The project "Open your mind, change your life" is participated by five partner schools from Poland, Croatia, Greece, Germany and Portugal. The main objectives of the projects include: prevention of early school leaving and playing truancy, improvement of key competences (communication in mother and foreign languages, civic competences and entrepreneurship, ICT skills) and facing underachievement in science, maths and English. The target group of the project includes students aged 12-16 who have a high rate of absences at school, problems with science, maths and whose key competences require improvement. About 3000 people will be involved (directly and indirectly) and thanks to the dissemination of the results and activities even more people will benefit from the project.There are planned five topics to that help to meet project's objectives and deal with aforementioned students' problems. Partner schools will hold extra classes and activities in home countries working on those topics and developing students' skills. Moreover,there are planned four transnational meetings that also focus on the topics. English will be communication language. During the mobilities students will stay at host families and will challenge and improve the skills and knowledge acquired at extra classes. Project activities will be based on workshops, group work, individual work, discussions, learning by doing, experiments, laboratory and outdoor classes and lectures. The project combines secondary education with higher levels encouraging students to continue their education. All partner schools will be supported by universities (Jagiellonian, Ionian, Universities of Zadar and Split, Humbolt University of Berlin). During each transnational meeting students will meet European employers, interview them, visit universities and attend classes/workshops there. Transnational meetings challenge students' knowledge and skills and make them more motivated to work since those type of activities appeals to them and make them feel responsible for the given tasks. Within 2 years we planned to focus on topics: 1. Europass and the movement on labour market - preparation of application documents, job interviews, meeting employers, Europass Language Passport, self-presentation, meeting job advisors, ICT tools in practice, development of civic competences2. A sound mind in a sound body - cookery, dance, sport classes, using GPS, meeting specialist (psychologist, dietician), science and maths in outdoor games, preparing a reportage, creating a healthy diet,3. Science around us - lab classes at universities, doing experiments, outdoor activities, trips to museums and exhibitions, ICT tools in practice, improving solve-problem thinking, scanning and searching for information4. Travelling around Europe along with an Oxford debate - improving and developing communication skills, civic competences and ICT skills, preparing a reportage and photo exhibition, lapbooks, learning about famous mathematicians and their discoveries (practical activities), how to rationale and express opinions, successful communication, solving conflicts5. Inventors and scientists - what do we own them? - self-presentation, pp and Prezi presentations, visiting museums, exhibitions, universities, quiz shows, lab classesThere will be multiple results and products. The most important ones will be:- Photo and video reportages- Multimedia presentations about famous inventors and discoverers, partner countries , their region and schools- Europass – Language passport and application documents in English.- Oxford style debates- Project’s website with all results- lapbooks- the ability to use the ICT tools: Prezi, Microsoft Office, PhotoScape, Skype, Windows Movie Maker, emails, various applications and applying them to personal needs- the increase of ability to listen to each other and to rationale opinions and carry out debate- the improvement of school results in maths, science and English and of reading comprehension, writing, logical thinking, creativity, ability to use given data/information - prevention of school leaving and playing truancy- the boost of self-esteem- the understanding of the importance of continuation of education, self-development and trainings - the enhancement of tolerance and awareness of diversity among people.The project participants are going to gain the unique experience in cross-cultural relations. They will eradicate their prejudices and stereotyped ways of thinking and learn about the geographical features of some European countries. The cooperation in our project will arouse our students‘ sense of European citizenship and it will make them understand and notice the necessity of sharing the knowledge and experience to increase our students’ awareness about other European countries.
The project „Open your mind, change your life” was participated by five partner schools from Poland, Greece, Germany, Portugal and Croatia. There were over 3000 people directly and indirectly involved in the project. Students aged 12-16 who have high rate of absence at school and face underachievement were the target group. The main aim of the project was the prevention of early school leaving and playing truancy, the improvement of key competences (reading comprehension, communication in mother and English language, entrepreneurship, civic competences, ICT skills), and what is more, the improvement of school results of underachieving students (mainly in maths and physics). To achieve the aims there were applied activating methods, informal education, ICT tools and various workshops to learn by doing and experiencing. The project included the meetings with employers, visits, lectures and workshops at universities to encourage students to enrol to higher education and get to know the adulthood and the labour market. There were not only international activities but also local ones for example educational trips, meetings with specialists and employers. The activities were focused on five topics which enable the aims to be achieved – 1. Europass and the movement in the labour market (preparation of application documents, job interview, meetings and interviews with employers, self-presentation, practical use of ICT tools, development of civic competences), 2. A sound mind in a sound body (workshops – cookery, dance, DIY, using GPS, meeting with a psychologist and dietician, sports activities with science elements, creation of a healthy diet and a video reportage), 3. Science around us (laboratory classes, visits at universities, experiments, treasure hunt games, using ICT tools, trips to museums and exhibitions, development of solve-problem thinking), 4. Travelling around Europe along with an Oxford debate (the ability to search for information and solutions, creation of lapbooks, knowledge about European geography, self-presentation, ability to negotiate and debate, effective communication, solving conflicts, ICT tools), 5. Scientists and inventors – what do we owe them? (famous scientists/inventors and their work, practical usage of science knowledge, visits at museums and exhibitions, creation of presentations in Prezi and Power Point, experiments). During international learning, teaching, training activities students were motivated to work, acquiring new skills and knowledge. Moreover, the used methods were applied to schools’ curriculum to improve the quality of teaching. The project had a positive effect on interschool cooperation and cooperation with parents which also contributed to the rise of the quality of education at partner schools. Furthermore, teachers modified lesson plans and teaching methods used in teaching underachieving students and prone to social exclusion. Within the project there were created the booklets with interview with employers, the booklets with positive thoughts, presentations which may be used during science classes, teaching kits with the usage of ICT tools during classes, teaching kits with hints how to work with underachieving students, evaluation survey temples, video reportages and instructional film for dance workshop. Students learnt how to prepare Europass CV and Language Passport, how to use programmes to make a film (Windows Movie Maker), to edit potos (Photoscape, Picassa), to create presentations (Prezi, Power Point, padlet). The carried out surveys proved the increase of European awareness and the knowledge of science, the ability of self-presentation, debating, team work. The higher rate of frequency at school was also observed. The project combined various education stages (lower and higher education) thanks to the cooperation with employers and universities. The results were published on project’s website, its TwinSpace and the Erasmus Result Platform.