The idea of this project was born as a result of:1. the observation of pupils’ behaviour-excessive use of water,electricity,plastic, the lack of segregation of rubbish(despite the availability of containers for waste segregation).2. co-operation with schools from the Netherlands, Slovenia, Latvia and Italy, measuring and comparing students’ ecological knowledge(based on the diagnostic survey).The aforementioned observation and the analysis of the survey’s results gave us the certainty that there is the urgent need for taking actions to raise awareness and promote eco-friendly behaviour among our students. Furthermore, we observed the increase of obese pupils,mistakes in their nutrition, lack of exercise.That is why, we decided to combine activeness for ecology with being physically active, hence the name of our project:ECO-ACTIVE. The aim of our project is to increase knowledge and eco-friendly behaviour of pupils in our partner schools in terms of saving water,energy and natural resources,as well as acquiring skills in the management of waste,enlarging environmental awareness and pro-health behaviour by about 20% among 1,500 participants-primary school students.The knowledge,skills and habits gained by the students will result in pro-environmental behaviour after the completion of the project.The project ECO-ACTIVE corresponds to the first horizontal priority-mastering essential basic competences in science. We want our students to learn how to save raw materials and how to rationally manage resources(eg. water, electricity).The acquisition of such knowledge and skills should start within the early education of children and be continued and developed throughout all school education and,as a result,for a lifetime.The perspective of lifelong learning will affect not only students but also their parents and teachers,who will be actively involved in tasks related to the project.Students will master these aspects of ecological knowledge by performing project activities, showing their own initiative and creativity.Pupils will create ecological games and multimedia presentations concerning thematic areas related to the project(resources,water,energy,health).Aforementioned games and presentations will enrich the didactic base in every partner school and will be used during regular classes but also during short-term exchanges of groups of pupils.Students will exchange the effects of their work and learn from each other.Various eco-friendly activities will be organised-happenings, tours to National Parks,forests(walking, cycling)competitions for the ecological song, comic, workshops,eco-charades, eco-puzzle,collection of waste paper,plastic bottle caps and batteries.Pupils will be able to become the leading ECO-CLASS by the active participation in project activities.Apart from the activities focused mainly on the involvement of students, activities for pupils and their parents will be organised. For instance, a contest for “Healthy, weekly, family menu”, keeping a journal“HOME ECO-NOTEBOOK(writing down the consumption of water, energy, fuels in their households and costs that have been incurred)-in order to realise that saving all of these materials equals saving money.That is why, the project ECO-ACTIVE touches also the aspect of entrepreneurship(transversal skills).Transversal skills(digital skills and language competences)of students will be developed during the whole project via participation in videoconferences, recording DIY tutorials, and during short-term exchanges of groups of pupils.The teachers will co-operate to create the innovative teacher’s guide ECOPAEDIA containing lesson plans for environmental education,which will be implemented in our school programmes and used by all partner schools in the long term.ECOPAEDIA will enrich the educational programme and provide environmental education in coherence(as there’s no separate lesson called ECOLOGY). The project aims at engaging as many participants as possible that is why parents,siblings,other schools, local authorities and citizens will be invited to join our happenings and activities.All the necessary information will be shared via FACEBOOK,ETWINNING and school websites.The participants and teachers will write informative and promoting articles to local newspaper,local media will be invited to report all the significant actions undertaken during the project. We are aware of the fact that the need for eco-friendly education and action is real, urgent and global as European programme EUROPE 2020 defines one of its five headline targets: climate/energy. Furthermore, the findings of the Paris Conference on Climate Change (30.22-12.12.2015)generated a new global agreement on climate protection.Today’s pupils will soon become the European citizens.We hope that they’ll become eco-friendly role models, caring for the future of the Earth.Participation in international projects gives the opportunity to learn tolerance,European integration.
