Borders divide and unite. They are used to create a sense of identity by including and excluding people. They cause conflict and are used to settle conflicts with treaties. They may consist of vague ideas in our mind or very real walls or fences. LIMES will raise the students' awareness of these complementary perspectives on the borders and dividing lines they experience such as social divides, national borders, nationalist trends, borders of the past, inner and outer European borders. The main objective of LIMES is to encourage students to research on and find ways to bridge these divides. Transnational work: Since political and cultural traditions differ and the countries have experienced very different European stories representing Northern, Southern, Western and Eastern Europe each partner school contributes a different perspective and approach. In the first year the creation of a transnational European gallery on borders will not only broaden their insight into the partners' social and political problems. The experience of organising such a gallery together already establishes bridges to the partners' countries, their social system, their history and their current problems. In the second year different national perspectives are of vital importance in the simulation of political processes and the creative writing scenario. Both the past and the scenarios dealing with the present and near future will make the students aware of how we all contribute to the shaping of Europe. The students will thus learn to empathize with the partners and other European nations. They will learn to see beyond purely national interests in their ideas about sharing a future together as Europeans and working towards common goals. As the current politial situation features a backlash into nationalist thought, a sense of unity between the students who will be shaping that future must be developed. The main objectives of LIMES are: - to implement peer-to-peer-learning "events" in our schools' curricula that also allow the students to present their work outside of the schools in real life situations - to make students realize how each country’s history and social structure shapes its perception of Europe - allow them to experience a European partnership in a European context - to enable students to see through nationalist ideologies and recognize their destructive impact - foster the students' entrepreneurship in terms of managing skills (organizing a gallery, publishing) - explore the potential of visual and emotive approaches in student-centred transnational teaching - encourage students and teachers to cross the border between school and "real" life - develop innovative self-guided learning scenarios that foster experience rather than instruction - promote the students' media and language skills - familiarize students with self-governance and feedback mechanisms
“Limes” used the concept of borders that unite and divide as a magnifying glass to help our groups of 15-18 year old students from Budapest, Bucharest, Copenhagen, Rome and Stuttgart investigate and compare current dividing lines within their societies and in politics on the local, national and the EU level. The main objective of LIMES was to raise the students´ awareness for harmful trends. All project activities encouraged them to work together and devise ways to bridge these divides. In the first project year the students created a European photo gallery on borders accompanied by a gallery guide. It can be visited online at https://agorainternational.wordpress.com/2018/06/07/limes-gallery-has-opened/. The experience of organising such a gallery together as well as the product - photos of borders touching upon a broad variety of fascinating issues accompanies by short texts - established bridges to the partners' countries, their social system, their history and their current problems. In the second year a different creative approach to the topic of borders on the EU level was used. All partners created two simulation game scenarios by combining, adapting and fitting social science modules to our European needs. In their roles as teachers, students and political decision makers the students experienced borders as conflict between partners demanding negotiation and compromise and our different national perspectives were of vital importance in the simulation of political processes. The final and concluding project step ventured into the unknown by addressing the border between past and future. All partners used creative writing scenarios to extrapolate from past and current trends they had discovered throughout our project work and speculated how they will contribute to the shaping of Europe in the future. The resulting science fiction compilation can be found online at https://agorainternational.wordpress.com/2019/09/03/what-kind-of-future-awaits-us-50-years-from-now/. Limes helped students to empathize with the partners and other European nations by encouraging them to see beyond purely individual or national interests and sharing the experience of working together as Europeans towards common goals. LIMES: - implemented peer-to-peer-learning "events" in our schools' curricula - allowed students to experience how each country’s history and social structure shapes its perception of Europe in a European partnership - fostered the students' entrepreneurship in organizing a gallery, publishing a compendium of sifi stories, organising venues and inviting feedback. - increased their skills in public speaking events like TED talks or political speeches - explored the potential of games and creative approaches in student-centred and student-guided transnational teaching - encouraged students and teachers to cross the border between school and "real" life to find visitors for the photo gallery and readers as well as an audience for readings of the creative writing results.