The title of the project: Strengths and Weaknesses In the Media – SWIM is figurative. Finding the reliable news is like swimming through all the information in order to get to the truth. It is not easy even for adults, is it? Let alone young teenagers who are flooded by this huge amount of information from which they have to select the ones they dare to believe. We, the teachers of five different secondary schools took the role of guiding them for greater awareness and more confidence. With this topic we would like to address certain questions: How do we know which sources are reliable? Why are we manipulated? How does journalism breach the rules of ethics? Why is the media important? What are the pros and cons of it? The motivation for this proposal is the need to -enhance students’ interest in certain topics -teach students on being promoters of positive attitude towards the media -exchange and accept examples of good practices in media use from each partner -establish our schools as active subjects in initiatives to express themselves -educate students who will be active citizens and more involved in the social context -teach students new skills and improve their competences. We would like to reach our priorities through dealing with a topic – the media – which is universal, interests large audiences and different generations. The aims are promoting the acquisition of skills and competencies- we will do it through project tasks; showing social and educational value of European cultural heritage – students of 5 countries will learn about each other’s cultural heritage; and supporting schools to tackle early school leaving (ESL) and disadvantage – by showing them the possibility of a profession, career, and by including disadvantaged pupils in the project. The participants will include whole secondary schools and local communities. We will work together with journalists, local newspapers and radio, TV stations. Methodology: National project teams will have weekly meetings where they deal with different aspects of our topic, prepare for the meetings, do research, surveys, interviews and make presentations. They will exchange information through various on-line tools with the partners. Different students have different gifts. So there will be responsibilities – handling IT issues, making questionnaires, doing research on the Internet or on different premises, analysing data, making presentations, writing articles, making videos, etc. At the 5 students’ exchanges we will focus on particular topics from making school magazines and school radio through the role of manipulation in the media, digital literacy, the credibility of the media to how the media makes us indifferent to violence and negative news. Coming from very different heritages it was obvious to focus on cultural and social aspects that unite or differ us. Participants will learn the value of their own national identity while appreciating European values. The actual exchanges will be essential in the multilingual communication of the partners, the mutual understanding of students from different nations. The whole project is planned so that it gives excellent examples for the interdisciplinary, i.e. the fact that the different subjects are not independent. There will be project products like posters, project and school magazines, newspaper articles, a mini dictionary, a calendar, videos/films– they will all be maintained after the project has finished. Students and teachers will combine work, fun and knowledge in an effort to realize their common European identity. During the two years they will have the opportunity to improve almost all the competencies. Teachers will have the chance to meet foreign colleagues, cooperate with them, exchange new practices and learn new methods. By participating in the project students and teachers alike will find possibilities to be more active citizens. They will find common values and appreciate European democracy while getting closer to their own heritage as well. To sum up, this project will certainly awaken and foster a sense of awareness for the media in different connections and will help make individuals become more alert to the tricks of it. The sooner they learn these skills the better. To make the results available for a large audience we are going to choose a wide variety of tools to disseminate the findings and outputs of the project ensuring long-term results and impacts. We are going to invite members of local authorities and also MEPs to some project programmes like the Multinational Cultural Performances. All the five students’ exchanges will deal with different aspects of the main topic and will contribute to the final conclusion.
SWIM: Strengths and Weaknesses In the Media. Aren’t we all flooded by the amount of news we are exposed to day by day? Is it easy to navigate among them? What shall we believe? What shall we not believe? These are difficult questions even for adults, let alone teeneagers! Finding the reliable news is like swimming through all the information in the media in order to get to the truth. The objectives of this project were to make students aware of the different aspects of the media, the possible problems, traps and tricks of it, and help them find possible solutions. We wanted to make it clear what they themselves could do to lessen the negative effects of the media. They had to learn to select reliable media sources from the unreliable ones and not to be manipulated by the media. Promoting the acquision of skills and competencies was our main priority. Providing non-formal and informal learning opportunities, students had a greater control over their own learning process. Their social skills developed by the common work in an international context, by cooperating with each other. They used digital tools to make videos, presentations, photo slides, thus their digital competencies improved a lot. They had to use English to do the project tasks and make friends in a foreign language. Supporting schools to tackle early school leaving was another priority, which was completed in an indirect way. Pupils explored the secrets of a profession, they visited a local radio station and newspapers. Journalists held workshops for them where they could learn about a new job that might interest them. It can be a career orientation for them. Including disadvantaged students in the project also served this aim. The third priority, Social and educational value of European cultural heritage was an organic part of our strategic partnership. Meeting other cultures, realising that people in Europe have similar lives and similar problems got participants closer and definitely broadened students’, teachers’ and parents’ horizons. They learned to appreciate the European cultural heritage. The participants included five secondary schools, which are very different in size and profile,and this diversity benefited the project as the participants could experience different educational backgrounds. We worked together with journalists, local newspapers and radio stations. There were five students’ exchanges – one in each country. Between the meetings national project teams had weekly meetings where they dealt with different aspects of the topic, prepared for the meetings, did research, surveys, interviews and made presentations. They exchanged information through various on-line tools with the partners. There were different responsibilities: handling IT issues, making questionnaires, doing research on the Internet or on different premises, analysing data, making presentations, writing articles, making videos, etc. At the 5 students’ exchanges we focused on particular topics from making school magazines and school radio through the role of manipulation in the media, digital literacy, the credibility of the media to how the media makes us indifferent to violence and negative news. We also chose two films (Trumas show and Nightcrawler) to work on, which are perfect examples of how the media can deceive us. The aim of transnationality was to learn from each other and experience situations that are unique for a place. Final results: project web site, videos, logo, PPT and Prezi presentations, quizzes, multicultural performances, mini dictionary, project/school magazines, newspaper articles, calendar. Project outcomes: better understanding and awareness of the importance of the media; accepting and appreciating cultural diversity; developing active citizenship behaviors in students; becoming more involved in social contexts; acquisition of new skills and improvement of competences. Participants were exposed to different learning environments, they developed new knowledge and competences. This project certainly awakened and fostered a sense of awareness for the media in different connections and helped make individuals become more alert to the tricks of it. Students practiced project work, cooperation, team-work in English, increased their intercultural understanding through intercultural dialogue; developed their digital skills; learnt to appreciate each other more; became more involved in a particular profession; became more interested in social issues; got to know the European Union better. Teachers increased their motivation, appraised the European idea and cooperation. Participating institutions created better relationships among the school staff, increased the prestige of their school, developed interdisciplinary work, supported closer and better relationships with local institutions, gained experience in international cooperation thus strengthened the European dimension.