Given that Europe is going through a momentum of change, it is essential for every organization in the educational sector to make sure that all European countries cooperate so that Europe can succeed in guaranteeing a common future for the younger generation. Erasmus+ is oriented towards the “Europe 2020” strategy (smart, sustainable and inclusive growth) and the “European Education and Training 2020” strategy for European cooperation. The focus of our project is to contribute to these common European purposes and priorities by encouraging young students to learn about European values which enable them to participate in the European cultural and social life. By working together on our project, including exchange visits and meetings in the partner countries, we directly follow the guidelines of the Paris Declaration, “Europe belongs to us and we belong to Europe”. In dealing with the European cultural heritage we can clearly demonstrate our common roots to the younger generation. This connecting element should be tangible and perceptible by learning about and getting to know numerous cultural monuments. All participants should therefore get a sense of community and we hope that Europe will gain new impulses on an emotional level and thus the overall European thought will be promoted. The project work and the securing of the results will be done by means of digital media. First of all, the participants will be introduced to the appropriate use of new media. This knowledge can further be used by them in class and in their future working life. That is why media literacy (or media education) has already been adopted in many European curricula. It is supported by a critical analysis of new digital products, e.g. apps like Actionbound, Kahoot, or Quizlet. Recent scientific studies have shown that it is precisely these digital media, which enable open, differentiated forms of learning in the classroom. They create opportunities to respond to the individuality of students and furthermore they encourage self-learning. Our participants use various apps to present their final results. These will be published on our homepage (www.european-heritage.rocks) and can be viewed at any time. We especially want to encourage students and teachers to use such digital teaching materials in order to learn about the significance of an existing and already awarded European cultural heritage at first. They then will select a treasured and not yet awarded cultural asset of their own hometown for their project. A self-designed cultural label will be awarded in the end. Our selection will be sent to all those responsible for the preservation of our common cultural heritage. For the final presentation, members of the community, people at school and representatives of the press will be invited. In order to ensure sustainability, this award will continue to be part of school development in the following years and it will further be publicized, for example through a special day with a public exhibition of cultural heritage at school. There will be a close cooperation not only with the local authorities, but also with the participating schools beyond this project. We try to win over representatives of companies and trade centres; professional craftsmen, artists and musicians; parents and other family members; representatives of the public authorities, the media and the politics; as well as other relevant persons from every partner country. We also make sure to include a diverse range of pupils in the project (age group 15-18, number 5 to 8 students per school). They may come from socially disadvantaged families, have an immigration background, suffer from any kind of learning disability or even be a potential school dropout. Experienced teachers who are open to innovations as well as willing to share their experiences will accompany the project. The greater goal is to involve not only the participants, but all the other pupils and teachers of the schools, too. At the end of the project, all participants will evaluate it in the form of a questionnaire. In addition to the work on the project, we expect a professionalisation of teachers through exchange of experience and innovation, the development of private contacts between the participants and an enhanced or reinforced development of European cooperation with political and media representatives. Our participants, the youngsters, the "heirs of our heritage" themselves will become ambassadors of our European cultural heritage by experiencing common roots.
Given that Europe is going through a momentum of change, it is essential for every organization in the educational sector to make sure that all European countries cooperate so that Europe can succeed in guaranteeing a common future for the younger generation. Erasmus+ is oriented towards the “Europe 2020” strategy (smart, sustainable and inclusive growth) and the “European Education and Training 2020” strategy for European cooperation. The focus of our project was to contribute to these common European purposes and priorities by encouraging young students to learn about European values which enable them to participate in the European cultural and social life. By working together on our project, including exchange visits and meetings in the partner countries, we directly followed the guidelines of the Paris Declaration, “Europe belongs to us and we belong to Europe”. In dealing with the European cultural heritage we could clearly demonstrate our common roots to the younger generation. This connecting element, the tradition and numerous cultural monuments were made aware. The project work and the securing of the results was be done by means of digital media. First of all, the participants were introduced to the appropriate use of new media. This knowledge was used by them in class and will be useful in their future working life. That is why media literacy (or media education) has already been adopted in many European curricula. It was supported by a critical analysis of new digital products. As part of the project, digital media enabled open, differentiated forms of learning, offered opportunities to do justice to the individuality of the individual and promoted independent learning. The students used various apps to present their final results. These have been published on our homepage (www.european-heritage.rocks) and can be viewed and used at any time. The participants got to know the meaning of an existing, already awarded European cultural monument and took responsibility for choosing a cultural monument from their hometown that was worthy of appreciation and had not yet been awarded a prize. A self-designed cultural label was awarded in the end. For the final presentation, members of the community, school and representatives of the press have been invited. In order to ensure sustainability, we want this award to continue to be part of school development in the following years. We want the close cooperation, not only with the local authorities, but also with the participating schools beyond this project. When we selected participants (age group 15-18, number 5 to 8 students per school), we paid attention to choose students from socially disadvantaged families, have an immigration background, suffer from any kind of learning disability or even be a potential school dropout. Experienced teachers who were open to innovations as well as willing to share their experiences have accompany the project. Not only the participants were involved in the project, but all the other pupils and teachers of the schools, too; also representatives of companies and trade centres; professional craftsmen, artists and musicians; parents and other family members; representatives of the public authorities, the media and the politics; as well as other relevant persons from every partner country. Finally, the project was evaluated by all those involved in the form of a questionnaire. With this project we were able to increase the professionalism of the teachers through the exchange of experiences and innovations. Private contacts between the project participants continued beyond the project. European cooperation was felt to be very valuable in the working groups. Our participants, the youngsters, the "heirs of our heritage" themselves will become ambassadors of our European cultural heritage by experiencing common roots.