Four schools with different profiles (vocational and general) from Germany (Gottlieb-Daimler-Schule 2, Sindelfingen), France (Lycée Hippolyte Fontaine, Dijon), Spain (Colegio La Salle Virgen Del Mar, Almeria) and Luxembourg (Lycée Technique d´Ettelbruck) are going to work on the topic "eco friendly greenhouse". The cultivation of vegetables within the EU is mostly concentrated in the southern European countries. Almeria is due to EU subsidation, currently one of the most significant fruit- and vegetable producer in Europe, it`s agricultural area spreading over 380 square kilometres. The climate and technological conditions allow for up to five harvests a year. The mass production of fruit and vegetables in greenhouses leads to numerous environmental problems: retreat of phreatic water reserves/draughts, intensive deployment of pesticides, higher usage of plastics. Countries with a comparable climate (e.g. Italy, Morocco and Israel) are also increasingly concentrating on vegetable cultivation and are likewise faced with the same problems, which further amplifies the projects importance. France, Germany and Luxemburg, as bulk buyers / consumers of cheap fruit and vegetables grown in the region of Almeria, support this growing environmental Problem. All EU-citizens and in extension all participants of this project are -especially in reference to the EU-Strategy 2020- responsible for sustainable actions concerning the fruit and vegetable agriculture. Another EU priority within the framework of Strategy 2020, is the digitalisation of all viable sectors, amongst others also the digitalisation of education. (The German government passed the degree of digitalisation cooperation in the end of 2016) In 2015 the UN declared within the frameworks of Agenda 2030 for sustainable development seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The twelfth goal refers to responsible consumption, which implicates sustainable Consumption and Production measures. The UN project Education for Sustainable Development (BNE) is observed in all participating countries and hence leads to various Measures. In Baden-Würtemberg this educational initiative leads to the integration of BNE as subject comprehensive guideline for instance. Based on the assumption, that in the Almeria region with roughly 3000 hours of sun per year, about 38 square kilometres of the landscape are covered with greenhouses made from plastic foil, which produce ca. 80 percent of Spain’s agricultural yield, the students are to create a concept, that can improve this situation based on environmental standards. This includes the topics recycling of plastics, providing and treatment of water, power gain from biomass and ecological architecture. During this process the students will create functioning models of recycling of plastics, sea water treatment through desalination, production of biogas for climate automation within a greenhouse. For the dissemination and publication of the finished concept, info booths will be created at the end of the project, which will serve to get in contact with interested parties and activists during events. An insight into scientific issues and methodology as well as first hands-on experiences are another important objective of this project. As the participating schools have recently introduced tablets in their classrooms, they are going to develop teaching methods and they are going to exchange teaching tools. As students from various fields (metal engineering, electrical engineering, environmental technology and general education) are going to cooperate, the previously mentioned transdisciplinarity of the project can be realized. The wide-ranging expertise of the supervising teachers/key persons in the project make possible the development of valuable project results. Transnational mobility is an important part of the project: four short-term exchanges are planned in the course of the two-year project. During the transnational project weeks, the students are going to study various aspects of an eco friendly agriculture (plastic recycling, water treatment and supply, biomass etc.), which will be followed by the creation of learning modules and quizzes for the respective issues. Learning sessions at research institutes and debates with non-partisan political organisations are going to be implemented as essential activities. Throughout the project, the project members have to communicate, exchange ideas, results and pictures/videos online, on the eTwinning platform created for the project (cf. twinspace.etwinning.net/5706/home).
Four schools with different profiles (professional and general) from Germany (Gottlieb-Daimler-Schule 2, Sindelfingen), France (Lycée Hippolyte Fontaine, Dijon), Spain (Colegio La Salle Virgen Del Mar, Almeria) and Luxembourg (Lycée Technique d´Ettelbruck) dealt with the topic "environmentally friendly greenhouse" during the 2-year project period: - The german pupils are taught in the upper secondary vocational school with a focus on environmental technology. - The french pupils from the upper secondary vocational school are taught with a focus on metal processing. - The pupils from Luxembourg are also in the upper secondary vocational school with a focus on electrical engineering and automation technology. - The spanish pupils are taught in a general upper secondary school. The climatic and technological conditions in the greenhouses in Almeria allow up to five harvests per year. This mass production of fruit and vegetables leads to numerous environmental problems: Decline in groundwater reserves, pollution of people and the environment through the use of pesticides, accumulation of large quantities of plastic films, biomass contaminated with plastic waste. Based on the assumption that in the Almeria region, with about 3000 hours of sunshine per year, about 38 square kilometres of the landscape are covered with plastic greenhouses, the students have developed a concept to improve this situation on the basis of environmental standards. In the course of the project, the pupils have created functioning models - for the recycling of plastics, - for the treatment of polluted water, - for the production of biogas from the waste biomass of greenhouses and - for optimized control of ventilation and irrigation of a greenhouse built and put into operation. A total of four project meetings took place. In the course of the four project meetings, approx. 50 pupils, some of them changing, worked together to solve different problems and dealt with the following topics in workshops (using the pupils teach pupils method): - Basics of vegetable cultivation and the operation of greenhouses - Environmental problems due to intensive vegetable cultivation in the region of Almeria - Practical experiments to produce biogas from biomass, to detect it with the help of gas chromatographs - Experiments to generate electrical energy from biogas with the aid of fuel cells. - Plastics and the methods of plastics recycling - Construction of a chemical-free water filter from environmentally friendly natural materials - Microcontroller controlled (Arduino) temperature measurement with a temperature sensor and output of the data into a database. For the dissemination and publication of the finished concept, an information stand consisting of poster, flyers and an audiovisual presentation was set up at the end of the project: - The information stand was handed over to Managing Director Lola Gomez Ferron for an exhibition in her visitor centre at "clisol turismo agricola" in Almeria. Almost daily, international groups of visitors inform themselves about sustainable and environmentally friendly vegetable cultivation. - In addition to the exhibition of the information stand at clisol, the finished concept was also presented to the pupils and teachers at a school for agriculture in Almerimar (region of Almeria). - At a further presentation at the Institute of Agricultural Science at the University of Almeria, the concept was discussed with the local professors.