The explorers of the nature Erasmus Project

Project Title

The explorers of the nature

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: Teaching and learning of foreign languages; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The EXON project – The Explorers of the Nature – was implemented from 2017 to 2020. Four partner European countries, the Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal and Slovakia, cooperated on the project. The aim of our project was to innovate the teaching process in the field of environmental education and science literacy. As part of improving students’ science literacy, we focused on research-oriented teaching that uses children’s natural curiosity. The target groups of the project were pupils aged from 6 to 15 and teachers of primary and secondary education. Pupils from the partner schools solved tasks in the basic areas of the environment – Water, Air, Soil, Transport, Waste, Plants and Animals, Man and Healthy Diet. During the duration of the project, activities were implemented on individual topics, which were planned by coordinators and school headmasters at transnational meetings. For each topic, we made CLIL methodologies, worksheets, coloring books, created models of watercourses, wetlands, models of a wind turbine, videos about illegal landfills, the school environment, PowerPoint presentations about our national parks, protected plants and animals, transport and its impact on clean air, maps of our school surroundings. Moreover, we worked together on board games such as a memory game of water bodies, a quartet of protected species of plants and animals and a red book of protected animals. All didactic material and teaching aids were processed and presented during short-term exchanges of groups of students, which took place on the occasion of various environmental festivals:
C1 Water Day – Portugal (032018),
C2 Earth Day – Poland (042018)
C3 Mobility Week – Czech Republic (102018)
C4 World Health Day – Slovak Republic (05 2019)
C5 World Day of Forests and National Parks – Portugal
C6 Car Free Day – Czech Republic (092019).
Through the implementation of individual sub-tasks (schedule), students got acquainted with the experiential form and discovered the individual components of the country, thus jointly contributing to the results and achieving the goal of the project. They were active in environmental issues, examining the various components of the environment, comparing the state of air, water and the number of illegal landfills around schools, municipalities with protected areas, which they visited during excursions. They participated in improving the state of the environment in their surroundings – cleaning, mapping illegal landfills, sorting waste, creating a composting site, using waste material in classroom decoration and making gifts, monitoring the acidity of precipitation, lichens, feeding animals and birds during the winter. They developed their talent, creativity and imagination in the creation of individual materials, improved presentation skills, language and digital skills. They had the opportunity to get to know the beauties not only of their homeland, but also of partner countries, to make new friends, compare the culture and way of life in different European countries. Teachers developed their personal and qualification competencies – in linguistics, technologies, multiculturalism, innovative thinking, creating European projects, using new methods. The acquired didactic material, teaching aids and proposals for activities in the field of environmental education were presented at professional seminars, conferences for teachers and the professional public in partner countries throughout the project and at the final project conference in August 2020, which took place in the coordinating school with the participation of the professional public. With this project we managed to create comprehensive didactic materials for the implementation of environmental education in schools. The EXON project has contributed to improving the climate in lessons, using innovative methods and improving the approach of pupils, teachers and school communities to environmental issues and awareness of their own responsibility for the quality of life on our blue planet.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 115182,75 Eur

Project Coordinator

Zakladna skola s materskou skolou, Rakovec nad Ondavou 2 & Country: SK

Project Partners

• Szkola Podstawowa im. Bohaterow Westerplatte w Konczycach Wielkich
• Agrupamento de Escolas de Resende
• Zakladni skola a materska skola Bystrice 848, okr. Frydek-Mistek, prispevkova organizace