Addressing priorities of European Commission in EU Skills Agenda 2020 such as e-learning , EU 2020 horizon for Cultural Heritage and EU 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, the project "Sustain Environment and Culture in an App” brings together 360 teachers and 4332 students from five European Countries (Malta, Romania, the Netherlands Spain and Italy) with the main purpose to develop and improve in integrated and interrelated ways to teach and learn advanced 21st century skills using new inclusive methodologies for formal non formal and informal education and by integrating more ICT into classroom practice also by means of the design of user friendly materials such as Apps. The objectives are to improve quality education on sustainable development by knowledge, skills, values and behaviors needed for sustainable tourism development and at the same time raising cultural awareness and European dimension. The activities are designed to raise motivation and improve knowledge for Scientific subjects , culture studies, ICT and English, and skills such as creativity, entrepreneurship, Active sustainable Citizenship, European identity and Cultural Heritage. The final goal is to implement Sustainable Education creating an e-learning platform for Sustainable tourism to be embedded in secondary schools curriculum and innovative digital tools such as APPS to be easily used in classes. In a journey through the discovery of environmental landscapes, environmental issues including sustainable consumption and production and sustainably managing natural resources with active actions of sustainable tourism and economy, students will be encouraged to take responsibility for their own health and their environment. First the focus will be on natural habitats and their cultural and economic value with the development of a business plan for making our areas more attractive and revitalize it as an eco-tourist destination creating Apps and 3d model and promoting a campaign to save a neglected natural area. Then Environment will be investigated from the natural and cultural point of view with a camp in the forest, planting trees, marking tourist routes for young people, with several intercultural and inclusive activities, designing an app for adventure tourism for young people and videos of the experience. Furthermore students will be introduced to all available new trends in technology, engineering and science in their region by visiting clean technology industries and strengthening links with them and developing a clean energy business plan and related career opportunities. English Language learning will be improved in dedicated activities that will promote the use of digital tools in language learning. The gathered material in English and all partners native languages, will be stored on a project website, the e- learning platform called “Sustain”, to be embedded in the curriculum of participating schools,in Apps and onto e-Twinning and all EU dissemination platforms.
The Erasmus+ KA229 project "Sustain Environment and Culture in an App'' connected five European Institutions,Italy, the coordinator,Malta, Romania, Spain and The Netherlands, with the main purpose to provide students with hands-on learning opportunities to develop the eight key competences in the European Framework that must be mastered to collaborate effectively and problem solve in a global Green Economy . We also addressed the need to have an international perspective of Sustainable Development Education which could include academic, social, cultural elements by creating the SUSTAIN e.learning platform with lesson plans, methodologies and useful material for Sustainable Development and Cultural Heritage. In the educational process activated in the LTTAs and the eTwinning project, our inquiry-based models of learning and inclusive methodologies allowed students to naturally incorporate skills and competences, such as Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Entrepreneurship, Active Citizenship, European identity and Cultural Heritage We provided them with the technology and experiential learning opportunities that they need to master these skills fully by establishing partnerships with local stakeholders integrating more ICT activities and innovative digital tools such as APPS. Students have been introduced to most available new trends in technology, engineering and science in their region by visiting clean technology industries, strengthening links with them and developing a clean energy business plan. The activities focused mainly on the Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Cultural Heritage. We discovered the traditions, culture, and environmental landscapes of our Countries with the constant investigation of environmental issues including Climate Change with active actions of sustainable tourism and economy,. The activities also contributed to developing communication skills, problem-solving abilities, decision making, teamwork skills, giving presentations and IT skills. Cross-cultural and cross-curricular learning was supported through all project activities. English Language learning has been constantly improved in dedicated activities that also promoted the use of digital tools in language learning.On each meeting, an IT workshop in a different field was held in order to improve the IT competences of all participants. The project started with the Staff Training in Malta about Sustainable Tourism to explore different methods to teach cultural heritage Lessons to be delivered to students were prepared and disseminated in schools.In Italy, the main objective was the Cultural and Environmental Heritage, the target was the students, the focus was on sustainable development of cultural and natural landscapes and actions of Citizen Science with study visits to the most important natural and cultural Unesco sites of the area, boat trip with a science lab. In the collaborative workshops, students drew eco-tourist Itineraries, the Campaign for Eco-friendly Behaviour, the Dictionary of Cultural and Environmental Heritage in all partner languages and learnt how to make an APP. The learning experience continued in Romania, where the students were involved in different environmental activities on the Mountain of Slanic Moldova and designed the ebook “ Back to Mother nature”. The second year of the project started with the meeting in The Netherlands whose main objective was to explore the application of new technology for the environment. by means of direct observation during the field trips with the outdoor learning methodology and the debate. The products were eco posters, ppts about Clean energies collected in the Mozilla Hub virtual tour. The intercultural knowledge was enriched during the international meetings with cultural trips and inclusive activities. The last two LTTA were organized online owing to the Covid emergency yet without changing the objectives and focus of activities.In the Spanish meeting, the Popular culture was deepened with presentations, videos, eTwinning activities, creative workshops and digital games. The products were The Youth for Sustainability Magazine and the ebook Poetry in Nature. In The final meeting, organized by Italy, important project-related presentations and evaluations were made. The APP with all products and the SUSTAIN E-learning platform are available on the project website www.erasmuspluska229secea.com Two other staff training were organized by Spain and Italy with the objective to establish a permanent collaboration among our schools, to further disseminate the project’s results and ensure the prosecution of the project after its end. All partners will continue to share resources and teaching materials and disseminate them with their colleagues, with the purpose of introducing these new teaching methods into everyday practice ensuring thus the sustainability of the project.