Outdoors in Europe – Active and Participatory learning methods in a multi-cultural Europe. Erasmus Project

Project Title

Outdoors in Europe – Active and Participatory learning methods in a multi-cultural 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 : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Outdoors in Europe – Active and Participatory learning methods in a multi-cultural Europe.
The rapidly-changing world has a huge impact on the lives of young people all over Europe and therefore we think that our responsibility in schools is to prepare the students for the changes. The traditional teaching methods do not meet the needs of students coming from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds any longer and thus we need more active learning and teaching methods in order to prepare them well for their future private and professional lives. Unfortunately, even today people who come from diverse backgrounds are often put at a disadvantage and therefore the objectives of our project were not only to implement more participatory learning and teaching methods (such as peer teaching), but to establish international networks and equal opportunities for all participants. Moreover, we wanted to improve intercultural knowledge, language skills, self-esteem, soft skills, ICT skills, an awareness of the importance of a healthy lifestyle and a deeper understanding of a common Europe and its values amongst the participants.
The participants of this project came from five schools from Turkey, Austria, Finland, Spain and Germany and represented different school systems (private primary and secondary school, public upper and lower secondary school, public vocational school). This ensured to have participants with different backgrounds, ages and fields of expertise. The number of students and teachers directly involved was approximately 350, which was higher than originally expected. This number includes the mobilities as well as the people participating in an LTTA in their home school, students who took part in an elective Erasmus+ class etc. We estimate that around 1500 people have already benefitted indirectly from the project. These include, for instance, students and teachers who benefitted from the peer teaching to outside groups, which was part of the project, and colleagues or students who used our developed CLIL material and teaching guidelines.
The activities used throughout the project were separated into three main phases, namely activities before, during and after each LTTA. Before the actual meetings, the students were familiarized with peer teaching and other active learning methods by their local teachers in the homeschools. They were also prepared via CLIL lesson input and a glossary, previously developed by the upcoming hosting school, so that they became familiar with the topics and terminology of the next LTTA. During the LTTA students put theory into practice by using peer teaching and other participatory methods and developed teaching guidelines about their learning process using videos, photo collages, Prezis, PowerPoint presentations and comics. On the last day and after the meetings these instructive materials were used to also carry out peer teaching to people outside the project to test the material and disseminate the results.
Naturally, evaluation happened before, during and after each meeting by means of online questionnaires and interviews, so that adjustments could be made before the next LTTA. This way we could ensure a constant and productive workflow including different activities and methods. The main methods used in the project were peer teaching, student-centered learning and CLIL. Especially during the LTTAs the focus was also put on kinesthetic, practical and intercultural learning. Because of the issues tackled by our project, cross-curricular and phenomenon based learning were also included.
The tangible deliverables of our project are a wide range of developed products, namely instructive teaching guidelines, CLIL lessons, a glossary in all the participating languages with the key terminology as well as a basic communication part, a cooking magazine and a website (clil.info) with a database which can be accessed upon request.
We have already noticed a further impact on the participants of our project and also outside the project. This includes participants with higher motivation to acquire and use new knowledge, better language skills and ICT skills, a deeper knowledge of innovative methodology as well as better intercultural understanding and higher European awareness. Another positive outcome was the raised awareness for a healthy lifestyle via outdoor activities.
One long-term benefit is that networks and international friendships amongst students as well as teachers have been established. In order to sustain the results, experiences and knowledge gained throughout the project and have a long lasting effect in- and outside of our schools, the material on the website will continue to be accessible and cooperation will also remain between the partners after finalizing the project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 152184,55 Eur

Project Coordinator

BERUFSBILDUNGSZENTRUM AM NORD-OSTSEE-KANAL & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Länsipuiston koulu
• IES Son Rullan
• Bundesgymnasium, Bundesrealgymnasium u. Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium XX, Brigittenauer Gymnasium, 1200 Wien, Karajangasse 14
• MEV KOLEJI OZEL ANKARA ORTAOKULU