Barriers in the minds, barriers in Europe? - Physical, intellectual and actual border crossings There are developments going along with the current refugee crisis, such as the reintroduction of state border controls or the strengthening of right-wing political forces within our society. The project “encouragement of border crossings” is meant literally as well as figuratively. It strikes at the heart of the European idea. Since both partner schools participating in the project are situated at a European cross-border traffic axis, this route is well suited for the project. The outcome of the project will be a smartphone app that maps out a bike or mountain bike route between Auer/Ora and Holzkirchen. The app highlights special places at which possible ways of border crossings can be experienced. Thereby, various border crossings will be addressed, be it crossing of state borders and innovative logistics (e.g. construction of Brenner Base Tunnel), exceeding physical limits in sports, a sustainable energy policy or artistic taboo-breaking. Furthermore, the innovative ways of how to handle these challenges such as the refugee crisis will be presented. Two vocational schools will participate in the project. The project’s participants are students of both partner schools aged 16 to 20, aspiring higher education entrance qualification. At the beginning of the project the students choose places where borders are crossed in various ways and they conduct research on suitable issues of interest. During short exchange visits students of both partner institutions get to know the places, evaluate their relevance and decide whether they should be included in the app. A bilingual version and the fine-tuning of the app will be done during the meetings as well as in preparation and follow-up sessions. All project results –as well as the app – will be documented and published on a homepage. During and after the project the app will be used for school trips and excursions in order to ensure sustainability of the results. Via tourist associations and neighboring schools the app will be communicated to tourists and local citizens. There will be long-term benefits of the project in two ways: On the one hand, the app supports the crossing of state borders and transnational exchange as the smartphone app offers additional incentives for a bicycle journey along the proposed route. On the other hand, the work on border crossings can broaden the horizon and increase various competences. This is a prerequisite to actively participate in shaping the social and political life and the future of Europe. In addition, the media competence of the participants will be strengthened.
AlpinPlus - Smartphone App: www.grenzen-ueberwinden.eu Barriers in the minds, barriers in Europe? - Physical, intellectual and actual border crossings There are developments going along with the current refugee crisis, such as the reintroduction of state border controls or the strengthening of right-wing political forces within our society. The project “encouragement of border crossings” is meant literally as well as figuratively. It strikes at the heart of the European idea. Since both partner schools participating in the project are situated at a European cross-border traffic axis, this route is well suited for the project. The outcome of the project is a smartphone app that maps out a bike or mountain bike route between Auer/Ora and Holzkirchen. The app highlights special places at which possible ways of border crossings can be experienced. Thereby, various border crossings are addressed, be it crossing of state borders and innovative logistics (e.g. construction of Brenner Base Tunnel), exceeding physical limits in sports, a sustainable energy policy or artistic taboo-breaking. Furthermore, the innovative ways of how to handle these challenges such as the refugee crisis is presented. Two vocational schools participated in the project. The project’s participants were students of both partner schools aged 16 to 20, aspiring higher education entrance qualification. At the beginning of the project the students chose places where borders are crossed in various ways and they conducted research on suitable issues of interest. During short exchange visits students of both partner institutions got to know the places, evaluated their relevance and decided whether they should be included in the app. All project results – as well as the app – were documented and published on a homepage: www.grenzen-ueberwinden.eu. The App is also published via "google-Playsteore". The app is running on "android-based-smartphones" and is free. During and after the project the App is used for school trips and excursions in order to ensure sustainability of the results. We communicated the app in cooperation with tourist associations (e.g. Alpenregion Schliersee-Tegernsee) and neighboring schools to tourists and local citizens. On April, 11, 2019, the app was lounched in a big Opening Party. As a special guest, the Secretary of Education of Bavaria joined this Event. There are long-term benefits of the project in two ways: On the one hand, the app supports the crossing of state borders and transnational exchange as the smartphone app offers additional incentives for a bicycle journey along the proposed route. On the other hand, the work on border crossings can broaden the horizon and increase various competences. This is a prerequisite to actively participate in shaping the social and political life and the future of Europe. In addition, the media competence of the participants will be strengthened.