EUse your brain - challenge your talent for science. Five ambitious secondary schools from Recklinghausen (DE), Dordrecht (NL), Pamplona (ES), Copenhagen (DK) and Split (HR), which have been involved in earlier European projects and exchanges, see the need to challenge their pupils and have taken the opportunity to set up this project to address low achievement in basic skills, such as science and foreign languages through more effective teaching methods and promote entrepreneurship in education and entrepreneurship among young people at their schools and local community. All schools want their pupils from different cultural backgrounds to become more involved in their school career, and to confidently take charge of their own education. The most relevant topics are entrepreneurial learning, natural sciences and teaching and learning of foreign languages. If we did not include LTTAs into our 'EUse your brain' project, we would not be able to achieve the results that we are aiming for now. It is through the synergy of transnational teams that all parties involved, both pupils from secondary and primary schools, teachers and school management, will be able to rise above themselves and renew / find motivation. During those exchanges, both science skills and language skills will be practiced and improved in an authentic learning environment. The persons involved will benefit from each others' knowhow and strengths and qualities in ways that are unprecedented and challenging. Working with other cultures will improve the social skills of all actors involved, as they develop a greater understanding and mutual respect for the other. This project addresses 1740 active participants. First of all, besides the 240 secondary school pupils actively involved in LTTAs of the project, an important target group is formed by the primary pupils that will be visited, 800 in all during this project. Research has shown that pupils who have a deficiency in numerical skills early on (e.g. in primary schools) avoid science subjects later on in their school career. In this way, they lock themselves out from a great many interesting and important jobs in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, jobs will keep Europe smart. The preparation phase started in September 2015 and included transnational project meetings involving coordinators and headmasters, videoconferences and the use of google drive and social media. The project does not only involve pupils, however, but also teachers from primary and secondary schools, teacher trainees, science experts and headmasters. Communication will take place before, during and after exchanges and also in between, in regular intervals, using email, video conferencing, whatsapp and others. Our project includes TPMs, LTTAs, local classroom projects and virtual exchange projects. We have taken great care to also provide for pupils facing situations which make their participation more difficult. During the project and on its completion we expect results on different levels. We expect five intellectual outputs: free online teaching and learning material (O1), a manual/inspirational book to promote entrepreneurship (O2), adaption of the individual school curricula (O3), a MINT/STEM exhibition (O4), a special collection of fun math exercises (O5). Other results include: several evaluation forms, certifcates, improvement of MINT/STEM skills and foreign language skills of the participants, new partnership contracts, best practices of peer learning, outcomes of the foreign language / MINT-STEM tests, promotional material, increased awareness of E-safety. As we want as many pupils as possible to become entrepreneurs of their own education, the dissemination activities are very important. All participants in the project are active in the dissemination process, both inside schools (e.g. colleagues, departments) and outside schools (e.g. public institutions, website, youtube). The project has 8 LTTAs: for each exchange, we will have about 10 groups of secondary school pupils visiting one or more primary schools. They will give their MINT/STEM lesson to 4 classes of primary school pupils, which adds up to 800 primary school pupils for the whole project. As the groups are transnational, it will also involve the use of foreign languages also exposing the primary pupils to foreign languages. The lessons will in this way contain both a MINT/STEM element and a language element. Evaluation forms ensure quality, certification for all participants is part of the project. Our experience in previous projects and exchanges has taught us to implement responsible project management strategies and monitor and evaluate the budgetary activities. The coordinators are responsible for the financial administration and time management at their own school. Sustainability of the project is ensured by adapted curricula and online teaching material.
EUse your brain - challenge your talent for science. Five ambitious secondary schools from Recklinghausen (DE), Dordrecht (NL), Pamplona (ES), Copenhagen (DK) and Split (HR), which have been involved in earlier European projects and exchanges, see the need to challenge their pupils and have taken the opportunity to set up this project to address low achievement in basic skills, such as science and foreign languages through more effective teaching methods and promote entrepreneurship in education and entrepreneurship among young people at their schools and local community. All schools want their pupils from different cultural backgrounds to become more involved in their school career, and to confidently take charge of their own education. The most relevant topics are entrepreneurial learning, natural sciences and teaching and learning of foreign languages. If we hadn't included LTTAs into our 'EUse your brain' project, we wouldn't have been able to achieve the results that we are aiming for now. It is through the synergy of transnational teams that all parties involved, both pupils from secondary and primary schools, teachers and school management, have risen above themselves and renewed their motivation. During those exchanges, both science skills and language skills have been practiced and improved in an authentic learning environment. The persons involved have benefited from each others' knowhow and strengths and qualities in unprecedented and challenging ways. Working with other cultures has improved the social skills of all actors involved, as they developed a greater understanding and mutual respect for the other.This project addressed 1740 active participants. First of all, besides the 240 secondary school pupils actively involved in LTTAs of the project, an important target group was formed by the primary pupils that have been visited, 800 in all during this project, for example all the group 8 pupils from a primary school were taught by secondary school pupils from WoBoGe in Dutch during the exchange in LTTA C6 (http://www.johanfriso.nl/index.php?page=1428). Pupils who have a deficiency in numerical skills early on (e.g. in primary schools) avoid science subjects later on in their school career. In this way, they forego on interesting and important jobs in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, jobs to keep Europe smart. It can be read in the report by the primary school that all pupils participated actively in the lessons. Their interest in science has been improved. This involvement was seen again and again in the exchanges. The project has not only involved pupils, however, but also teachers from primary and secondary schools, teacher trainees, science experts, eTwinning ambassadors, peer learning experts and headmasters. Communication has taken place before, during and after exchanges and also in between, in regular intervals, using email, video conferencing, whatsapp and so on. Our project included TPMs, LTTAs, local classroom projects and virtual exchange projects. We have taken great care to also provide for pupils facing situations which make their participation more difficult. During the project and on its completion we have produced results on different levels. We have five intellectual outputs: free online teaching and learning material (O1), a manual/inspirational book to promote entrepreneurship (O2), adaption of the individual school curricula (O3), a MINT/STEM exhibition (O4), a special collection of fun math exercises (O5). Other results include: several evaluation forms, certifcates, improvement of MINT/STEM skills and foreign language skills of the participants, new partnership contracts, best practices of peer learning, outcomes of the foreign language / MINT-STEM tests, promotional material, increased awareness of E-safety. As we want pupils to become entrepreneurs of their own education, the dissemination activities have been very important. All participants in the project have been active in the dissemination process, both inside schools (e.g. colleagues, departments) and outside schools (e.g. public institutions, the project website (http://euseyourbrain.weebly.com), youtube). Also, This project was presented at the halfway Erasmus+ best practice conference in Bonn. Last but not least, if this Erasmus + project has inspired our pupils to change their interest in science from a situational perspective to a personal perspective, the main goal of this project will have been reached. The Wolfgang Borchert Gesamtschule will continue to work on developing peer learning, entrepreneurship and internationalisation, together with their partner schools abroad.