Scientific and technological progress is rapidly transforming communities around the world, fueling innovation and enabling new pathways towards improving citizens’ living standards. Actively leveraging the opportunities of these existing and emerging advancements is both a necessity and priority for the young generation to adapt and succeed in an ever-evolving and connected world. In this context education systems should be focused on nurturing students with the required competences to assure the future prospects and wellbeing of our societies. Therefore, it is essential for educators to move from traditional teaching approaches to innovative and active learning practices for equipping students with the so called 21st century skills (i.e. analytic reasoning, complex problem solving, teamwork, scientific and technological literacy etc.) which are essential in our rapidly changing world. The PLASTIC FREE HEROES project provides an innovative learning offer that builds on plastic as a conceptual context for learning in order to enable students to develop 21st century skills. Particularly, a novel curriculum that employs and combines student-centered pedagogical methods will be developed to enable learners to engage with project-based learning activities (i.e. students device innovative reclining solutions or alternative materials to be used instead of plastic as well as advocacy and awareness raising campaigns to sensitize the community about this environmental issue) through which a deeper learning process will be facilitated leading to the cultivation of 21st competences. The project will also develop a “teacher training programme” that will enable teachers to apply effectively the developed curriculum and the innovative pedagogies that include. The curriculum that will be developed will be tested during a pilot phase with secondary education schools in 5 different countries. As a result, it is expected that PLASTIC FREE HEROES will enrich teacher’s knowledge and skills towards innovative teaching practices as the project will directly train more than 20 teachers during a face to face training session as well as a larger number of teachers through the open educational resources and the online training courses that will be produced. A significant benefit is also foreseen for the hundreds of students who will participate in the project and experience the learning activities of the curriculum. Through this process students will develop innovative and transversal skills essential for adapting and successfully provoking to change.
The main aim of the PLASTIC FREE HEROES project was the development of an innovative plastic waste educational package for teaching and learning which will incorporate 2 innovative products: •The PLASTIC FREE HEROES Curriculum, which includes content-related plastic waste reduction and recycling learning materials, •the PLASTIC FREE HEROES Teachers training resources and online courses. The suggested curriculum aims at inspiring the next generation towards more sustainable and responsible use of plastic and enable transformative action on plastic waste in their schools. The teachers' resource pack will improve the competences of teachers in innovative teaching practices such as inquiry-based learning leading to a multitude of 21st-century skills. This project was planned to be implemented transnationally in order to increase its impact around Europe. Furthermore, the participation of multiple EU countries in the project offered a variety of national contexts and cultures within which to practice the PLASTIC FREE HEROES program. This variety can yield better comparative results.
The PLASTIC FREE HEROES project provides an innovative learning approach that builds on plastic as a conceptual context for learning in order to enable students to develop 21st-century skills. Particularly, it developed a novel curriculum that combines student-centred pedagogical methods that enable learners to engage with project-based learning activities through which a deeper learning process will be facilitated leading to the cultivation of 21st competences. The project aimed at developing a “teacher training programme” that enables teachers to apply effectively the developed curriculum and its innovative pedagogies. Furthermore, the curriculum will be evaluated in secondary education schools in some of the beneficiary countries. As a result, it is expected that PLASTIC FREE HEROES will enrich teachers' knowledge and skills towards innovative teaching practices as the project will directly train more than 20 teachers during training sessions and an even larger number of teachers through open educational resources and online training courses. A significant benefit is also foreseen for the hundreds of students who will participate in the project and develop innovative and transversal skills.