Following a Comenius project in 2013-2015, which focused on the analysis of the present-day situation of cities, the current project's aim is to create a better living condition in a smart environment in 2030. In this project, the "Hightech Strategie 2020", an initiative of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the "Horizon 2020", an EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, serve as a model. The rationale of our project is the sensitizing of pupils to the issue of "Living in a smart environment 2030 - chances and challenges". The pupils' environment can be defined as the school, its neighborhood and the city. An analysis of the status quo is to be conducted and compared to a model of a future city in 2030, developed and created by the students. The students are supposed to be made aware of ecological, economic and social problems within their environment. First they will analyze their school, i.e. its facilities and structures, as a basis for their ideal “School 2030”. Thereafter, the major objective is the creation of a smart urban environment in terms of finding solutions to issues such as traffic, energy and pollution. The students learn to use and develop tools, for instance digital maps, questionnaires, virtual models and statistics, in order to analyze the current situation and to create intelligent solutions for the future. Based on classroom assignments respresentative solutions are presented and discussed at the project meetings and conferences. The project is directed at students in years 9-12 at all participating schools. Special emphasis is put on the inclusion of disadvantaged pupils such as physically handicapped and migrant students.Longer lasting impact is guaranteed by the project website, the developing of a guidebook for new and foreign pupils at the partner schools, and the publication of scientific papers.
In the continuation of a Comenius Project dealing with the living conditions at present, this project focused on future developments in a smart urban environment in 2030. The aim of this project was to sensitize the pupils of the participating schools (organizations) to the chances and challenges that living in a smart environment in 2030 will bring about. Participating schools were five upper secondary schools from Munich/Germany, Sint Niklaas/Belgium, Oulu/Finland, Varna/Bulgaria and Loulé/Portugal. After a kick-off meeting in Munich, where all the project activities were set by the coordinating teachers of each school, delegations of all the participating schools met in teaching and learning conferences at each school. Between these conferences, each school worked in their classes on different aspects of the project including the three principal topics of "Ideal School", "Inclusion" and "Smart Environment". Thus, an overview of all the tasks which were to be completed between and during the conferences was drafted during the kick-off meeting. For the first conference for instance, the schools prepared questionnaires about the students' ideas of an ideal school, made food maps about the origin of their clothes and produced practical school guides for new students. During the conferences, presentations about the results of the above mentioned tasks were held. Afterwards, the students were supposed to draw conclusions regarding the results in discussions and group work. Apart from these discussions, trips were made to illustrate the principal topics to the students in a practical as well as theoretical approach. Thus, i.e., in Portugal, a solar cooking class was held; in Finland, the so-called fab-lab of the University of Oulu was visited, where work shops were prepared by resident students; in Munich, the campus of the department of electronic mobility was presented to the students. As a result, not only the students who came to the conferences profited from the awareness for the necessity of a smart future environment, but also the products, which were developed by the participating students, were made accessible to the fellow students of each school, such as for example different applications for mobile devices. For presentation of the start-ups, the series "Lion's den" was taken as a model. Besides, very innovative was an application for the school intranet.