. In Litomyšl the care and study of exotic animals is a major school subject. We are going to have our students lay out and cultivate blooming flower fields with honey plants in both countries in order for the students to put their acquired skills into practice. In order to equip the teachers with the necessary expertise for the project, a seminar will be held to train the teachers specific skills and methods that they will need to manage and carry out the project. Topics such as the production of biomass, the efficiency of photovoltaics and wind energy, e-mobility and political aspects regarding environmental policies will be discussed. This will enable the teachers to pass on their knowledge and answer specific questions asked by their students.
There will also be a practically oriented study course “renewable energies” for the students from Litomyšl and Triesdorf alike, with the main emphasis on practical experience. This includes the basics of the technical structure of biogas and solar power plants as well as going on guided tours in a biogas plant, an energy forest and a photovoltaic plant. The students of both countries are encouraged to compare the corresponding concepts of their home countries from an ecological and an economic perspective. The knowledge that the students gained in the joint discourse will be summed up in a tri-lingual information brochure about renewable energies. Every form of energy production will be represented in connection with an efficient agricultural method of implementation and the evaluation from an ecological point of view. The target groups are fellow students, younger students, parents and visitors of school exhibitions, who will get comprehensible and transparent information which will vary in its technical differentiation about the chances and risks of renewable energies.
The project work intends to raise awareness that even though there are many different priorities involved, it is still possible to practise environmental protection. By working on the project tasks, our students will increasingly perceive the environmental dimension in their professional and private surroundings. The students will develop options for a resource-conserving lifestyle that they will adopt by their own free will. This would imply preserving species like weeds and flowers in their own agricultural farm, for instance, and others will follow the example. By drawing on personal experiences and their acquired expertise, our students will represent a viewpoint that can prevail in the controversial discussion about agriculture and environmental protection.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 65648 Eur

Project Coordinator

Staatliche Fachoberschule und Berufsoberschule Triesdorf & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Stredni skola zahradnicka a technicka Litomysl