Our environmental awareness is growing continuously, and the issue of climate change is currently much discussed in the media throughout Europe. It is not only the ongoing demonstrations of the Swedish student Greta Thunberg, who has just been declared Swedish woman of the year, which make us realise how important the protection of the environment has become for young people. The degree of the young generations´s concern with environmental issues and environmental protection is also evident in the growing number of students participating in the so-called Friday demonstrations, which follow Greta Thunberg´s example all over Europe. Young people are very much concerned with climate change, global warming and the consequences for their future lives. They need to aquire profound knowledge, share their thoughts and ideas with people their age across borders and cultures and get the opportunity to get into action together so that they can set one more example in climate and environmental politics. Our project offers students the opportunity to acquire profound knowledge concerning the element water in general, the role of the oceans in climate change, and the current –but also possibly future- use of water across borders and cultures. In jointly dealing with this complex issue, our students will learn to overcome potential fears, discover new ways of thinking and acting, and will eventually find themselves capable of dealing effectively with this complex subject be it individually or as a group. Next to offering a wide range of relevant aspects for research in an immensly impotant subject, our project thus also offers our students the opportunity for personal growth. In fact, our students´ mental and personal growth are the core of our project. In jointly aiming at this overarching goal, teachers of different subjects and nationalities will form a multilingual team collaborating closely in integrating the common project into the respective national curriculum for two years, all the while keeping close contact by means of new technologies and generating valuable synergies also in the field of innovative teaching methods. According to the principles of quality education the teaching staff will impart the topicality of our key subject to the students in a motiviating way, thus allowing the students to participate actively in the project and develop special yet personal interests in the subject matter. In addition, the project will provide the opportunity for the students to experience self-effectiveness and self-initiative while enhancing not only their kognitive skills, but also their social and emotional competence. Following the principles of project-oriented as well as cross-diciplinary learning, and profitting from real-life encounters whenever possible, the students will investigate in the following subject-related issues: the alteration of the chemistry of the seas and oceans effected by climate change, the alterations of coastlines due to the sea-level rise, the influences of climate change on the marine ecosystems in fresh water, brackish water and salt water, the potential value of the resource water and the seas, possible measures against the ongoing pollution of water and the seas, the current use of water as a route of transportation, the consequences of water shortage for agriculture in aride regions, the history of the laws and regulations for water usage and possible alternatives for the future The three schools participating in the Erasmus+-project each offer a unique access to the above-mentioned issues. For example, in Finland students will be able to experience first-hand the stress conditions that ecosystems are exposed to in brackish water habitats. In Germany the consequences of the sea-level rise caused by climate change can be investigated through the example of the tidal waters of the River Elbe. In Spain the students will gain first-hand experience with the issue of water scarcity, which influences flora and fauna, and has led to special cultivation methods in agriculture. Students participating in the project will have the opportunity to acquire the following interdisciplinary skills and competences: They will improve their communicative skills when dealing with subject-related issues together with fellow students of another language They will enhance their social and emotional competences when cooperating in international teams They will boaden their media competence when employing the new media as means of communication but also to develop and share their results on the platform eTwinning, plus when the students are eventuelly creating the Handbook of Water for Schools by means of virtual technology. They will expand their action competence when assuming a more responsible use of water resources and reducing their own freshwater consumption or reducing the pollution of the seas by avoiding waste production.
With the project "WAVES", a topic was chosen and worked on in many facets by the participating partner schools, which was currently appealing to the pupils and quite challenging from a technical point of view. After a phase of getting to know the teachers and pupils involved, sub-topics were filtered out with the help of a suitable learning platform, which fitted the topic and could be worked on by the pupils. The international working groups mainly dealt with topics in advance to prepare the first mobility (C1) "Water in Tidal Current". It took place from 3/1-10/11/2019 in Wedel. On the German side, the geography profile class was mainly involved. It was supported by the Spanish course participants in some programme points, so that the participation of more than 60 students of the upper three grades of Gebrüder Humboldt School was achieved. The programme in Wedel (see enclosure) covered the complex of topics that arise from tidal waters, nature conservation, flood protection and environmental protection. In addition to various excursions, experiments were carried out at Multimar Wattforum in Tönning, for example, or during a field research trip to Helgoland, Germany's only high seas island. The region as a whole was evaluated by all participants through a final S-W-O-T analysis. Overall, the cooperation in putting together the programme with Multimar Wattforum, BUND, Hafen City Hamburg and the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute can be described as excellent. In addition to the thematic project units, language and intercultural units were offered and worked on by the students and evaluated extremely positively. The following months were used for follow-up work of the mobility. Some topics were dealt with in greater depth. With the help of a suitable learning platform, work was done on specific topics. Contact with the Spanish participants was deepened in video conferences attended by the language courses in Years 11 and 12. The planned mobility to Finland could not be carried out due to the Corona pandemic and the lockdown in Schleswig-Holstein, which began around spring break. The following months were marked by the Corona crisis management and by the digitalisation of school work. Although the work on the Erasmus project could be continued with restrictions, as the use of digital tools is a standard tool in this type of educational programme, a postponement of the mobilities was unavoidable. An extension of the duration was therefore decided by all three schools. However, within the framework of the Erasmus programme, an attempt was made to find a suitable assignment during this time. All three schools participated in making the situation of the pupils in the Corona Pandemic itself a topic. Partnerships and pen-pal friendships were established. In addition, the project participants tried to approach the crisis situation artistically with texts, poems or even graphic representations. On 3rd September 2020, the project duration was extended to 36 months. For the coming project phase, work on various aspects of the water ecosystem was organised on a learning platform. Internationally mixed groups worked on topics as Wasting Water - Problems and Solutions, Microplastics and others. In addition, a joint project day on the topic of water was planned at all three schools for May 2021. Unfortunately, it was not feasible due to the Corona problem and was postponed at Gebrüder Humboldt School to 14th September 2021 (see PPP on the results platform). The results and the concept of the project day "Europe - Your Waters" were passed on to the coordinator of the European Schools in Schleswig-Holstein. Between the mobilities, work continued on various aspects of the topic of water in international groups. Various topics were dealt with and presented on a platform: Water in Mythology, Water in Rituals, Water as a Destructive Force, Water as a Refreshment, Water - The Source of Life, Water as a Source of Energy, Water and Sports, Water in Arts, Microplastic in Water Ecosystems, Cyanobacteria, Water as a Source of Conflicts, The Effects of Climate Change on Global Distribution of Water and Droughts, The Usage of Water in The Meat Industry, The Usage of Water in the Agro-Industry and many more. The mobility (C2) "Water in Drought" took place in Murcia Spain from 31/10-7/11/2021. The mobility (C4) "Brackish Water, Ice and Snow" took place from 28/2-6/3/2022 in Vantaa Finland. In the following school semester, padlets and results were presented or linked on the internet.