The function of school education is not confined to the remit of an academic curriculum, for schooling also plays a significant role in developing values, attitudes and skills. Indeed, these attributes are a pivotal in preparing young people for the environmental issues ahead. Consequently, as educators, we have a duty to provide opportunities that develop children's awareness and responsibilities of an ecological nature. This is and will be a fundamental ongoing issue throughout young peoples' lives as they progress to young adults. It is a vital requirement that our pupils are aware of and learn how to protect the environment for now and future generations.‘There’s no planet B: Stop Climate Change’, brings together the skills and expertise from institutions from six European countries – Poland, Italy, Sweden, Croatia, Lithuania and England. The key focus of our project is to recognise good practice and strategies in all participating institutions and the raise the level of attainment of science education in all partner schools as well as improve pupil's confidence in using and applying scientific skills in all contexts; raising their knowledge and understanding of the effects of climate change. It is designed to give teachers the skills and confidence to teach science, focusing on subject knowledge and pedagogy. In line with the national picture to enhance teaching and learning, our project which focuses primarily on primary education will provide children with secure and necessary skills. The project aims to develop a positive attitude towards science, including the acquisition of higher-order skills, such as the ability to explore, investigate, reason, experiment and to communicate scientifically. We want pupils to use their scientific skills effectively to unravel environmental problems with confidence in daily life. In addition, we strive to develop a positive attitude toward climate change, seeing science as a powerful way of looking at situations, and becoming confident in one's own ability to make a change. The project will allow sound pedagogical approaches to scientific teaching and learning to be shared as well as develop essential resources to support high quality scientific experiences for all young children. This will be one of the key focuses of all project meetings; to observe the teaching of science in all host schools. It is hoped teaching will take place between partner countries, an opportunity to share good practice. As well as developing and creating a ‘tool kits’ and high quality resources for all areas of the science curriculum. In addition to this, the project is aimed at developing an understanding of similarities and differences between the culture, lifestyles and environmental matters of participating schools. The project facilitates inter-cultural interaction and exchange through conversations, correspondence and mobilities that provide opportunities, for both students and teachers, to develop and deepen cultural awareness. Furthermore, the opportunity to Increase skills for future employment will be created. As a result of this project, pupils will have practised leadership, self-regulation, and the responsibility to improve lifestyle and the environment thus providing them with essential tools for future careers. This project will give the children the skills and knowledge they need to prosper in a globalised society. The project will be integrated into the curriculum of each participating institution, with a cross curricular thematic approach. It will take the form of 6 mini topics across the 2 years; 'Introduction to Climate Change', 'Global Warming', 'The Greenhouse effect', 'Endangered animals and Polar Ice Caps', 'Looking at the Future' and 'Looking Back, Looking Forwards: sustaining results'. Through each of the topics, pupils will explore and discover the effects climate change is having on the world performing a series of hands-on cross-curricular activities. Despite science being the main focus for the project, many other subjects of the national curriculum will also be covered. The project will develop the ICT skills of pupils and staff; an area that participating schools would like to develop. All schools will share and disseminate information and work through various ICT facilities available to them, for example, web logs, e-mail, digital imagery, ICT presentations, project web site as well as regular exchange of pupils work. We are continually searching to find ways of integrating all pupils, regardless of age, economical background, culture, religion or nationality and feel this project will cater for all pupils. It will motivate pupils and provide them with a vast variety of opportunities to use, share and develop their scientific skills and concepts through a common current theme, as well as add considerable knowledge and understanding of not only their own culture, ecological behaviours and heritage but their European partners too.
In line with the national picture to enhance teaching and learning, our project has provided children with secure and necessary skills with regards to the environmental issues that will be predominant throughout their lives as they progress to young adults. We agreed that it was a vital requirement for our pupils to be aware of and learn how to protect the environment for now and future generations. This was fundamental throughout the 2 years of our project. After the initial withdrawl of 2 partners we had an important discussion about the necessary plans and steps we needed to take to ensure the success of the project and the objectives met. ‘There’s no planet B: Stop Climate Change’, has brought together the skills and expertise from institutions from four European countries – Poland, Italy, Lithuania and England. The key focus of our project was to recognise good practice and strategies in all participating institutions and raise the level of attainment of science education in our schools as well as improve pupil's confidence in using and applying scientific skills in all contexts; raising their knowledge and understanding of the effects of climate change. It has developed teachers the skills and confidence to teach science, focusing on subject knowledge and pedagogy. Our pupils have developed and demonstrated positive attitudes toward climate change, seeing science as a powerful way of looking at situations, and become confident in their own ability to make a change. We have shared sound pedagogical approaches to scientific teaching and learning and developed essential resources to support high quality scientific experiences for all involved. This was one of the key focuses of all project meetings; to observe the teaching of science in all host schools. ‘Tool kits’ and high quality resources for all areas of the science curriculum were developed and created. In addition to this, pupils developed an understanding of similarities and differences between the culture, lifestyles and environmental matters of their partner schools. Our project facilitated inter-cultural interaction and exchange through conversations, correspondence and mobilities that provided opportunities, for both students and teachers, to develop and deepen cultural awareness. Drawing on results from questionnaires, assessments, data and day to day conversations with the children from all partner schools it is clear to see that the project has successfully developed a positive attitude towards science, including the acquisition of higher-order skills, such as the ability to explore, investigate, reason, experiment and to communicate scientifically. Our pupils have used their scientific skills effectively to unravel environmental problems with confidence in daily life. Furthermore, there was opportunity to Increase skills for future employment. As a result of this project, pupils have practised leadership, self-regulation, and the responsibility to improve lifestyle and the environment thus providing them with essential tools for future careers. An increasing number of children have expressed their interest in developing careers in this field. This project has given the children the skills and knowledge they need to prosper in a globalised society. Each school integrated the project into their curriculum through a cross curricular thematic approach. Across the 2 years, we completed 6 mini topics; 'Introduction to Climate Change', 'Global Warming', 'The Greenhouse effect', 'Endangered animals and Polar Ice Caps', ‘Measuring the weather’ and 'Looking at the Future': sustaining results'. Through each of the topics, pupils explored the effects climate change is having on the world. They have participated in countless hands-on cross-curricular activities. Despite science being the main focus for the project, many other subjects of the national curriculum were also enriched. The project has given pupils and staff the opportunity to develop their ICT skills. Sharing and disseminating information was done mainly through the website, as well as web blogs, e-mail, digital imagery, presentations, Twitter, organised events and regular exchange of pupils work. The children are incredibly proud of their website and have shared it beyond their own schools, featuring in an Earth day blog at Erasmus + and with their own local authorities. They regularly accessed the newsletters and games created as a tool of sustainability once the project had ended. We constantly searched to find ways of integrating all pupils, regardless of age, economical background, culture, religion or nationality and felt our project catered for all pupils. As a team we are very proud of the results that our project has had on each of our schools, teachers and children. We hope to continue collaborating even after our project has ended and look forward to building upon the incredibly strong relationships that this Erasmus project has allowed us to form.