The project ‘Save Today, Survive Tomorrow’ is to deal with environmental issues as disrespect for natural environment, excessive use of raw materials and energy and overconsumption are problems of our times. Students lack entrepreneurial experience and knowledge concerning ways of recycling and using energy efficiently. They are poor at managing their time, home budgets and energy usage while teachers lack competence in teaching these issues. The partner schools are situated in areas where not all ways of obtaining energy from renewable sources are fully used and where education in the field of recycling is necessary. In some regions the unemployment rate is high and young people tend to leave the region because of poor employment perspectives so the project activities are of special importance to young people from regions neglected economically. Transnational meetings and short-term exchanges will make it easier for the target groups to exchange ideas and practical experience. Each partner to the project comes from different economic background, has different facilities but shares the same objective of increasing student scientific knowledge and entrepreneurial skills to enhance their chances of employment in European countries. Through mobilities students and teachers will gain entrepreneurial experience and reduce consumerist attitude towards life and environment. Students will develop skills of creative problem solving through international team work and become more responsible for common European heritage realizing that despite cultural diversities we all have the same goal as responsible European citizens. This will contribute to bigger employment opportunities in the future. What is more, teachers will gain new competence to teach entrepreneurship and scientific subjects in innovative way. Students will acquire new and improve their existing IT skills while searching for relevant data and presenting results in different computer programs. The participants will improve linguistic skills. This will facilitate creating new EU program projects in the field of education through exchange of good practices and results. Cooperation of international groups will also break down barriers and prejudices between nations. The participants in the project will be 24 students from each partner school and at least 30 students who will be addressed during project students’ presentations or workshops, 6 teachers from each partner school who will be directly involved in project implementation and at least 6 more taking part in local activities; representatives of other schools; students’ parents. The activities will take place at local, regional and international levels. Workshops for teachers on how to teach interdisciplinary entrepreneurial skills, research done by students on most effective ways of saving energy and green energy sources, workshops prepared and led by students for local communities, series of workshops using activating methods of teaching/learning and studies conducted during mobilities are to foster innovative approach to promoting green energy and business ideas in countries with different economic and cultural background. Cooperation with local power stations, dams or waste management plants combined with seminars on newest technologies used for energy saving, workshops on integrating scientific subjects, led by local specialists from educational centres, will enhance the participants’ knowledge and become the basis for future cooperation in the field of environment protection. Tangible results of the project will be available for partner school communities and will be a useful source of information for other students, teachers, parents, other community members even after the project completion. The project results will be disseminated at local, regional and European levels to make sure our ideas are available for everyone. Erasmus+ dissemination platform will help to show the impact and outcomes of the project, sharing good practice and experience within schools, communities and regions, allowing others to learn from it. The Erasmus+ data base will enhance the use of project results with other structures and individuals for maximum impact. The project will bring longer term benefits. Activities promoting environmental issues and fostering entrepreneurial skills will be part of school curricula. Students will use skills gained while participating in the project, they will plan their home budget economically, apply anti-consumerist approach in their everyday activities by using energy economically, interpret different data using new IT skills and they will use more advanced English vocabulary. Schools will continue their cooperation with local institutions and project partners. Project online groups will still be active making background for further intercultural discussions and future international cooperation. Students will become familiar with culture and natural heritage of other countries.
The project dealt with environmental and entrepreneurial issues. According to surveys conducted in 2014 students lacked entrepreneurial experience concerning ways of recycling and using energy efficiently and were poor at managing their home budgets and energy usage while teachers lacked competence in teaching these issues. The partner schools are situated in areas where not all ways of obtaining energy from renewable sources are fully used and where education in the field of recycling was necessary. In some regions the unemployment rate is high so the project activities were of special importance to young people from regions neglected economically. The participants in the project were 24 students from each partner school and about 30 students at each school who were addressed during students’ presentations, 6 teachers from each partner school who were directly involved and took part in local activities; representatives of other schools and educational centres; students’ parents. The project objectives: - to equip students with scientific knowledge about energy saving, recycling and green energy so that they could effectively implement theory in practice - to enhance students’ entrepreneurial experience to manage home budgets and use energy saving methods effectively - to develop in students skills of creative problem solving independently and through team work to enhance their future careers and job opportunities Besides, teachers were to gain new competence to teach scientific subjects in innovative way and both teachers and students were to improve their scientific English language competence. Main local activities involved workshops for teachers whose outcome were innovative lesson scenarios; workshops prepared and led by students for local community; presentations on renewable energy sources and energy-saving management; swapping events and gathering information for the multilingual dictionary of scientific terms; dissemination conferences. Virtual activities included online contest for best ways of saving energy, presentations,promoting energy saving and anti-consumerist attitude on Facebook by posting photos, short films and summary videos. Internationally, there were conducted workshops and seminars, planted trees or herbs; designed eco-friendly, innovative objects; organized mini-survivals to use gained skills and visits to local institutions (e.g. wind farms). Students worked on best practice brochure in international teams, improved their scientific English vocabulary, learned about energy management in partner countries. The following results were achieved: Logo, project website and Facebook group, 7 summary videos of each short-term exchange of students, presentations and compilations; best practice brochure on responsible usage of energy and natural resources, a multilingual dictionary of scientific and technical terms in the field of energy saving and environment protection; 10 interdisciplinary innovative lesson plans; over 40 trees and several herbs planted in partner countries - DVD presenting all project activities and events - 7 environmentally friendly devices constructed and 7 practical and innovative objects made of recyclable materials. The following impact was attained: Innovative lesson plans were shared among teachers from all the participating schools, uploaded on project website and Erasmus+ dissemination platform and also disseminated within local communities. Best practice brochure extended the participants knowledge of energy saving and recycling with application of entrepreneurial experience; dictionary of scientific terms increased linguistic competence; DVDs and presentations helped change anti-consumerist attitude to become environmentally friendly and responsible EU citizens; constructed environmentally friendly increased environmental awareness; planted trees will remind local communities about the importance of anti-consumerist and environmentally friendly attitude. Participants gained knowledge of the importance of energy saving and recycling issues, competence in the field of entrepreneurship, deepened knowledge concerning responsible usage of natural environment; increased entrepreneurial and problem solving skills; increased competence in scientific English. Teachers gained new competence to teach scientific subjects in innovative way. Project enabled mutual exchange of good practices in education of young people at secondary level, strengthened their position in the regional education market and facilitated cooperation among countries and institutions taking part in the project. Long-term benefits: - schools’ curricula will be supplemented with innovative ways of teaching scientific subjects, business skills emphasizing active forms of learning and practical application of knowledge - students’ active involvement in project activities will lessen school failure possibility -project will be background for further international cooperation.