Climate change is a highly relevant issue in our society in Europe and worldwide. It is the goal of our Erasmus+ project to focus on the fastening climate change, to increase awareness, and to develop preventive measures. The European spirit should especially be kept alive by cooperating internationally. It should be made clear how climate change is defined, and how the students themselves can and will be affected by it, as well as creating preventive strategies to reduce climate change. Sustainability, renewable energies, and taking care of resources are in the centre of the students' projects. Intercultural competences will be developed by cooperating with students from other countries, and by dealing with the unique characteristics of each country. Their language skills will be strengthened by communicating with participants English. Prejudices against other countries will be minimised by visiting these countries and their people. Self-consciousness and skills will grow by their improved competence in the fields of media and presentation in the course of the publication of the project's results. The gathered results will be published on an Erasmus+ hangout/blackboard in the school hall. Furthermore, the results are going to be presented to the other students. Worksheets will be created by the participants and published for the non-participating students on the school's homepage. Thus, information is available for every student at the school in order to build up competence and interest as well as motivation to participate in future projects. Our target group will be advanced Geography students (higher education) age group 14-17. During the preparations for the project the whole group will work together. Five students will be chosen based on a letter of motivation to participate in the project itself. We also want that financially disadvantaged students get a chance to participate. The students will be supported by two teachers. The project starts in Poland. Students will visit a coal mine and get involved with mining and the professions connected with this area. The next project will take place in Germany. Students will have a close look into the consequences of mining for nature, environment and climate. A main emphasis will be put on the definition of climate change. Later in Romania students will visit places that are suffering from the consequences of climate change. This will give them a direct insight into what they learned in theory. In Belgium the students will get a view on sustainability and taking care of resources, by visiting a company in the glass producing industry, among other things. Italy and the Netherlands will take care of the issue of renewable energies in a two-part project. The tree life project (generation of energy with recycled materials) in Italy is one of the most important projects. Each country follows a similar project plan. The first day is reserved for arriving and getting to know each other and the area. The schedule for the following days will be presented to the students. On the second and on the third day students work together on their projects and visit facilities and sights. The fourth day is reserved for the creation of the didactic material and the preparation of the final presentation. On the fifth day the students will have their concluding programme and leave. The visit itself will be followed up and evaluated on specific meetings. Additionally the participants have the opportunity to communicate via web tools. The students will be supported by the project leaders throughout the whole project.
Since climate change is a central, global topic of our society, our project ´our earth, our future?! ´ aims to focus on the increasing change in our climate, to raise awareness of the situation, as well as preventively To develop approaches. The project was prepared in the geography courses of the upper level and is thematically anchored in the school's internal curriculum. Five students per country were selected by means of a letter of motivation to take part in the projects on site. Two to three countries were visited, so that about 15 pupils were accommodated in host families. Each country followed a similar project plan when implementing it. The first and last day served the arrival and departure. On the second and third days, the students worked on the topic in mixed groups and visited various institutions. The fourth day was used to create the didactic material and the presentations. The visits were prepared and followed up by both teachers and learners, partly through face-to-face meetings, partly via video conferences. The awareness of the situation mentioned in the goals was created in Poland, Germany and Romania by first working theoretically to define climate change and then examining the consequences of climate change in more detail. The definitions, data and facts about climate change as well as the role play of a climate conference were recorded on the basis of learning videos, which will be made available to later classes as didactic material. The learners worked both in Poland and in Germany on the question of what effects lignite mining has on climate change. To do this, they visited e.g. a museum in Katowice or the viewing platform in Garzweiler. Further effects of climate change were discussed, for example, on the basis of particle pollution and the ban on diesel vehicles in German cities, or on the basis of the volcanoes in the Buzau district (Romania). Especially on the Garzweiler viewing platform and the conversations with people in Keyenberg who have to leave their homeland, the learners became aware of the extent to which they, their immediate neighbors and fellow human beings are affected. Accordingly, the focus of the further work steps should be on the topics of resource conservation, sustainability and renewable energies. In Belgium, the learners initially dealt with resource conservation in general and then made their experiences more concrete by visiting the glass industry in Lommel. In the Netherlands, the participants visited e.g. a water purification company or new energy systems in Schimmert. The topic was solar panels and heat pumps. With the help of these collectors and heat pumps, e.g. the Snowworld in Landraaf for practically no negative effects on the climate. Employment in renewable energy should continue in Italy. Due to the corona crisis, the learning groups were unfortunately unable to visit Italy personally, but exchanged information about the project there via video chats. e.g. the functioning of sunlight and photosynthesis was examined. The learners observed different plant species in different sunshine. At home, solar cookers were built from recyclable materials to clarify how the greenhouse effect works and to investigate the properties of the conductive and insulating materials. Finally, the relationship between the presence of lichen and environmental quality was examined. The results were recorded using a PowerPoint presentation. All results and detailed descriptions can be found on our homepage https://ourearthourfuture.jimdofree.com. Each school is linked to the project homepage. Furthermore, each school has set up an Erasmus + wall, which documents the activities and results of the projects and uses them for other students, parents, teachers and visitors, e.g. accessible on open days. Each country also reported on the events in the press. The Erasmus + Wand and the cooperation with the press should motivate new students for further projects. The goals mentioned so far were therefore achieved, but beyond the goals already mentioned and the results obtained, the pupils acquired intercultural skills by working with the foreign participants by addressing their peculiarities and characteristics and reducing prejudices. In addition, the participants were trained in the area of IT, through the work, the handling and the presentations with the different tools and possibilities. The learners also strengthened their language skills in English.