The project intends to consolidate in the Mediterranean area a winning cultural model, anchored to history, landscape, environment, art, food and wine to encourage the rereading -conscious and participatory- of the historical roots of its territories in defense of biodiversity through the protagonism of students and schools. The CONTEXT is represented by the high schools of Spain, France, Italy (lead school), Greece and Turkey. In line with the inspiring principles of the European Year of Cultural Heritage and with the inspiring principles of the new CAP that today, in Italy as in Europe, prefigures a quality not only mere quantity agriculture, eco-sustainable and salutive, the project aims to harmonize the relationship between the individual and the environment, encouraging the meeting between peoples and identifying similarities and differences in the respective agricultural and food traditions, as a cultural heritage linked to the traditional language, arts and crafts to be preserved. OBJECTIVES: 1. Creation of a multimedia data bank containing information on endemic species in danger of extinction; 2 Protection of products and culture of the territory as a precious asset to be safeguarded in the era of globalization, to be proposed to other partner countries, including for tourism-business purposes; 3.Differentiation of an educational model capable of affecting the reality of its territory. ACTIVITIES: Research - cataloguing - media collaboration for the construction of a multimedia manual to be compiled on a website, activities of direct sharing of experiences, during the mobility, of 6 students per school, aged between 15 and 18 years, different for each exchange, chosen on the basis of meritocracy criteria (quality and assiduousness of commitment) and of objective improvement of the knowledge-language skills in English L2 and in the L2 of the host country. In line with the indicated HORIZONTAL PRIORITY - Social and educational value of the European cultural heritage, the objectives to be achieved relate to basic and transversal skills, such as entrepreneurship, digital skills and multilingualism. In every project planning and implementation phase, the use of ICTs will be constantly used, encouraging digital innovation in teaching at various levels: research work-cataloguing of ancient endangered cultivars and its derived products; sharing good individual and group work practices; identification of uses, customs and traditions related to food and their cultures; characterization of crops, environments and landscapes; history and artistic and literary representations of foods and cultures; socialization and dissemination of data. In line with the SECTORIAL PRIORITY - Promotion and acquisition of skills and competences - the school results will be improved through a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach, able to integrate basic competence teaching (L1, history,L2, natural science, art, ICT) and promote learning based on widely perceived and shared contents: environmental recovery and redevelopment-territorial enhancement. The PARTICIPANTS will be 30 students (approximately), selected among the second and third form pupils (6 different for each of the planned exchanges), chosen among the best for the quality of their research work and the seriousness of their commitment – so to better exercise the role of "project ambassadors" in the partner countries. Action research and cooperative learning will be the privileged METHODOLOGIES within the various school groups, called to involve themselves in research work. The expected RESULTS can be in the improvement of: 1. Linguistic-communicational skills in the L2 involved in the project2. Basic and cross-cultural competences, declined in personal and social skills; 3. Computer skills incentivized by the use of computers and the creation of a website designed by the students, aimed at promoting Networking with exchange of experiences and related advertising. IMPACT: the project intends to fully respond to EU benchmarks for 2020 "less than 15% of 15-year-olds should have insufficient results in reading, mathematics and science". As for the LONG-TERM BENEFICIAL POTENTIALS, the online manual can continue to be enriched with contents; it will be a "Work in progress" database of useful information, able to foster relationships of economical and commercial nature and partnerships between public, private, volunteering and citizens, promoting opportunities for growth of skills and careers, generating employment opportunities in the green economy , to defend and protect biodiversity.
The project "The Mediterranean: crossroads of tastes and traditions" has centred its training focus on the knowledge, protection and enhancement of trees and plants from native cultivars of Italy, Spain, Greece and Turkey, with particular reference to the role these plants have played in the history, economy and culture of these countries. CONTEXT: The project was carried out in a partnership, aimed at achieving an exchange of good practices, between four educational institutions in the Mediterranean area, the PEIRAMATIKO SCHOLIO PANEPISTIMIOU in Athens, the I.E.S. LA ROSALEDA in Malaga, the LICEO GARIP-ZAYCAN in Samsun and the LICEO ARISTOSSENO in Taranto. The pupils, who were the true protagonists of the entire project, immediately established relationships of cordiality and mutual respect. They always kept in contact with each other in a dynamic and informal context, exchanging information and sharing experiences, which enabled them to complete what they had planned despite the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic which forced the cancellation of the last meeting. Nevertheless, the extension of the project duration by six months facilitated the conclusion of the project work - in remote - with the creation of a multimedia manual. OBJECTIVES: in compliance with what had been established in terms of objectives and priorities - horizontal and transversal - for each plant typical of the Mediterranean area, an information sheet has been created containing scientific information (active ingredients-organoleptic-officinal characteristics), as well as information on the cultural, historical and artistic nature with the study of myths / legends, artistic representations, past and present traditions linked to the plant and its usage both in food and wine and pharmacopoeia. 2. All this has encouraged a deeper knowledge and protection of the products and the culture of the territory inherent to the plants studied and has involved 3. The diffusion of an educational model capable of influencing the reality of one's own territory. ACTIVITIES Proceeding with active and cooperative teaching methods, research activities were carried out both in each territory and online; experiences in the field have made it possible to expand the knowledge and disciplinary and transversal skills of each student as well as their relational and organisational skills. Numerous group work experiences were carried out through the assignment of specific tasks: laboratory experiences (leading to the creation of lotions / creams based on active ingredients of plants), activities of identifying plants on a dichotomous basis in a park, the study of some artistic representations of plant specimens in some important museums - such as Taranto or Athens, etc ... and the sharing of multimedia work, both in presence during meetings, and in remote via the web and social networks. RESULTS: 1. The development and strengthening of a new awareness of active citizenship by all participants, in defence of cultural heritage - both tangible (the environment - the plants - the products) and intangible (traditions, history, myths, usage, art etc ...) inherent to the cultivars considered, to be preserved and transmitted to future generations; 2. The improvement of linguistic-communicative skills in English; 3. The strengthening of basic and transversal skills, broken down into personal and social skills; 4. An increase in the use of ICT, encouraged by the creation of a website containing the various pieces of work produced, which were all merged together into the creation of a single manual, with the same title as the project. This last piece of work does not claim to be in any way a scientific manual, nor is it exhaustive; it is, however, a real operational tool intended to feed the active citizenship of future generations, aimed at improving knowledge of the territory and protecting the "biodiversity" of the Mediterranean basin, whose peoples possess a common interest in trees and plants , aromatic herbs, spices in their most varied uses, customs and traditions (in the kitchen, of course, but also in the pharmacopoeia and in art - to which specific chapters are dedicated). BENEFITS: the online manual will continue to be enriched, it will be a "Work in progress" container of useful data and information and will be promoted by the school as a school project for the expansion of the school's educational offer. On an international level, the collaboration with partner schools will continue online. As regards the relationship with the territory, networked institutions, such as the ITS agri-food of Locorotondo (Ba), "The rooms of herbs" of the municipality of Colobraro (MT), have declared great interest in promoting the results of the project, while the OPS - Permanent Observatory of the Salinella district - in collaboration with the Liceo Aristosseno, will continue to promote the assumptions, ideas and contributions of this project by creating a large Urban Ethno-botanical Park together with the Municipality of Taranto.