“Exploring the Curriculum through Nature Programs” is an Erasmus+ school exchange partnership, meant to foster exchange of good practices. The project lasts 24 months and involves 6 partners from: Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Romania and Spain. The background of the project lies in the widening gap between society, in general, schools, in particular, and nature. The motivation for our project comes from the lack of nature exploration programs in implementing the national curricula at preschool and primary levels, situation rooted in the 1) lack of nature oriented culture, 2) poor teacher competences in approaching curriculum through nature programs, 3) lack of natural exploration areas and inadequate use of natural resources in class and 4) poor connectivity of the curriculum and nature. Project objectives: -Enhancing awareness of the benefits of nature programs in child education within the community. -Increasing the number of trained teachers in integrating the national curriculum through nature programs by at least 30%. -Improving the means to take the classroom into nature and bring the nature into the classroom by creating nature related amenities. -Improving the connectivity of the theoretical part of the curriculum with its applicability in nature. This project brings together 210 preschool/primary school teachers, 1840 children aged 1-12 and over 2000 parents and care givers from partner schools and will touch at least 2000 other teachers. Indirect participants like community and interested parties are also beneficiaries of this project. The nature-related activities of this project are built on 3 axes: taking the class in nature, bringing nature into the classroom and exploring nature as part of the cultural heritage. Activities range from developing, testing and implementing curriculum activities though nature programs, teachers training activities, initiatives that develop parental and social involvement, exhibitions, workshops, setting up amenities with the participation of the community to short-term exchanges of groups of pupils and short-term joint staff training events. The methodology to do this is: -In the first part of the project ensure teacher training, share best practices and create an outline for the outputs -In the second part of the project implement the theoretical knowledge as well as test and complete outputs -Efficient project management ensured by the Project Management Teams of every school through the Operational and Monitoring Plans. The results produced by this project foster the development of high quality skills and competences. They are: R1) Enhanced awareness of the benefits of nature programs in child education within the community through the following project outcomes: -Parents’ Nature Awareness Guide -Play with Nature Activity Pack R2) Minimum 30% of partner school teachers trained in integrating nature programs in education. The corresponding output will be the Teacher’s Guide for Outdoor Activities including a Year-Round Calendar to Outdoor Learning. R3) Better equipped classrooms and playgrounds for nature exploration evidenced through nature classroom kits and the 6 nature related amenities. R4) Improved connectivity of the curriculum with nature reflected in the Guide of Good Practices. The expected impact of the project will be: - 500 parents know at least 10 benefits of using nature programs in education evidenced by surveys and direct participation - 30 agents of the community contribute to the development of nature programs in schools building and maintaining nature related amenities evidenced through volunteering contracts - 63 teachers approach the curriculum through nature programs indicated by number of training courses and workshops attended - 1840 children know what nature programs are, use nature-related amenities and resources - 6 schools that naturally and efficiently blend nature programs with their national curricula achieving measurable benefits in academic results and well-being At the end of the project the guides will continue to be used by all target groups. The schools will also use them in further workshops and presentations. They will continue to use the Calendar of Nature Events and Nature Pack and make them part of our school culture. Project outputs will be open source on sites and dissemination platforms and will be enriched with further experience and feedback for 2 years following project completion. Schools will improve on the amenities created during the project.
“Exploring the Curriculum through Nature Programs” was an Erasmus+ school exchange partnership, meant to foster exchange of good practices. The project lasted 36 months (initially it was 24 months, plus two 6 month extensions) and it involved 6 partners from: Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Romania and Spain. The background of the project lies in the widening gap between society, in general, schools, in particular, and nature. The motivation for our project came from the lack of nature exploration programs in implementing the national curricula at preschool and primary levels, situation rooted in the 1) lack of nature oriented culture, 2) poor teacher competences in approaching curriculum through nature programs, 3) lack of natural exploration areas and inadequate use of natural resources in class and 4) poor connectivity of the curriculum and nature. Project objectives were: -Enhancing awareness of the benefits of nature programs in child education within the community. -Increasing the number of trained teachers in integrating the national curriculum through nature programs by at least 30% in each partner school. -Improving the means to take the classroom into nature and bringing the nature into the classroom by creating nature related amenities. -Improving the connectivity of the theoretical part of the curriculum with its applicability in nature. This project brought together 205 preschool/primary school teachers, 1722 children aged 1-12, 1868 parents and care givers from all partner schools, 111 other community members and 1004 teachers from other schools. The nature-related activities of this project were built on 3 axes: taking the class in nature, bringing nature into the classroom and exploring nature as part of the cultural heritage. Activities ranged from developing, testing and implementing curriculum activities though nature programs, teachers training activities, initiatives that developed parental and social involvement, exhibitions, workshops, setting up amenities with the participation of the community to short-term exchanges of groups of pupils and short-term joint staff training events. The methodology applied was the following: -In the first part of the project teacher trainings were provided, shared best practices and created an outline for the outputs -In the second part of the project the theoretical knowledge was implemented as well as tested and the outputs were completed -Efficient project management was ensured by the Project Management Teams of each school through the Operational and Monitoring Plans. The results produced by this project foster the development of high quality skills and competences. They are: R1) Enhanced awareness of the benefits of nature programs in child education within the community through the following project outcomes: -Parents’ Nature Awareness Guide -Play with Nature Activity Pack R2) Minimum 30% of partner school teachers trained in integrating nature programs in education. The corresponding output is the Teacher’s Guide for Outdoor Activities including a Year-Round Calendar to Outdoor Learning made available in English and local languages, both printed and online. R3) Better equipped classrooms and playgrounds for nature exploration evidenced through nature classroom kits and the 6 nature related amenities per partner. R4) Improved connectivity of the curriculum with nature reflected in the Guide of Good Practices made available in English online. The project impacted: - 1868 parents know at least 10 benefits of using nature programs in education evidenced by surveys and direct participation to workshops. They are the recipients of the Parents’ Nature Awareness Guide and the Play with Nature Activity Pack. - 111 agents of the community have contributed to the development of nature programs in schools building and maintaining nature related amenities evidenced through volunteering contracts - 205 teachers approach the curriculum through nature programs indicated by number of training courses and workshops attended - 1722 children know what nature programs are, use nature-related amenities and resources - 6 schools that naturally and efficiently blend nature programs with their national curricula achieving measurable benefits in academic results and well-being After the end of the project the guides will continue to be used by all target groups. The schools will also use them in further workshops and presentations. They will continue to use the Calendar of Nature Events and Nature Pack and make them part of our school culture. All project outputs are open source on sites and dissemination platforms and will be enriched with further experience and feedback for 2 years following project completion. Schools will improve on the amenities created during the project.