BackgroundThe primal ideas for the project OSKARRR (Our Students Keep Active about Reducing Recycling Reusing) result from the basic thought to have students from different learning levels, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds work together in a project that is forward-looking. It deals with recycling and the adherent management of resources. In the course of events all project partners will develop teaching units. These teaching units and the corresponding material is made available and can be used and refined. GoalsThe goal of the project is to transmit basic competences, including innovative methods in order to support the participating schools (directly) and further schools (indirectly, they make use of the developed materials). Through motivating approaches the discrepancies resulting from working with students from different learning levels is counteracted. Like this the skills of all students are strengthened according to their capabilities.The disparities can be levelled, the strengths of the individual can be supported and the weaknesses can be reduced. Students with deficits gain more self-confidence and everyone can increase their social, media and language competences.Number and profile of participants32 students and 15 teachers are actively going to take part in the mobilities.In addition, further students will participate in the different project activities with their classes or in working groups. The project OSKARRR focuses especially on including students with special needs. The entire number of people included in the project on school level, local, regional, national and international levels amounts to about 2000. Description of activitiesThe single project activities are set in a way that everybody can participate. The topical emphasis is based on the personal experiences of the people participating. Further work will be going from there. Through the high portion of practical experiences that can be gained in workshops or by visiting companies the project OSKARRR renders a profound part on the students’ path towards meeting forward-looking, job-oriented, sustainable requirements that young adults have to face in order to become EU-citizens that are capable of acting.Implementation methodsFollowing the organizational project preparations the approach with regard to content will work according to this pattern: The content of each national learning activity is prepared by all project partners so that during the activities these contents can be presented and analysed in order to develop teaching material in a modular form.Aspired results and impactDidactically edited teaching units in a modular form with theoretical and practical hints are developed. The teaching unit’s main topic is environment protection and the material focuses on enabling students to act responsibly with ressources at home, school, at work and in general. Operational recommendations of action concerning environment protection are developed and will be followed.Furthermore, the participants profit from the additional benefit of a transnational cooperation by improving their language as well as intercultural competences. The challenge to work in a team cooperatively solving problems will result in an increase of motivation. Additionally, the participants gain certainty in working with and handling innovative and modern technologies and methods. The result is self-confidence.The exchange of experiences on a professional and a personal level forms the basis of understanding international points of view and helps learners to clarify and understand global structures. Working on this project and the topic of protecting our environment and thinking about sustainable solutions sensitizes students for the topic and results in an increase of their professional competences concerning the project’s content. There will be a sustainable handling of resources in the personal, academic and professional environment. The presentation skills improve by showing project results such asphoto and video documentary in public as well as in print media and online. The regional media is included to disseminate the project’s results. • Long-term benefitOn the content level a comprehensive analysis with the subject of environment protection/ recycling takes place.With regard to the educational level there is individual support of students with special needs. Concerning the level that focuses on different learner-oriented methods, the activity-oriented work with all the products that are going to be produced and the electronic media use included in the project supports the learner’s motivation. On the social level, the project work concentrates on the equality of opportunities respectively compensation of disparity and thus helps to include learners with different social backgrounds. With regard to the European level, participants develop a European way of thinking by working on this project.
Background The primal ideas for the project OSKARRR result from the thought to have students from different learning levels, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds work together in a project that is forward-looking. It dealt with recycling and the adherent management of resources. In the course of events all project partners have developed teaching units. These teaching units and the corresponding material is made available and can be used and refined. Goals The goal of the project was to transmit basic competences, including innovative methods especially to students with learning difficulties in a sense of lifelong learning. Through motivating approaches the discrepancies resulting from working with students from different learning levels was counteracted. Like this the skills of all students were strengthened according to their capabilities. The disparities were levelled, the strengths of the individual supported and the weaknesses reduced so that students with deficits could gain more self-confidence and everyone was able to increase their social, media and language competences. Basically three partner schools participated in the project. Istituto di Istruzione Superiore “a. Cesaris” (Technical grammar school in Casalpusterlengo, Italy) LYCEE PRIVE TECHNOLOGIQUE ET PROFESSIONNEL SAINTE CECILE (Private school for health, education and social professions in Albi, France Wilhelm-Normann-Berufskolleg (vocational college in Herford, Germany) The project OSKARRR was divided into three workshops concerning the topic recycling and a final conference for documentation and evaluation. Every transnational learning activity was prepared by all project partners so that during the conferences the prepared contents could be presented and analyzed in order to develop teaching units (modules). The project’s results were presented to the public (local and regional politicians, press) 1. Reduce Laboratory experiments to save resources through treatment and preparation of old oil Visit to recycling plant Guided tour through the science museums in Milan and Genova Project presentation to the mayor of Casalpusterlengo and press 2. Recycle Preparation of a travelling exhibition “Recycling projects in the partner countries” as posters Workshop on “Recycling design” Developing and building furniture from discarded cardboard and jeans Presentation to the county council and press Vernissage of the travelling exhibition through the county councilor 3. Reuse Questionnaire “Waste of food and packaging” Workshop “sustainable snack” made from regional products in reusable packaging Reuse of materials in general, example titanium at Airbus Toulouse Presentation of results to the mayor of Albi and press The project activities were planned to be approachable for everyone. The topical focus were oriented on the participants’ personal experiences and developed from there. Through practical experiences that could be gained in e.g. laboratory experiments, workshops and visits to companies the project OSKARRR contributed a major part towards the future oriented, professional and sustainable demands young adults have to face on their way to become EU citizens capable of acting. Aspired results and impact Didactically edited teaching units were developed. The teaching unit’s main topic is environment protection and the material focuses on enabling students to act responsibly with resources. Operational recommendations of action concerning environment protection were developed and. The challenge to work in a team cooperatively solving problems will result in an increase of motivation. The participants gained certainty in working with and handling innovative and modern technologies and methods. The exchange of experiences on a professional and a personal level formed the basis of understanding international points of view and helped the students to clarify and understand European and global structures. Working on this project and the topic of environment protection and sustainable solutions has sensitized students for the topic and has resulted in an increase of their professional competences concerning the project’s content. The presentation skills have improved by showing project results in public as well as in print media, on the radio, online (social media). As long-term benefit content-wise a comprehensive analysis of “recycling” took place and will continue. On the educational level students with special needs could be supported and widen their view. Concerning different learner-oriented methods, the activity-oriented work with all the products that were produced and the electronic media use included in the project motivated the learners. On the social level, the project work concentrated on the equality of opportunities respectively compensation of disparity and was able to include learners with different social backgrounds. On the European level, participants opened up and became more capableof changing their points of view.