Populistic and nationalistic tendencies in nearly all states of the EU are proof for a waning awareness among the European population for the importance of democracy and the EU. While there have been changes from totalitarian systems to democracies in almost all European countries, there also exists a generation that is no longer aware of the dangers of totalitarian or highly authoritarian regimes and of the values and importance of democracy and the EU (partly, because in many European countries the European idea is not even firmly established in national curricula). As active citizens are necessary to defend those values and ideas, the project would like to create a new awareness for common European values and for the EU as an institution that preserves peace and defends personal freedoms. In order to achieve this all the participants are supposed to discuss and work on the respective regional history of totalitarian systems and democracy in Europe. By looking at propaganda and the way systems treat members of the opposition pupils are also supposed to learn to think critically and find ways of coping with modern media methods. On the other hand they are supposed to learn about people’s difficult everyday lives in totalitarian systems by interviewing contemporary witnesses and thereby finding out about the historical, societal and political developments in their own regions. At the same time the partner school in Yerewan will offer a new perspective by focusing on present changes in Armenia (anti-government protests; Velvet Revolution) and by looking at the role social media and networks play for a change towards democracy nowadays. By looking at different opinions on democracy and the EU, by discussing European core values and by working on the project in a creative way (e.g. songwriting, podcasting) all the participants are supposed to become aware of the common values they share and at the same time they are supposed to start feeling responsible for Europe’s future by becoming more engaged. Besides, the work in international teams and the contact with the families and friends of the partners will promote soft skills and language skills both among the pupils and the teachers, reduce existing prejudices and promote a personal and authentic understanding of the partners’ historical, political and individual perspectives in the long term. By learning how to use digital media in order to create interviews, to do research work and for the presentations of results, pupils will acquire important skills for their later professional life or for their studies at a university. They will also learn how to create OER-material and use them in their project work. 5 schools with different profiles will be taking part in the project (with pupils at the age of 16-18, all of them having different social and cultural backgrounds). And all of these schools will offer a different focus (F) on the project by either looking at the respective regional history or by having a very own distinctive school profile: Regiomontanus-Gymnasium Haßfurt, Germany (coordinating institution; F: life with the iron curtain, escape stories) / Liceul Ferdinand Regele, Rumania (F: ideologies, the emergence of dictatorships, oral history)/ Georg Otsa nim. Tallina Muusikakool, Estonia (F: artistic and creative transfer, development of democracy, songwriting) / Agrupamento de Escolas Damiao de Goes, Portugal (F: opposition, idols, censorship) / Yerewan Highschool, Armenia (eTwinning – partner; F: present changes, the road to democracy). The schools will incorporate work on on results of the project into their regular lessons, special seminars and long term projects. Pupils and teachers will work on the project in international teams (extracurricular activities and different workshops in and between the mobilities). They will be helped along by external partners (e.g. The University of Cluj, different museums, time witnesses). Therefore they will meet in six short mobilities (teacher and pupil mobilities). Teachers will develop their own skills by exchanging examples of good practice and learning with and from each other through collaboration, focusing on non-formal learning and the use and production of digital media. Therefore they will meet in two special mobilities for teachers only. (These teacher trainings will also contribute to the teachers individual and their schools’ long term developments.) The main results will be: ebook containing a full documentation of the project, podcasts, research papers from seminars, a project trailer and interviews (youtube channel), an eTwinning website, handouts on method training and media usage, presentations resulting from the mobilities, results of (self-)evaluation at different project stages and participants’ reports on their experiences and development. Most of these results will be presented as OER-materials to be freely used by schools.
Populistic and nationalistic tendencies in nearly all states of the EU are proof for a waning awareness among the European population for the importance of democracy and the EU. While there have been changes from totalitarian systems to democracies in almost all European countries, there also exists a generation that is no longer aware of the dangers of totalitarian or highly authoritarian regimes and of the values and importance of democracy and the EU (partly, because in many European countries the European idea is not even firmly established in national curricula). As active citizens are necessary to defend those values and ideas, the project created a new awareness for common European values and for the EU as an institution that preserves peace and defends personal freedoms. In order to achieve this all the participants were supposed to discuss and work on the respective regional history of totalitarian systems and democracy in Europe. By looking at propaganda and the way systems treat members of the opposition pupils were also supposed to learn to think critically and find ways of coping with modern media methods. On the other hand they were supposed to learn about people’s difficult everyday lives in totalitarian systems by interviewing contemporary witnesses and thereby finding out about the historical, societal and political developments in their own regions. At the same time the partner school in Yerewan offered a new perspective by focusing on present changes in Armenia (anti-government protests; Velvet Revolution). By looking at different opinions on democracy and the EU, by discussing European core values and by working on the project in a creative way (e.g. songwriting, podcasting) all the participants were supposed to become aware of the common values they share and at the same time they were supposed to start feeling responsible for Europe’s future by becoming more engaged. Besides, the work in international teams and the contact with the families and friends of the partners promoted soft skills and language skills both among the pupils and the teachers, reduced existing prejudices and promoted a personal and authentic understanding of the partners’ historical, political and individual perspectives in the long term. By learning how to use digital media in order to create interviews, to do research work and for the presentations of results, pupils acquired important skills for their later professional life or for their studies at a university. They also learned how to create OER-material and used them in their project work. 5 schools with different profiles took part in the project (with pupils at the age of 15-18, all of them with different social and cultural backgrounds). And all of these schools offered a different focus (F) on the project by either looking at the respective regional history or by having a very own distinctive school profile: Regiomontanus-Gymnasium Haßfurt, Germany (coordinating institution; F: life with the iron curtain, escape stories) / Liceul Ferdinand Regele, Rumania (F: ideologies, the emergence of dictatorships, oral history)/ Georg Otsa nim. Tallina Muusikakool, Estonia (F: artistic and creative transfer, development of democracy, songwriting) / Agrupamento de Escolas Damiao de Goes, Portugal (F: opposition, idols, censorship) / Yerewan Highschool, Armenia (eTwinning – partner; F: present changes, the road to democracy). The schools incorporated work on results of the project into their regular lessons, special seminars and long term projects. Pupils and teachers worked on the project in international teams (extracurricular activities and different workshops in and between the mobilities). They were be helped along by external partners (e.g. The University of Cluj, different museums, time witnesses). Therefore they met in six short mobilities (teacher and pupil mobilities). Teachers developed their own skills by exchanging examples of good practice and learning with and from each other through collaboration, focusing on non-formal learning and the use and production of digital media. Therefore they met in two special mobilities for teachers only. (These teacher trainings also contributed to the teachers individual and their schools’ long term developments.) The main results are: ebook containing a full documentation of the project, podcasts, research papers from seminars, a project trailer and interviews, an eTwinning space, handouts on method training and media usage, presentations resulting from the mobilities, results of (self-)evaluation at different project stages and participants’ reports on their experiences and development. Most of these results are presented as OER-materials to be freely used by schools.