Our partnership is made up of 4 secondary schools from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Finland. Our project is focused on education and innovation. Schools have a strategic role in innovation and in preparing the new generations, who need higher level skills to meet the requirement of the global job market. The quality of teaching and learning is a key factor and we believe that well trained, motivated teachers can help learners develop the competences they need. We noticed that some schools in Europe have a more innovative approach to teaching, while others provide more traditional methods. This made us curious about comparing the teaching/learning styles in the different countries and in understanding if there is any link to the national cultures. The goal of our partnership is to analyse data and share knowledge, approaches and best practices in order to test different methodologies and evaluate them. Professor of Education S.E.Severiens of Erasmus University Rotterdam and statistics professor Trinca Colonel of Bocconi, Milan are willing to advise and support us during the project.The protagonists of this action research are the students, who will work together in international groups and evaluate which methodological approach gave the best learning outcomes, based on tests and other tools. Our project over two years will provide a set of useful data which may form a basis for shared European curricula in our schools, making it sustainable for the future. It will last 2 years: every year different students and teachers will split up in three different international groups and work on a series of topics while testing three different teaching/learning methods. They will set up an online community via E-twinning to get in touch and share materials and documents, but they will also have to meet and work together in order to test the different teaching methods as class groups. TOPICS: 1st year, environmental challenges in Europe (Geography, Science, Sustainability); 2nd year, History of European Institutions (History, Social Science).TEACHING METHODS: they will include a series of strategies ranging from the most teacher-centered to the most learner-centered. For example: direct instruction strategy (lecture, didactic questioning, practice and drill, etc.), indirect instruction strategy (guided inquiry, induction, problem solving, decision making, etc.) or independent study (learning in partnership as part of a small group: cooperative learning, group discussions or research, computer assisted learning, etc.). RESULTS: at the end of the first year, a report will be written about the case study of that specific year, based upon the collection of data (analysis of commentaries, diaries, profiles, materials, test results, interviews, questionnaires, debates, etc.). The action of the second year will be adjusted according to the report of the previous year. As a conclusion a final report will be given, which will contain objective, reliable information about the whole project action in the four countries; it will also give recommendations and suggestions for European teachers and school staff based on the experimental teaching/learning experiences carried out within our project. This final report will be shared and discussed at teachers and staff meetings of our schools and outside the teaching communities of our countries. TEACHING/LEARNING UNITS: an important part of our project will be the devising of teaching/learning units about the topics covered. These materials, developed in the international teams of teachers and students, will contain the best teaching/learning practices from each school and will contribute to the formation of a common European and International Oriented curriculum for secondary schools. They will be made available for use and re-use to everybody interested.OBJECTIVES: Students will learn more about Europe, its history and institutions; environmental problems in Europe and the rest of the world; each other’s school systems, teaching and learning habits. Teachers will be better informed about other school systems and teaching methods; deepen their knowledge of Europe. Students and teachers will improve their ability to speak English, their social skills by working in international groups and their ability to use ICT for educational purposes; budgeting, planning and organizing skills. Teachers will also be able to upgrade their teaching abilities and professional profile. Everybody, including school staff and families, will think positively about working on an international scale; be more open to innovation and international orientation; become more aware of the importance of being responsible citizens. We hope that after two years ‘project the final results of our analysis will provide new ideas about the teaching/learning process and will stimulate talks about innovations in education.
Our project focused on education and innovation. As stated in “Rethinking Education” (EC, 2012),transforming education and training in Europe is necessary to develop the new skills and competences required if Europe is to be competitive. Schools have a strategic role in innovation and in preparing the new generations, who need higher level skills to meet the requirement of the global job market. The quality of teaching and learning is a key factor. We noticed that some schools in Europe have a more innovative approach to teaching, while others provide more traditional methods; this is why our project focused on teaching/learning approaches in the different countries of our partnership. In previous projects we were able to work in international teams: in dealing with a series of topics we experienced different teaching methods and could see different students’ outcomes among the partner schools. This made us curious about comparing the teaching/learning styles in the different countries and in understanding if there is any link to the national cultures. To reach our goals we sought the help and active involvement of other important educational institutions delivering expert knowledge in the field of education: we invited S.E. Severiens, professor of Education at Erasmus University, Rotterdam to support and advise us in our project. Therefore we worked together with the Department of Pedagogical and Educational Sciences at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Rotterdam, thus using expert knowledge in the field of analysing and evaluating various teaching methods. The goal of our partnership was also to analyse data and share knowledge, approaches and best practices. The protagonists of this action research are the students, who worked together in international groups and evaluated which methodological approach gave the best learning outcomes, based on tests and other tools. Our project provides a set of useful data which may form a basis for shared European curricula in our schools, making it sustainable for the future. The project lasted 2 years: every year different students and teachers met in different international groups and worked on a series of topics while testing 3 different teaching/learning methods. TEACHING METHODS: they included a series of strategies ranging from the most teacher-centered to the most learner-centered. Direct instruction strategy (lecture, didactic questioning, practice and drill, etc.), indirect instruction strategy (guided inquiry, induction, problem solving, decision making, etc.) and independent study (learning in partnership as part of a small group: cooperative learning, group discussions or research, computer assisted learning, etc.).We investigated and analysed which learning methods are most effective, what the results were, comparing the different methods of learning and whether the cultural differences have effect on what the students of our 4 schools prefer as a teaching/learning method. In the 1st year the topics were environmental challenges in Europe (Geography, Science,Sustainability); while in the 2nd year the students tackled History of European Institutions (History, Social Science). The most innovative aspect of the project lies in the fact that students did not only learn, but they had to think about their own learning experience, discuss, evaluate and assess it, compare it with the experience of other students and suggest possible improvements; the teachers and students have profited from the comparison with the other countries and new elements in the teaching practice ofevery partner school will be introduced. An important goal of our project was to motivate students and teachers to use ICT and open educational resources that give access to education for everyone. They allow students to take responsibility for their own learning, use different methods and build knowledge from sources other than their teachers; moreover, everyone was engaged in learning communities beyond their classrooms at national or international level; everyone was responsible for their own learning, the teachers exchanged teaching materials and best practices, getting in touch with other colleagues and discussing their ideas about education. Another added value of this project is that it provided students with high-quality educational experiences that have better prepared them for their role as European citizens. In fact the European schools were used as real learning environments. This European orientation was highlighted in the various disciplines which were studied throughout the life span of the project: interdisciplinary teaching units about common European themes were developed and tested in the international groups of teachers and students. We believe that our project gave the students the chance to experience innovative, Europe-oriented, quality education and we hope to have contributed to the internationalization of our schools’ curricula.