There are 5 partners schools involved in the project ,, Money matters'': Gymnazium Petra Pazmana s vjm-Pazmany Peter Gimnazium in Nove Zamky-Slovakia (as a coordinator), Szkola Podstawowa NR 1 IM.PLK. K. IRANKA OSMECKIEGO w zespole szkol w Pstragowej-Poland, Scoala Gimnaziala "Samson Bodnarescu" Galanesti in Siret- Romania, Colegio Santo Ángel de la Guarda in Madrid, Spain and Primary School of Kouloura-Greece. Our schools are located in different sites, starting from villages and finishing in big cities, they are of a different size and number of pupils but in general the project involves 300 students aged 9-16 and 50 teachers. Late European happenings as Brexit, Dutch elections, monetary issues made us think about the importance of preserving the European Union. It is crucial to make students understand how European Union works and how each country can be a part and individual at the same time. As partners we decided through this topic to focus on financial literacy and history/interesting events in each countries´ past. The project deals with several issues involving finances and financial matters, the European Union and its currency. The main goal of the project is to increase our pupils' interest in the European Union, its happenings and influence on our lives. The project includes mathematics, civics, history, art, ICT, develops numerous language skills. Having partners both using euro and having local money makes this project unique, and diverse. We intend our students to become more interested in the EU, learning and using foreign languages, making international friends and increase their motivation to learn about real life in other European countries in context of future job choices. We need our students to see how teenagers live in different countries, we hope that together we can find a solution to promote European Union and how to increase awareness of historical, cultural diversity of a few European corners among students and teachers. It is an opportunity for those who are creative as the results of our work will have to be published, presented and documented in many different ways: photographs, drawings, PPt presentations, graphs, school and local magazine issues, school webpages, project blog, documentaries. It will also be a challenge and a great chance for students with some specific problems ( learning difficulties, social and economical problems) for developing language skills and improving ICT skills.
The project has been designed to involve young people living in different sized towns and villages as well as schools and countries (belonging to the European Union but not all of them using euro currency). Late European happenings as Brexit, Dutch elections, monetary issues made us think about the importance of preserving the European Union. It is crucial to make students understand how European Union works and how each country can be a part and individual at the same time. As partners we decided through this topic to focus on financial literacy and history/interesting events in each countries´ past. The project deals with several issues: 1. Finances such as financial literacy(the history and evolution of money, monetary systems, the value of money, safety parts of banknotes and coins), budget literacy (personal and family budget, my needs, where to store money), poverty vs. wealth in families, society, consumer society, spending money, identifying sources of personal income, work on financial plan. Activities were carried out through lectures, workshops, sample lessons, posters. 2. European union was covered through topics as EU countries (when and how they joined, youngest members, what is needed for a country to join the EU), which countries use euro currency, what are the similarities and differences, what currency did they use before euro, future of euro, technical information about coins and banknotes(what are they made of, colour, errors in printing, materials), collecting coins (special coins, commemorative 2 euro coins), where and how are coins and banknotes made. Activities were carried out through lectures, meetings with numismatics, excursions to banks, mints or mines. 3. History, art and civics were taught thanks to coins and banknotes where important historical events and personalities are depicted. For example, Greek students acted out a play about the Abduction of Europe, a Greek myth depicted on a commemorative 2 euro coin. Or Slovak students made a video about a fairy tale About 3 deniers. We made students think about political issues in Romania and Poland in order to predict their future regarding the introduction of euro. The number of directly involved students of various ages (aged 7 to 18) were about 120, out of them 59 travelled through mobilities. There were of course much more students who were indirectly involved, in some cases (Slovakia, Greece, Poland) it was the whole school. Among the products we have to mention the project logo, webpage, blog, lesson samples, work materials, financial book for teachers, number of presentations about partner countries, schools, visited places, videos, educational game, curriculum, etc. Impact We intended (and we think we were successful in doing so) to improve our students´ investigative skills (logical thinking, deduction, making conclusions). We want them to discover links among our countries, see the balance in being part of the EU and yet keeping national identity, to be able to critically think about happenings in the EU. Students become more interested in the EU, learning and using foreign languages, making international friends and increase their motivation to learn about real life in other European countries in context of future job choices. They saw see how teenagers live in different countries, we promoted European Union and how to increase awareness of historical, cultural diversity of a few European corners among students and teachers. In schools, curriculum was broadened about the topic of financial literacy, in case of the Slovak school a new subject Financial literacy was introduced. The results are sustainable because the topic is relevant and up-to-date in every country´s educational policy and it is the school´s interest to continue.