The Sky and the Air Erasmus Project

Project Title

The Sky and the Air

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: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal); Environment and climate change

Project Summary

We have opted for the study of the sky and the air, as we envision it metaphorically, since it implies a limitless open range freed from the constraints of the borders put up by men and thus conveys an image of unity for Europe.
Looking up or looking around you means you acknowledge you bearings and and you are able to fit in this environment. Looking up to the sky may also be viewed as a way to reach for the stars in terms of social upward mobility.
This can be achieved through the acquisition of basic skills first and then more complex ones which will be applicable to the job market. They will be able to interact constructively with the social context and seize professional opportunities in a much wider job market, now set against the backdrop of the European Union.
The team is made of 4 countries: Greece, Spain, Italy and France. All these schools have different backgrounds and pathways: general studies, vocational courses, economics, agriculture. Our students are aged between 15 and 18 years old and come from varied social backgrounds. As a consequence, they will have the same goals and will partake in the same activities. We aim at enhancing skills and competences – from basic to more complex. We will cater to their specific needs through customized teaching methods relying on small groups using ICT to share the instructions, organize the work sessions and create products. The student is at the core of the learning experience as he will work in groups and choose a role to carry out in order to reach objectives.

The project is split in 4 parts. The 1st part will be dedicated to arts like literature, painting, music which have been inspired by our topic over the centuries and throughout Europe. It will be entitled “Let’s learn about the sky and air”. The pupils will be able to write poems or texts. We will also work on mythology and the air and sky transportation devices throughout history.

The 2nd part will deal with “Let’s investigate the sky and air and experiment”. We will explore the sky and air thanks to sciences (definition and identification of similarities and differences by doing and observing scientific experiments, atmospheric phenomena, the climate). We will study astronomy and weather measurement tools. We will produce a glossary about all the different sorts of wind in each language, a weather station and we will assemble a telescope.

Over the course of the 2nd year of the project and through the study of the air, environmental issues will be dealt with.
A hundred years ago, everybody could enjoy a stunning starry night. Nowadays, unfortunately, millions of children will never get the chance to see the Milky Way from their vantage point because of artificial light pollution and our overconsumption of energy which is harmful to the planet and our health. We picked the sky and the air because we want our pupils to face topical questions in order to raise their awareness and foster critical thinking in order to reflect on the situation and as a consequence we aim at promoting participation and increasing environmentally-friendly behaviors on their part.

In Italy, we discussed the “living with the air under the sky, studying the air we breathe which will raise awareness about the future of planet Earth.” A guide to good environmental conduct was developed. We attended a conference on pollution in Veneto and we watched film excerpts (an inconvenient Truth from Al Gore and the Power of planet before participating in a World Cafe on the protection of our skies.) They also created and played a game about the sky and art.
In the last part, we observed the clouds with the application Seecloud, we build a weather station as part of a TP created by a professor of the award winning Moscow high school Valencian. Students developed geometric figures with Geogebra on the solar system. Finally, we have awakened entrepreneurial skills among our young people that they can reinvest in their professional lives. This part is summed up in “taking up the challenge of the future without losing sight of the origins by taking an interest in companies”. They worked on the future and new energies. They created an ecological product or service using tools such as an Empathy Card, Canvas, Canvizer. The preparations were made in each country and the realization was realized during the meeting in Valencia

Apart from this essential step that is the development of our students’ skills and their accomplishment, this project will enable young students from different educational backgrounds to come together and discover new subjects.
Our main wish is for our students to keep in touch with their European partners/hosts so as to reach out to them later on either to visit them, study abroad or to settle abroad.
We hope this project will seem attractive to other staff members so they can seize the opportunites to teach differently and realize how the Commission can help them along the way to take advantage of them.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 109535 Eur

Project Coordinator

lycée Maurice Genevoix & Country: FR

Project Partners

• 2nd GENIKO LYKEIO ECHEDOROU
• I.S.I. Duca degli Abruzzi
• IES BENICALAP