Traces of our ancestors – European regions in the course of time Erasmus Project

Project Title

Traces of our ancestors – European regions in the course of time

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: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Social dialogue

Project Summary

Context and background of the project: The project idea developed from the cooperation of a group of pupils of the Quirinus-Gymnasium in Neuss, who wanted to develop a project with other schools on a European level. Various ideas and drafts were brought in and rejected and in the end it was clear that the project should have a historical, political sociocultural character. The pupils expressed the wish to learn about other regions in Europe and thus contribute to the documentation of transnational developments. The project thus enables the participants to look beyond their own horizons and to engage intensively with regions and their development under political and socio-cultural aspects. Therefore, the project is primarily of documentary character. In selecting the participants, we placed particular emphasis on diversification in order to be able to gain as holistic a picture as possible. Participating countries are Portugal, Poland, Italy and Croatia. It is interesting to note that both the size of the schools and their professional orientations vary from country to country, ranging from 150 students (Poland) to 1500 students (Portugal). All participating schools, with the exception of the Quirinus-Gymnasium in Neuss, have participated in some way in European exchange programmes and are on an equal footing in their efforts to bring this project to a successful conclusion. This has been clearly shown by the active and sustainable cooperation of all partners: Each country has concrete ideas about which activities we can carry out during the stays. During the total of 5 mobilities in the respective partner countries we will document the development of the region, city or district in many different ways. For this purpose, visits to museums and memorials will be organised, as well as discussions with university lecturers, historians, journalists and/or inhabitants of the region. Students have the opportunity to ask questions and find out things that lead to a deeper understanding of our common European past and present. Each country will have its own individual focus: our Italian partner school in the province of Basilicata will focus on the period after EU accession, while the partner school in Szubin, Poland will also focus on the role of the region during the Second World War. In this way, reports are created, worked out by students for students, which allow very individual perspectives on Europe in the second half of the 20th century. This process will lead to a deepening of our mutual intercultural understanding. The methods that lead to the completion of our product are manifold. 1. the pupils will get to know the region before the visits in order to prepare the interviews with the experts on site 2. the interviews with the experts and the visits to the local facilities must be documented by video recordings, transcripts and/or audio recordings. 3. the collected material will be edited, shortened, reflected and then combined into a product. This product shall be an interactive eBook, which is presented on a tablet or PC. This medium is ideally suited to show future generations of students a) how diverse Europe is and b) in what appealing ways content can be prepared and made accessible. The other possible uses are manifold: This eBook can be used in all subjects in which European history is thematised. Possible fields of application are geography lessons, politics lessons or English. In addition to the interviews, our partner countries are described through graphics, reports and photos, with a clear focus on the changes caused by increasing European integration. Another advantage of the eBook is its diversity. It is possible to create a book consisting of graphics, reports and diagrams, but also short videos, which reflect our experiences and work on the ground in an appealing way.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 139170 Eur

Project Coordinator

Quirinus-Gymnasium Neuss & Country: DE

Project Partners

• I Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace im. Stanislawa Wyspianskiego w Szubinie
• Privatna gimnazija i strukovna skola “Svijet”
• Escola Secundária Dr. Augusto César da Silva Ferreira, Rio Maior
• ISTITUTO ISTRUZIONE SUPERIORE BERNALDA FERRANDINA