Online Learning using the example of Environmental Education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Online Learning using the example of Environmental Education

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Open and distance learning; Energy and resources

Project Summary

The situation of the current pandemic made clear that we are living in a more and more globalized world. Societies become connected and need to look at the planet as a whole. Europe plays a vital role and should act and contribute to a functioning planet in that globalized world. We now live in a more digitalized world than before and electronic devices determine our (students’) lives more than ever and the progress will still continue. Unfortunately, educational systems are struggling to keep up with the pace of the process of digitalisation and many schools have not used new media enough to reflect the students’ real world. Our project intended to make students as well as teachers use digital programs and programming to expand their knowledge in that field. We communicated between teachers using several online free conference applications.
Students first communicated via email and after LTTAs using social media, mostly Instagram. During our meetings we helped each other to develop digital skills. Students learned how to use QR-Codes, several applications, video editing programs, greenscreen and finally four different kinds of video conference tools.
The focus was to improve the digital skills in order to work on a common topic. We wanted our students to gain an awareness about the present ecological situation and take on responsibility for future generations in terms of energy use and sustainability. By combining the development of applications and the reflection on the topics dealt with, we also triggered action and a change in behaviour in using resources so that the project entails long-lasting effects (sustainability).
A big topic was waste. During our first LTTAs in Germany and Greece we showed that waste causes environmental problems. Students also learned that waste still contains a lot of energy. We visited a plant which incinerates waste to generate electrical power. Furthermore, the students learned about problems with radioactive waste when visiting a final disposal site 1,000 meters underground. We also upcycled waste during our LTTA2 in Greece. Students visited different workshops where they produced useful things, like musical instruments and clothes, made from waste. Also we visited a “zero waste” laboratory where plastic waste with 3D-printers are upcycled to furniture. They documented this activity by producing videos which were uploaded to youtube and TwinSpace. The main goal always was to work on topics of environmental education. By doing this, digital ways of presentation and publication were developed. Consequently students improved their skills in editing and publishing videos.
Another environmental topic was the importance of water which we focused on during the LTTA3 in Portugal. First of all, we learned how to get energy from water. At our LTTA1 in Germany, we visited a hydroelectric dam of the 17th century which was used to generate electricity. So, to illustrate the development in generating electricity, we visited a modern geothermal power plant in the Azores where electric energy was generated by water coming out of geothermal hot spots. To get an idea about how this modern power plant works, students produced presentations which we shared and listened to in a common webinar beforehand. The second aspect was water quality. All partners brought water from their countries in order to measure the quality. Students learned how to assess the quality by using water testing kit. They improved their digital skills by producing video tutorials. The videos were made for those students, who travelled before or after, in order to explain the measurement so that they could do it on their own.
Our last environmental topic was solar energy. National teams produced a combination of role play and tutorials about the use of solar energy in their vicinity. It was planned to be our final LTTA4 but the SarsCov-2 pandemic thwarted our plans. It was possible only for the German delegation to travel. In Spain, all partners met in a big video conference where we also presented the videos of our role plays. We visited a solar power farm and learned how the energy generated is used by a nearby company. Moreover, we produced solar powered gadgets like ventilators, cars and robots. Students filmed the process of producing them and edited the footage into do-it-yourself videos.
Finally, it was not possible to finish the project with a common meeting even though we received a prolongation of the project. So, we used the communication platform of “padlet” to exchange our experiences of the pandemic in the respective countries. Unfortunately, the final TPM had to take place online.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 115161,87 Eur

Project Coordinator

Gymnasium Neue Oberschule & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Instituto de Educación Secundaria Cartuja
• 2nd school of Mikra
• EBI Francisco Ferreira Drummond