When coming together for the first preparatory meeting in Portugal with the idea of exploring alternative ways of teaching, we had a look at the EU strategy "Europe 2020" (see also E1). Realising that the educational aims given there are very close to our common problems we wanted to work on with our project. Our intended project content consequently meets the needs addressed in "Europe 2020". This is a project for six schools in six different countries. Students (aged 11-20) from different types of schools, including special needs students, will participate. Approximately 240 travelling and non-travelling students and teachers will actively take part in this project. Students will be chosen in a responsible and transparent selection procedure (see also F).Our goal is to reduce the early drop out rate, that means early academic failure among students by increasing their intrinsic motivation via using alternative ways of teaching and rich learning environments.Thus first the teachers involved are given a proper insight and detailed overview in the master classes at Holk where experts provide the necessary information on higher order thinking, rich learning environments, and alternative ways of teaching. Consequently teachers will get a deeper awareness of teachers' skills, methods and the ability to differentiate and motivate students by cooperating right from the start. At the same time there is a reflection on teaching itself, so that teachers will have the opportunity to share ideas, to discuss appropriate methods in order to encourage students' self-responsibility/autonomy and to prepare lessons together. Thus prepared the teachers will put their new knowledge to the test.For the students, the storyline method will be the vehicle for attaining intellectual and motivational results in all areas of school education (see also E1). They will work on the story and the key questions during the meetings and in between the meetings in a virtual classroom on eTwinning. Moreover, students will meet on a regular basis locally in their respective Erasmus+ Clubs to work on the project, talk about problems that might have occurred, or to prepare for the next European meeting. Students will learn a lot about their autonomous way of learning and being taught in a completely new style. They´ll experience different school systems when sharing work produced for the exchange with partners. Through this project our students will also develop key competences (maths, sciences, languages/literature), transversal competences (especially practical experience), but also social skills (adapting to new environments and cultures). Moreover, when visiting various European countries and their historic sites, students will not only get to know today´s situation and culture, but will also have a fine opportunity to explore Europe`s past.By doing so, they will discover a great deal about other European countries and the idea of a European community. The shared language will be English. On top of that we would like to increase an understanding for handicapped students and the importance of communication in general, i.e. how can communication with hearing impaired students take place in a favourable way. Furthermore, the exchange of experience between age groups and learning groups is a vital and very challenging aspect of this project. We expect to increase the responsibility of students and teachers and school management alike. In particluar we wish to create an awareness among students to increase their self-responsibility, autonomy and motivation in learning. Furthermore, it is also crucial to rise awareness among teachers and to encourage them to use these different, i.e.alternative, teaching methods.
Context/background of the project: all participating schools realized that their joint challange was a lack of motivation in students during puberty which led to underachievement and even school failure. In order to change this, we wanted to use alternative ways of teaching and explore the importance of rich learning environments, which we did throughout the whole project. Objectives: Raise the students' motivation and thus improve their way of learning, create a better school performance, raise self-confidence in students, and have less school drop-outs. This was done in the key areas of mathematics, science, and literature. We also gave them hands-on experiences, e. g. they baked and cooked like in the Middle Ages, learned how to write with ink and feather. Number and profile of participating organisations: 6 schools from Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey. Including 1 primary school, 4 secondary schools and 1 vocational school. The vocational school left the project after the first year. Description of undertaken main activities: We did workshops and went on excursions to rich learning environments during LTTs; the students worked on the storyline in between these meetings. And the teacher's passed on their new experience to other teachers of their respective schools. Results and impact attained: Intrinsic motivation of the students was increased, their horizons were broadened, English language skills were highly increased, alternative ways of teaching were implemented in the daily teaching routine, using social media platforms was fostered.