Project "Gifts of nature" aims to develop a new way of looking on the nature around us. Project's goal is to raise, not only ecological awareness that includes protection of resources essential for human kind, but also awareness about wealth we have in our surroundings in various herbs, plants, fruits, vegetables and trees. Through two years partners from five schools from Spain, Turkey, Slovakia, Romania and Croatia will apply monthly activities that will enable their students with skills of recognizing the value of nature and using that nature based on principals of sustainable development. They will research their traditional culture and cuisine from the aspects of usage and preservation and value of nature's goods, they will use natural resources around them to design, create and promote products that can be used in every day life, they will create media content that will promote project itself and project goals to institutions, organizations and individuals interested in the project topic, they will discuss about advantages and disadvantages of manufacturing based on Eco-standards. During the project students will meet four times in Italy, Slovakia, Croatia and Spain to exchange their experiences in the work on the project and to create new materials important for meeting the project goals. Project will give a lot to school communities involved in the project - it will increase their knowledges about the project topic, make them pay more attention to their surroundings motivating them to plant more seeds, plants, fruits and vegetables in their schools and other spaces they spend their days in, it will give them methodology for future work in their schools, make their school curriculum better and more challenging for future students. Local communities will also benefit from the project because better schools are always good for community and it will be good for national and European community as well since the project will try to impact all involved in the project activities in all project countries and more to treat nature better in order to improve their own lives.
"Gifts of nature" has been a two-year project with the aim of develop a new way of looking at the nature among students, teachers, schools and local communities. The goal was to raise, not only ecological awareness that includes protection of resources essential for human kind, but also awareness about wealth we have in our surroundings in various herbs, plants, fruits, vegetables and trees. For the last two years partners from five schools from Spain, Turkey, Slovakia, Romania and Croatia have been taking part in monthly activities to help students recognize the value of nature and the need of sustainable development. The project has included 3 transnational meetings involving 20 teachers, 3 short exchanges of students with 75 participants and a last short exchange of students -forced to be held virtually because of the pandemic- with 47 participants. During the whole project, students have taken part in collaborative activities aimed at developing their knowledge of the beneficial properties of natural products and the way they can get advantage of them. They have learnt about environmental problems, the European value of our natural heritage and the importance of nature in our daily life. They have analyzed their natural surroundings, boosted their cooking skills, learnt to create natural and promote products, to differenciate natural products from industrial ones and understand the benefits of having a healthy active lifestyle. They have exchanged information and activities with students from other countries and learnt about different cultures and approaches to nature. Most importantly, students have learnt that they can have a real positive impact in their own lives and the lives of their communities. The monthly activities, the short exchanges of students and the dissemination activities, have set the ground for students to collaborate transnationally, exchange their experiences, develop their communication skills and create new materials which have been important for meeting the project goals and will also serve as a base for future activities and projects to come. Not only students, teachers, partner schools and local communities have also benefited from their involvement in the project. The activities themselves, the teachers' transnational meetings, the exchange of methodological and cross curricular approaches, the short exchanges of students, the collaborative work between partner schools, the participation of all target groups in the project, as well as the dissemination activities taken to promote the project have also positively impact on all the agents involved in the partner schools and their local communities. In summary, Gifts of Nature has directly involved around 20 teachers, more than 200 students and their families from 5 different partner schools in 5 different countries, promoting environmental protection and healthy lifestyle and having a positive impact on their own centres and the school staff, the local agents and authorities and in the end, their own communities.