Management and teachers of partners' schools have over the years of cooperation identified common strategic goals and needs: -How to develop learning environment in grammar school (GS) programs that enables student to develop useful knowledge on natural science and critical thinking. -How to organize rigid curriculum in GS in order to implement cross-curricular project work. -How to provide environment in which teachers can develop new educational approaches - How to enrich Slovenian language in national minority, where use of Slovenian language is decreasing amongst young population, where employers on the other hand are at the same time aware of importance of Slovenian language and they want their employees to speak the language in minority. The need for active approach within natural science courses wasn’t identified only among pedagogical workers, but also among students and their parents (survey conducted in Naklo in June 2016 and in Klagenfurt and Trieste in February 2017) The results showed: -students want active and exciting natural science activities -students want more laboratory and fieldwork -students want to be involved international cooperation -students that belong to national minority are looking to connect with students from Slovenia and vice versa -parents are expecting that with inclusion of their children in Slovene environment, they will increase Slovenian language skills. The need to improve natural science competences and integration of national minority with Slovenia has also been expressed from the local and national environment (KIS (AT), Regional School Offices (IT, AT), Ministry of Education and Science (SI)). The project aims at developing flexible learning environment that will enable the achievement of useful learning outcomes in field of natural science and enriching the Slovenian language of young people living in national minority. In this project we have two main target groups: students and teachers. We want to deepen the knowledge of natural science of our students. In particular, the project will focus on cross-curricular understanding of natural science through active forms of learning and teamwork. Along with the natural sciences that will be taught in the context of sustainable development, we will develop critical thinking, especially in the understanding of triangle of sustainability nature - society - economy. With attractive content will help young people to get enthusiastic on responsible attitude towards nature and sustainable development, which is one of the objectives of EU 2020 Strategy. Teachers involved will facilitate the learning of new methods and approaches through active participation in the short-term international learning / teaching activity. Each of the schools has some features and advantages that will enable teachers to exchange their knowledge. Students will learn about the work at school polygons (BC Naklo), research work in different ecosystems, research work in institutes (Trieste) and understanding of sustainable landscape development (Klagenfurt). At the same time, students will strengthen their language skills and communication skills both in the SI language, which will be very valuable to members of national minorities, as well as language skills in SI, IT, DE, EN lanugage The main results of the project will be: -Three two-week short-term learning activities for a group of 12 students (minimum + 6 involved in home school) and accompanying teachers. The purpose of the learning activities of students and teachers is to promote the project /research approach with an emphasis on problem-based planning, implementing and critical evaluation, based on existing and concrete problems / challenges in natural science. - Guide: Inclusion of active interdisciplinary approaches at teachin natural science in GS with an emphasis on critical thinking (guidelines for teachers and school leaders), which will present 6 best practice examples implemented during project that lead to the increase of natural science competences.(SI, DE, IT EN) -Glossary of natural science terms in 4 languages (SI, DE, IT EN) -Personal folder of learning achievements The international project will also develop the ability to communicate in native language because the involved two GS with Slovenian teaching language in Klagenfurt and Trieste, are educating young representatives of Slovene ethnic minority, that do not use Slovenian language in every day lives. With this project we want to achieve the following main effects: Improvement of students competences in field of natural science with an emphasis on critical thinking Improvement of the linguistic competences of all students, with a strong focus on the SI language. Maintain and build on existing cooperation between Slovenian national minorities beyond border and Slovenia Upgrade teaching methods with emphasis on natural science, active approach and the student-oriented teaching with an emphasis on critical thinking
Management and teachers of partners' schools have over the years of cooperation identified common strategic goals and needs: -How to develop a learning environment in grammar school (GS) programs that enables a student to develop useful knowledge on natural science and critical thinking. -How to organize a rigid curriculum in GS in order to implement cross-curricular project work. -How to provide an environment in which teachers can develop new educational approaches - How to enrich Slovenian language in the national minority, where the use of Slovenian language is decreasing amongst the young population, where employers, on the other hand, are at the same time aware of the importance of Slovenian language and they want their employees to speak the language in minority. Even before the start of the project, we realized with the needs analysis that parents and students wanted international cooperation, especially in terms of exciting natural science activities, more laboratory and field work, connecting Slovenians on all sides of the border, and parents wanted to improve their knowledge of the Slovenian language. The aim was supported not only by students, teaching staff and parents, but also by the Rural Education Community, which is very active in preserving the Slovene language and culture in Austria, the Regional Offices (IT, AT), the Ministry of Education and Science (SI). The project developed a flexible learning environment that enabled us to achieve useful natural sciences at the Gymnasium level and at the same time, strengthen the Slovene language in the international minority. The target groups of the project were students and teachers, and the project also had a significant impact on the leadership of the schools and families of the students involved. The students deepened their knowledge of science, especially from the perspective of cross-curricular understanding, which came from practical and useful examples, based on active forms of learning and teamwork. Through the teaching of natural sciences, we also strengthened critical thinking in the triangle Nature - Society - Economy (Natural Science and Survival Workshop at Udin boršt, waste research on the secured beach at Miramar, hiking excursion Poden and Cepa Gorge). With attractive and practical content, we encouraged young people for a responsible attitude towards nature and for sustainable development, which is one of the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy. With the involvement of teachers (BC Naklo 15 teachers, Scientific Lyceum FP 12 teachers, ZG / ZRG for Slovenes 10 teachers) we enabled learning of new methods and approaches through active participation in exchanges, where each of the participating schools developed and prepared different science workshops. Furthermore, for some teachers, it was the first time working on projects, so they acquired new, non-teaching related competencies. Through the project, students strengthened their linguistic competences, both in the Slovene language, which was especially pronounced for Slovenes living abroad, as well as in English, German and Italian. The main results at the end of the project are: - Three two-week short-term learning activities for a group of 12 visiting students (+ more than 10 from the hosting school) and accompanying teachers. The focus of mobility was on project and research work, with an emphasis on problem-solving, implementation and critical evaluation based on real concrete natural science challenges. -Natural Science Workshops SLAVIT - a practical four-language guide to 6 science workshops conducted within the project -3-times four-language dictionaries of natural science expressions used in performing individual activities.h emphasis on natural science, active approach and the student-oriented teaching with an emphasis on critical thinking