SOS - Sustain Our Souls

The Erasmus KA229 project entitled "Sustain our Souls” ( S-O-S) brought together institutions from six European countries –Greece, Germany, the coordinator, Italy, Poland, Romania and Spain with the main purpose to do research and experiment with new methodologies and ways of improving the set of 21st century competences and skills which are interrelated in complex ways. We all worked together and made a journey through the environment, traditions, culture and the initiatives of our countries, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, metacognition, self-reflection, and motivation as well as scientific knowledge, language and cultural competence were activated by means of innovative strategies and a constant use of digital tools. The activities had been organised to prepare students for independent learning, learning by doing , and firsthand learning with several outdoor activities which were supposed to lead them to the historical memory, to be fully knowledged, conscious and active citizens. The project was concerned with geography, biology, English, environment, IT, health education, culture studies, art and eco-tourism. Students were encouraged to take responsibility for their own health and well being and their social, cultural, historical and geographical environment. The project activities also aimed at developing communication skills, problem solving abilities, decision making, teamwork skills, giving presentations and IT skills. Cross-cultural and cross-curricular learning were also supported through all project activities. In the first year, teachers benefited from a study visit/ professional training about teaching, experiences and lessons to be delivered to students. This first meeting took place in Trikala, Greece, and was a a kick-off-meeting of the whole project. . The focus of the students learning that took place in Santa Comba, Spain, was on natural disorders . Outdoor learning activities were spotted through outdoor learning for eco-tourism: the students developed a business plan for making their area a bit more attractive and revitalizing it as eco-tourim destination ( the participants visited also Santiago Compostella and other important natural and cultural site in order to have a better gist of what tourists need when they visit a place and what authorities can do in order to provide them with what they need). The students also prepared interviews with their elders about the time they spent in nature and their connection with the environment, they preesented them in Santa Comba and after watching all the materials they worked in multinational teams to create Draw My Life videos dealing with the similiarities and differences between the generations. The third meeting was organized by the Italian partner school in Taranto. There, the students improved their life style and healthy eating habits studying the Mediterranean Diet , visiting a hotel and catering school and oil /dairy products manufacturing companies, doing chemical analysis of oil etc.. The products of the meeting were a digital cookbook with European healthy recipes for young people and a healthy eating campaign for teenagers, ( poster and illustrative leaflet). The second year of the project started with the meeting in Cracow, Poland. There, the main aim was the Cultural heritage and therefore the students followed an itinerary through History and Culture rediscovering their roots. ( They took documentation visits to the Old town of Cracow, a salt mine and other industrial sites, but also the world heritage of Auschwitz in order to have a better understanding of the past and see its consequences on present generations). The final products were cultural posters showing the EU motto „Unity in diveristy“ and a Kahoot! Game created in multinaitonla teams. Then , the Covid-pandemic started, meaning a time delay of a whole year. This caused a change of participants at most schools, because many of the participating students had left schools. Only the teachers remained the same. And unfortunately the real meetings had to be replaced by virtual ones. The fourth meeting was organized by the Romanian partner school in Slobozia, but it was only a virtual meeting. Nevertheles,the main focus remained the same: the investigation into the environment from the natural and cultural point of view. The products were creative writing and paintings/drawings, a survey of important national poets and painters bonded to nature and a leaflet about sports games in the nature. The final meeting, of course also virtual, was organized by the coordinating school from Felsberg, Germany, where all studies were summed up and important project-related presentations were made. During this meeting the whole project was evaluated, the gathered material was stored on project websites, such as eTwinning and all EU dissemination platforms.