"Water – A Combining Element" Water is the basis of life for all people. The topic of water is probably one of the strongest connecting elements between people, which is why it is particularly suitable as a topic for a European project in which students learn with and from each other. The five participating schools from Finland, Germany, Spain, Italy and Greece come from different natural regions of Europe and describe different cultural backgrounds. Thus, we have different ways to approach our use of water in Europe. Consequently, the lives of the participating students offer a variety of starting points for a common analysis of the project theme, in which the diverse approaches based on local specifics are to be made tangible and comprehensible to the project participants. This can make a significant contribution to mutual tolerance in Europe. At the beginning of the two-year project, the participating students are in Year 9 and accordingly 14 or 15 years old. Increasing our students' ability of critical thinking in dealing with our natural resource water is the major goal for the project. Therefore, the students work on our European heritage in connection with water. Moreover, all activities planned should lead to a greater understanding of systemic connections. Thus, we deal with five different fields of study: "Art and History" (module I), "Tourism and Sport" (module II), "Environment and Climate Change" (module III), "Water Management" (module IV) and "Ports" (module V), highlighting the importance of our European heritage. Module I, "Art and History", is organized by Liceo Ginnasio G. B. Vico (Italy). It examines how the perception of water has changed from an artistic point of view in the different regions over time and what the differences are today. The 13th Gymnasium of Heraklion (Greece) is responsible for Module II, "Tourism and Sport". This module focuses on the recreational function of water. Changes due to the predicted climate change and possible mitigation and adaptation measures in the participating regions are the focus of Module III, "Environment and Climate Change", headed by I. E. S. El Palmeral (Spain). Module IV, "Water Management", analyses the vital procurement of drinking water, water as an economic area and protection against water. This module is organized by Europaschule Gymnasium Westerstede (Germany). The Finnish partner school, Merenojan koulu, finally manages Module V, "Ports", which turns to places that have always been places where people meet to trade goods or exchange ideas, and thus are central to the development of entire regions although their meaning might have changed over time. Every partner school is going to set up study groups to prepare the different modules and digitally record new findings between the international project meetings. Their results are going to be compiled, discussed and edited at the international project meetings with five students and two teachers from each partner school. Further does the mobility increase the experience of the five different cultural approaches to dealing with water in the five different natural environments. According to our research, there is no appropriate multilingual material for teaching and learning in this variety of topics, which is why we plan to develop digital materials that can be used as free, innovative teaching and learning software – not only by the participating schools but also by other schools and individuals all over Europe. In fact, we would like to develop a smartphone app called “APPlication of Water in Europe” offering a digital experience of the diverse cultural and natural diversity of the use of water which the students have worked on during our project work. For example, results of a photo contest could be included in the app or a game in which the contents of the various modules are incorporated could be developed for the app. The digital processing is to be rounded off by a website that is set up by the participating students and teachers. By this, all activities planned in connection with this project will be available not only for a short period but on the contrary, in the long-term for teaching and learning all over the world. Also, students gain a greater insight into the holistic learning of foreign languages.
"Water – A Combining Element" Water is the basis of life for all people. The topic of water is probably one of the strongest connecting elements between people, which is why it was particularly suitable as a topic for a European project in which students could learn with and from each other. The five participating schools from Kalajoki (Finland), Westerstede (Germany), Vera (Spain), Naples (Italy) and Heraklion (Greece) come from different natural regions of Europe and describe different cultural backgrounds. Thus, we had different ways to approach our use of water. Consequently, the lives of the participating students offered a variety of starting points for a common analysis of the project theme, in which the diverse approaches based on local specifics were to be made tangible and comprehensible to the project participants. We expected to make a contribution to mutual tolerance in Europe. At the beginning of the two-year project, the participating students were in Year 9 and accordingly 14 or 15 years old. Increasing our students' ability of critical thinking in dealing with our natural resource water was the major goal for the project. Moreover, all activities were designed to lead to a greater understanding of systemic connections. Thus, we dealt with five different fields of study: "Art and History" (module I), "Tourism and Sport" (module II), "Environment and Climate Change" (module III), "Water Management" (module IV) and "Ports" (module V), highlighting the importance of our European heritage in connection with water. Module I, "Art and History", was organized by Liceo Ginnasio G. B. Vico . It examined how the perception of water has changed from an artistic point of view in the different regions over time and what the differences are today. The 13th Gymnasium of Heraklion was responsible for Module II, "Tourism and Sport". This module focused on the recreational function of water. Changes due to the predicted climate change and possible mitigation and adaptation measures in the participating regions were the focus of Module III, "Environment and Climate Change", headed by I. E. S. El Palmeral. Module IV, "Water Management", analysed the vital procurement of drinking water, water as an economic area and protection against water. This module was organized by Europaschule Gymnasium Westerstede. Merenojan koulu, finally managed Module V, "Ports", which turned to places that have always been places where people meet to trade goods or exchange ideas, and thus are central to the development of entire regions although their meaning might have changed over time. Every partner school set up study groups to prepare the different modules and digitally record new findings between the international project meetings. Their results were presented by five students and two teachers from each partner school at the international project meetings. However, the planned discussions and didactic preparations did not take place. Rather, the focus was on meeting the project participants and getting to know the different natural environments and cultures, although the excursions were not always directly related to the project topic. One aim of the project was to develop free and innovative teaching and learning materials that make the natural and cultural diversity of water use, as researched by the project participants, digitally tangible. So, we set up the website watercombines.eu, on which the findings of the five modules should be presented. In consultation with the partners, the participating students and teachers from the coordinating school took on the installation and design of the website; the respective schools were responsible for preparing the content of the modules. The originally planned smartphone app, however, could not finally be realised because lessons in mixed learning groups were no loger allowed due to the corona pandemic since mid-March 2020, and the last mobility in Germany could not take place. Nevertheless, the activities carried out as part of the project implementation have long-term added value for the subsequent lessons at the partner schools, because the new findings can be used for further learning activities even after the project has ended and because the holistic learning of foreign languages was promoted. The exchange was of great personal value for the students and teachers.