The "Eco-active" project was implemented from 01/09/2016 to 31/08/2019. by 5 European primary schools: Italy - Secondo Circolo Didattico Marsala, Poland - Primary School No. 2 K. Baczyński in Puławy, The Netherlands - Primary School "De Weijerwereld" - a Catholic school run by the Association, Slovenia - Tone Pavček Primary School, Latvia - "Annas Brigaderes Pamatskola". The theme of the project was ecology, with particular emphasis on saving water, energy, natural resources and caring for health in a broad sense. Three years of project implementation were divided into 4 thematic areas; Raw materials, Water, Energy and Health. Each thematic area was implemented for a period of 7.5 months. During this time, students took part in activities related to the topics of each area such as; project logo competition, game competitions (table, floor, interactive), "Save water and energy" sticker, multimedia presentations, video conferences with peers from partner schools, training in the EUROPASS program, trips to landscape parks, healthy food factories, botanical gardens, sewage treatment plants, city purification and waste disposal plants, meetings with ecologists, dieticians, and farmers producing healthy food. Training students on the ability to read labels on food products - the choice of healthy food. Enriching educational lessons with ecological topics. They initiated environmental activities and competitions themselves. Students of our partner schools collected recyclable materials. In the first year of the project, waste paper (all schools collected - 157197,00kg), in the second used batteries (schools collected - 4,464,124 kg, the Slovenian partner gave the number of batteries in pieces - 10,000.00 pcs), and in the third year PET bottle caps (collected - 6756.004 kg). To determine the ranking of eco-schools, classes, students we used entries in the class eco-notebooks that were run by students (class team) under the guidance of teachers. Every year, the collections were used to create a ranking of the best eco-schools, classes and students. The results of these rankings are presented in tabular form in the evaluation after 1,2,3, the year of the project, described in the Newsletter posted on ETWINING Twinspace. Students and parents also filled in home eco notebooks. The goal of our project was to increase knowledge and pro-ecological behavior among students of all our partner schools in the field of water, energy and natural resources saving as well as to acquire secondary waste management skills, to develop pro-ecological and pro-health awareness among our students during the project so that this knowledge would be effective during their development and adult life. To this end, before starting the project, we conducted a diagnostic survey among all students of our partner schools to determine the level of this knowledge. It was at the level of the Italian school - 52%, the Slovenian school - 65%, the Latvian school - 60%, the Polish school - 67% and the Dutch school - 69%. At the end of the project, i.e. after three years of activity, the same survey served us as a survey evaluation and its results are as follows: knowledge in the field of ecology increased in the Italian school to 75%, increase by 23%, in the Slovenian school to 80.3% - increase by 15.3%, in the Latvian school to 72.6% - increase by 12.6%, in Polish school to 87.3% - increase by 20.3%, in Dutch school to 83.4% - increase by 14.4%. Comparing the results of these two surveys allowed us to determine the increase in knowledge in students in each of the partner schools in the field of ecology and state that the project goal has been achieved, as confirmed by these anonymous surveys. During the 3 years of the project, students from our partner schools took part in 84 video conferences. Four tutorials were recorded and sent to partners and placed on ETWINNING Twinspace. During visits, teachers from all partner schools conducted 25 lessons in international groups of students. The project logo was created, the "Save water and energy" stickers were created, 11 Newsletter, EKOPEDIA guide for teachers with ready lesson plans, the chronicle of the "Eco-active" project.The knowledge and skills of students in the field of ecology increased, communication between students and teachers improved in the use of English and digital technologies.Long-term benefits: increase of students' knowledge and skills in the field of ecology, introduction to the Educational and Preventive School program of registration of conducting min 3 lessons yearly on ecological issues in educational lessons, Annual organization of the Eco-week and intensification of ecological activities and undertakings in this period. Annual organization of ecological happening .The use of pro-ecological behaviors by students at home, school and in the environment. Continuing battery collection (school container), waste segregation(at home and school).Maintaining cooperation with partner schools.