In 2050, we live well, within the planet’s ecological limits. Our prosperity and healthy environment stem from an innovative, circular economy where nothing is wasted and where natural resources are managed sustainably, and biodiversity is protected, valued and restored in ways that enhance our society’s resilience. Our low-carbon growth has long been decoupled from resource use, setting the pace for a safe and sustainable global society. That means there are approximately eight billion seven hundred species on Earth but unfortunately hominid line is the most serious threat risk among those creatures for our planet. With the globalization; our planet is faced with destruction as a result of not only materialist politics of the countries but also insensible attitudes of people against to nature. Nowadays, as the technology and industry develops, problems of the environment increase and natural sources will be run out limitlessly. Concordantly, some species have extincted and some have faced with danger of extinction, as well. We may be late for our losts but protecting remainings must be our privileged response. The aims of the project with this project is to increase our student’s attention on science and ecology by developing their lifelong learning skills that will allow all of them to be critical and conscious about European challenges. Italy is the coordinator country Turkey, UK, Romania and Bulgaria are partner countries. Our target group is especially students who are weak and lack of motivation in science aged 12-16. We will do project activities both in our own schools and partner schools’ workshops, performance halls, classrooms and nature according to 24 months’ calendar. With this project, students will do creative workshop activities, raise awareness to protect ecological balance, create fashion shows with the collaboration and participate to nature activities with their peers. Besides, they will design green houses and smart life areas. With these activities, the students’ foreign language communication skills, tolerance, spirit of collaboration will improve and they will discover cultural similarities and diversities. Our schools will have chance to do international activities, our teachers will proud as they grow sensible and creative generations on ecology and science. They will have chance to observe different teaching methods in different countries and share their opinions with their colleagues. The joint international work will enable teachers to understand one another's educational systems, to adopt well tried methods to increase efficiency and fairness of education in childhood, experience other cultures and get to know one another as individuals rather than national stereotypes. This will equip them to challenge racism and xenophobia.
The Erasmus+ project “Open Doors to Creative Generations” brought together four European countries: Italy (coordinator school), Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria. Our target was to develop a theme which has now become an integral part of schools’ curricula not only for the two years of the project itself, but also for the period afterwards. Our students have learned a lot about the environment’s declining health and what is essential to keep them fighting for a healthy world to leave to the future generations. Environmental education has provided important opportunities for our students to become more engaged in real world issues that transcend classroom walls. The students and teachers involved in the project activities of the four partner schools have certainly increased their attention on science and ecology by developing their lifelong learning skills: this has permitted all of us to be more critical and conscious about European challenges. Our target group was those students (aged 12-16) who were weak and showed a lack of motivation on science. Those students attended middle schools and the first year of secondary education where curricula focused on performing teaching activities through experiential project-based learning. It inspired creativity, self-expression, critical thinking and problem solving. The project "Open Doors to Creative Generations” activities covered many areas: entrepreneurship, digital literacy, nature and the environment and a healthy lifestyle. Selected areas of the project helped to provide for experiential education guidelines, to adapt existing indoor and outdoor spaces for experiential teaching/learning, and finally to create new project-based learning methodology which greatly encouraged the students’ curiosity, creativity and entrepreneurship. This project aimed: 1) to improve the functional and creative practices; 2) to let the students learn lifelong learning skills or performance and techniques that were important to allow all of them to participate in the project; 3) to enable the students to realize that Europe is an “Open Doors” continent made up of various contries with their own cultures, traditions, all linked by a common interest in saving the world and respect the environment; 4) to increase our students’ attention on science and ecology; 5) to increase the students’ science skills and performance; 6) to increase our students’ artistic creation with recycled materials; 7) to help them to become environment-friendly citizens; 8) to increase our students’ motivations on nature activities; 9) to create awareness to protect ecological balance; 10) to gain technological skills for the students 11) And finally to extend further ICT and language skills which they can now use in a meaningful context. Through all the activities which have been completed both in presence and during online learning (starting from March 2020) the students were encouraged to learn for themselves. After this two-year project, our students can ask questions on the main project topic in English, they can also tackle problems, research and can collaborate with the involvement of their families. The application of “science and ecology” contributes to the development of their “green finger” skills as the students learned to recycle household wastes, to take care of the environment, to sow seeds and grow plants in school gardens and greenhouses. Various learning/teaching activities were carried out in the host schools in the field of entrepreneurship, digital literacy, nature and the environment and a healthy lifestyle. The Erasmus teams of each school created and presented their teaching strategies; activities carried out in the classrooms, materials about the focused subject in the host schools and generated new activities about project-based method, flipped classroom and future classroom scenario. A transnational project meeting (Romania, May 2019) and two Learning, teaching and training activities (Turkey, Feb 2019 and Italy, Nov 2019) were held in presence during the duration of the project. As we know, starting from March 2020, it was no longer possible to go on mobilities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but despite this dramatic event, the partners went on planning activities , involving students and EET informing each other about their teaching progress and helped each other solving the problems that occurred. The project involved approximately 700 students and 80 teachers and various families and local authorities of the four countries. Videos, PPT, posters, booklets on the main project topic were created. This is a methodological tool, which contains information about science and ecology, explained the experiential method, the peculiarities of its application in the educational process. We also included teacher reports, which shows very clearly the project-based education methodologies, the impact on the educational process. Erasmus gardens and greenhouses will permanently remain as an important heritage of this project. There are publications of good practice dissemination, reflecting the results of teamwork, international and development cooperation. Recorded project presentations and the presentations of our work are available on YouTube , school websites , etwinning platform and Ecopage on Facebook.