Students aged between 12 and 16 in six schools (Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain) will carry out a project turned towards an environmental issue of Europe and entitled B.E.E.C.O.M.E. (Bees in Europe, an Example of Challenges Over Men and Bees). The actions carried out throughout the project will enable pupils to develop core competences (ICT, foreign languages, maths, science, writing), as well as personal skills essential for lifelong learning and for their insertion into the professional world: entrepreneurship, initiative, teamwork, autonomy, creativity, problem-solving, etc… The project will be split into six phases. Each of these phases will include teamwork in each school and mutualization of the work between partners during mobilities with the aim of organizing an event to conclude each topic studied : *Lecture about the biology of bees *Film projection about the history between men and bees *Lecture about the dangers suffered by bees and implementation of an awareness campaign *Exhibition about the interaction between bees and plants (pollination photographs, phenologic calendars, life cycle of agricultural plants) *BEECOME fair about the uses of hive products *Inauguration of a bee-friendly garden with a wild-bee hotel. All these activites will lead to a positive evolution in the awareness of the necessity to protect bees (with an efficient awareness campaign and the evolution of both schools' and private students' environments in a bee-friendly way). A BEECOME project website will first be created to present our work and all the productions made by students throughout the project, as well as a BEECOME Facebook page fed by articles written by students to share and and communicate about the local actions/works. Even after completion of our two-year BEECOME project, and to ensure and increase the sustainability of our work, the Etwinning platform will be used to: *revive the awareness campaign each year on the same day in the six schools. *study and follow the evolution of the bee-friendly gardens. The impact of our project should be significant on students themselves, as they will develop their own competences and open up to Europe, but also on teachers through the exchange of skills and practices. An enduring spirit of initiative and willingness to pursue international cooperation will constitute sustainable benefits in each school. We expect a long-term impact on the local community as a whole (municipalities, entrepreneur and environmental associations, companies, other schools) as local stakeholders who will help with the project should get concrete benefits from our work and will be able to keep and re-use our productions for future actions. To finish, our experience will be shared with the lifelong learning community on a national and European scale to make our productions available to the public and inspire other European projects.
Students aged between 12 and 18 in six schools (Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain) carried out a project turned towards an environmental issue of Europe and entitled B.E.E.C.O.M.E. (Bees in Europe, an Example of Challenges Over Men and Bees). The main objective was for pupils to develop core competencies (I.C.T., foreign languages, maths, science, writing) and personal skills essential for lifelong learning and their insertion into the professional world: entrepreneurship, initiative, teamwork, autonomy, creativity, problem-solving, etc.… Through the bees' topic, another objective was for students to become aware of a European environmental issue. The diversity of the schools involved in this project was a strength : ->Three vocational and agricultural High School brought specific knowledge about bees breeding, the valorisation about the products from the beehives and the link with agricultural yield (E.F.A. La Malvesia, Srednja skola Bedekovcina, H.B.L.A. für Wein- und Obstbau). They also discovered news practices during mobilities. ->Three general education schools (Collège Notre Dame, ISTITUTO COMPRENSIVO N. 3 – P.A.T.T.I., Werner-Heisenberg-Gymnasium) lead the scientific part: biology, history, awareness campaign and ways to favour bees biodiversity. Each phase of the project was planned to develop common (communication in foreign languages, digital, social and civic competences, learning to learn, sense of initiative and entrepreneurship) and specific skills and competences. Students had to work to create a common production presented during a specific event. *Common lecture about the biology of bees during a mobility in Sicily (sciences) *Film projection about the history between men and bees during a mobility in Spain (patrimony, culture) *Common lecture about the dangers suffered by bees and implementation of an awareness campaign (sciences, ecology, the complexity of solutions with the economic necessities) during a mobility in France *Exhibition about the interaction between bees and plants: pollination photographs, phenologic calendars, the life cycle of agricultural plants (sciences, agronomy, agriculture) during a mobility in Austria *Virtual B.E.E.C.O.M.E. fair about the uses of hive products (agriculture, cosmetics, medicine, arts) during a virtual mobility In Croatia. *Construction of wild bees hotel (Ecology, technology) // Outcomes excepted were evaluated with an assessment booklet (digital or paper). The progress in the acquisition of skills and competences is unquestionable thanks to their involvement, adaptation to the different tasks, and the diversity of the activities. // At the same time, the awareness of the necessity to protect bees increased. // Other outcomes changed about the productions, particularly to adapt to sanitary crisis and prefered ways of communication of the students. *The Beecome website (beecome.altervista.org) has gradually been replaced with a Twinpsace, more efficient to lead virtual and interactive activities. *The Beecome Facebook page has been completed with an Instagram account, more used by students (parents prefer Facebook). // The success of the local events organised is complete. Melting students, parents, professionals, teachers is a stimulating way to work and an efficient way of dissemination of the project. The measurement of the impact of the project revealed several benefits through these vital points : * Through a specific topic, students used cross-disciplinary competences, and the progress of these competencies has been more efficient (comparing with disciplinary work). * The awareness of the necessity to protect bees is also positive; some students and their families keeping going with bee-friendly gardens, trapping Vespa velutina. * The number of professional partners increased in each school. * The events organised in each school involved a large public: students, parents, professionals, municipalities. * Some students subscribe to C.L.I.L. teaching. * Two other Erasmus+ partnerships have been concluded: one between two vocational schools, another one about the plants, logical consequences of this bees project. To finish, even if two mobilities have been cancelled because of the sanitary crisis, it could be the possibility to work differently. Thanks to the expertise of our Croatian eTwinning ambassador, we could organise virtual mobility. Teachers, as students, could develop digital competencies and learning new teaching ways.