Visionary European Agorà Erasmus Project

Project Title

Visionary European Agorà

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: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development)

Project Summary

The innovation of the schools foresees the possibility tothink about the school architecture,redefining environments and learning spaces, equipping with innovative technological resources, able to integrate more efficiently the use of technologies into teaching methods.
The European Union, which has recently carried out the“Guidelines to rethink and adaptl earning environments at school”, highlights this topic, connecting it with the importance of the European key competences learning.
The “Giuseppe Medici” Vocational High School believes that “the learning space” is an important element of innovation, together with new technologies for teaching, and for this reason was realized the project “V.E.A.– Visionary European Agora”, in collaboration with partners such as: the Petchey Academy (UK), ZSiPO w Skale (Poland) and the Institute “Konstantin Fotinov”(Bulgaria).
The “Visionary European Agora” project sets three main objectives, which intercept the priorities of the Erasmus+ Programme in the framework of the “Strategic Partnerships” Action:
– to improve methodologies and tools able to qualify the lifelong learning;
– to strengthen the development of key competences fostering creativity and growth ininnovative learningspaces;
– to promote the STE(A)M approach to education through interdisciplinary STEM teaching in different cultural, environmental and economic contexts.
The “Visionary European Agora” project is linked with the experimentation of the national project “Agora of Knowledge”, coordinated by the IPS “G. Medici”, which has fostered the construction of a learning space open to all students and the school community.
The main idea of the project “Visionary European Agora” is to “Open up to Europe” the experimentation of new educational approaches in an innovative space, through school exchanges among 72 direct beneficiaries, selecting 6 students for each School involved in the project, who will carry out an exchange abroad for 7 days, including 2 travel days.
The school exchanges will involve the creation of “European Future Classrooms”, composed by students of different nationalities who will discuss each other in a “learning space” different from the traditional and formal “class” context.
Four transnational exchanges will be organized among the Institutes, each one in a different country, with different thematic:
– the first exchange will be held in Bulgaria: “VISIONARY EUROPEAN AGORA: SCIENCES OF THE NEW ERA”;
– the second, with the title “VISIONARY EUROPEAN AGORA: The Sustainable Citizen” will be hosted in Italy by the coordinating school;
– the third exchange will be realized in England: “VISIONARY EUROPEAN AGORA: Digital Entepreneurs”;
– the fourth and last exchange will be held in Poland: “VISIONARY EUROPEAN AGORA: iTraditions”.
Learning within Future Classrooms will be stimulated by discussion, debate, ability to solve case studies and foster communication, negotiation, leadership and teamwork.
The Future Classrooms will simulate a real Agora, that will allow students to improve European key competence as well as other soft skills, stimulating and improving their approach in STEM disciplines through codification activities, peer tutoring, new technologies (such as 3D printers), multimedia platforms etc.
During each exchange abroad, the activities of the Future Classrooms will be documented in the production of”The New Agorà” – an Agora simulation activity, realized in a modern key, where students will play in front of a camera to present their “innovative creation” (a 3D model, an invention of intellect, practice or a revolutionary idea) to improve society ateconomic, social, pedagogical or environmental level.
It is estimated that the project will have positive impacts on all direct participants and partner schools, such as:
– 75% of participants will claim to have improved their European key competences;
– 80% of the participants will declare their intention to carry out other initiatives in the “innovative learning environments”;
– 68% of the participants will have improved their language skills;
– 60% of participants will want to take part in other Erasmus+ projects, especially if with gaming and simulation activities;
– the Schools involved will carry out 2 other Erasmus + projects in cooperation for the following 12 months;
– teachers will organize other 3 eTwinning projects in the following 16 months;
– at least 1 “innovative idea” will be presented to a local authority which intends to implement it within 6 months;
– the schools will implement other 2 initiatives focused on innovative learning environments within 6 months from the end of the project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 104800 Eur

Project Coordinator

Istituto Professionale di Stato “Giuseppe Medici” & Country: IT

Project Partners

• VSEEE Konstantin Fotinov
• The Petchey Academy
• Zespol Szkol i Placowek Oswiatowych w Skale