The main purpose of our project is to offer students leaving adolescence the opportunity to broaden their cultural and intellectual horizon by dealing with the culture of the host country that is likewise part of the European Union. We would like to put emphasis on the history and the cultural assets of the respective region focusing on ancient and medieval history in Italy and medieval and early modern history in Germany. 15 students of each school will be given the chance to get to know the different culture and way of living in detail and to deal with the background of certain historic places in order to support their personal and social development and their cultural education. The students staying in Airola and Uslar are supposed to benefit from excursion to places rich in history by gaining knowledge about the cultural roots of the regions. To achieve this, the participating students will be given work assignments including research and photography tasks helping them to increase their media literacy. Based on the results the students will create a journal together. The information provided by the journal will be used in different lessons and other occasions at the two schools. This way a sustainable product will be created, which will make a valuable contribution to the historical awareness not only of the participants, but also of other readers.
The main purpose of our project was to offer students leaving adolescence the opportunity to broaden their cultural and intellectual horizon by dealing with the culture of the host country that is likewise part of the European Union. We wanted to emphasise on the history and the cultural assets of the respective region focusing on ancient and medieval history in Italy and medieval and early modern history in Germany. We slightly had to adjust the topics due to organizational changes, but especially because the students’ interests were mainly focused on short-term political or current cultural topics (politics in general, environmental policy, StreetArt). However, the bottom line was that these slight changes enriched our project and made us reach our aim even more. 22 students from each school had the chance to get to know the different culture and way of living in detail and to deal with the historical background of certain places in both regions. Especially with regard to the aspects mentioned first, the mobilities made an outstanding contribution to reach our goals in the field of intercultural education. Project, mobilities and activities, but particularly the exchange that lasted one year, have promoted the participants’ personal and social development. By experiencing everyday life on the spot, attending school together etc. the interaction between the partners was even intensified. Therefore, the strategic partnership has essentially contributed to the informal and formal learning broadening the students’ horizons, strengthening their personality and encouraging their social development. The shared activities during the mobilities were a good content-related foundation for gaining historical awareness inasmuch as the participants visiting Herculaneum got an excellent impression of the temples, thermal baths und private houses and therefore an idea of how life was in ancient times. Although we had to face restrictions concerning the comparison of the city layouts and the city planning, the students, by exploring and researching for their joint projects and by composing their texts, on the one hand realised the value of historical culture and its diversity and on the other hand became aware of the strong links between both countries being part of Europe. Composing their journal challenged the students’ practical and critical handlings of media and therefore clearly helped them to raise their media literacy. Although slight changes had to be made, the stays in Airola respectively in Uslar were used to gain insight in the cultural root with the help of mobilities to historical places in these areas. The resulting journal was not only provided to the participating schools but was also distributed in the area. The content of the journal is already used in the classroom context and will also be used in the long term. Actually, we were planning on using the journal in History classes but in practice it turns out that Politics lessons benefit especially from our results. Thus, a sustainable product has been created, that already contributes to the historical and political awareness not only of the participants but also of the readers. Beyond the journal, our partnership has a lasting and valuable influence on our classes: when temples were dealt with in Art lessons our participants were asked to respond as experts; in Latin classes, information about Herculaneum and Pompei were presented; during the school project “Umweltschule”, dealing with environmental issues, our students provided knowledge gained in their projects and during our partnership.