Learning outside the classroom - enhancement by cultural and democratic experiences Today’s education is mostly theoretical and strongly connected to the curriculum. There are very few occasions for students to learn outside the classroom even though this proves to be a very rewarding teaching objective and great potential for learning. Therefore the project „Learning outside the classroom - enhancement by cultural and democratic experiences“ aims to enable students to gain meaningful experiences outside the classroom and make history alive and interactive. Gaining experiences and making history alive and interactive are in the focus of learning outside the classroom. Our project includes four different branches or rather sets of activities, most of which are mainly based on regional (and European) history and culture. The project`s basic idea is to support the pupils' enhancement of cultural and democratic qualifications. The intention is to get to know characeristics of each region and thereby developing a feeling for the history and culture of the participating countries. This can be achieved through the intensive contact among the pupils but especially through visiting the historical places and feeling the spirit of the past. One further aim is the work on and with museum education, commemorative culture, the past`s politics as well as its history. Thereby it is very important to include the former context. In addition to this the student groups develop qualifications in a self-determined engagement with digital media. They will design a guide about the topic „Learning outside the classroom“. This guide should be available as a print product as well as an e-book. This project serves as an example and illustrates the basic information about „learning outside the classroom“ and shows possibilities of different ways of learning. The information gained can be used by other teachers as a basis for further projects or as an input for own ideas. Moreover, the guide can be used as an additional element during classes. The guide`s additional value conveying an authentic sense of historical experience to following classes. In this respect it is not only the regional and European history that is in focus, especially the development of historical regional and furthermore European culture. All together there are four participating schools in this project: Aldegrever-Gymnasium Soest (Germany), General High School of Chrysoupolis (Greece), Istitutio di istruzione superiore „Giacomo Leopardi“ (Italy), Eitminiskiu gimnazija (Lithuania).This means that there are 24 pupils at the age of 15 to 17 years who are going to work on the project in two years. At the project meeting in Germany there will be a focus on analysis of the time of the Nazi regime. The place of interest is the „Wewelsburg“ near Paderborn. One principal point is the commemorative culture and the confrontation not only with the victims but also the offenders. The meeting in Lithuania will deal with the development of a national history in Lithuania. Therefore the pupils will visit historical places and learn about the protracted and strenuous way in the founding of a state. The meeting in Greece will give the students a chance to learn about the integration of industrialization and urbanization as well as the social development in the 19th century. The aim is to analyse this connection by visiting relevant locations in and outside the town. In the north of Greece, near the town Chrysoupolis, there is one of the most important centres of the Greek tobacco industry., an example for the phase of industrialization. The influence of the sea was and still is enourmous in the development of the town San Benedetto del Tronto and its population. It leads to a special und unique historical and cultural identity. To learn about this development and the life of humans through and with the sea is the main aspect during the visit in Italy. In the long term this project strenghtens the European connection and leads to a consistent European community of values. The intensive work with historical, cultural and regional aspects allows a sustainable understanding of the neighboring nations and results in a concordant way of acting. Extracurricular situations of learning should be used to enable pupils` enhancement of social skills and participation and acting in democratic structures. In conclusion, the project's value lies in an individual, a social, a national and a European way of living in a European community.
School education is to a large extent theoretical and bound to content and methodological guidelines. The methodology of extracurricular learning offers a lot of potential. Learning and working outside of school and establishing contacts with European partners was the approach and goal of our common project. The participants were introduced to contents with school and, above all, regional reference at different learning locations and made understandable. This promoted and strengthened independence, the development of each individual and socialisation in the sense of the European spirit. The "learning outside the classroom" was linked to the four regions of the project partners. Furthermore, learning at the outside-school learning locations was linked to historical, cultural and economic regional conditions. The learning at the external learning sites was also linked to historical, cultural and economic regional conditions and promoted the further development of basic cultural and democratic skills. The participants dealt theoretically (also digitally) with regional-European history at the learning site, developed perspectives for themselves and got to know fields of action of historical culture. They also learned that regionality in European history also means nationality. In this way, for example, the history of the Lithuanian nation-state, the history of National Socialist Germany or the economic influence of the region of Thrace, with its strong tobacco industry, were all part of European history. The project participants dealt with museum education, remembrance and historical culture, politics of the past and history and their respective contextual embedding. In addition, the learners further developed their competences in the independent use of digital media by communicating and working digitally with each other, in order to jointly develop a guide to out-of-school learning in the four learning locations. This manual was made available to the schools in print and as an e-book at the end of the project and will serve as a possible basis for future projects or as an incentive for own ideas. A total of four grammar schools from Germany, Greece, Italy and Lithuania were involved. Over the course of the project, various young people aged between 15-18 years of age took part in the mobilities with different thematic focuses. The Aldegrever Grammar School focused its mobility (C1) on dealing with National Socialism. The focus here was on the culture of remembrance in relation to the victims of the National Socialist terror in the region and throughout Europe. Here, perpetrator biographies were also explored and understood. The extracurricular learning venue was Wewelsburg Castle near Paderborn. An important centre of the Greek tobacco industry is located around the city of Chrysoupolis. To learn about the historical and socio-cultural characteristics and developments, was the goal of the digital mobility (C3). The tobacco industry was and is an example of the intertwining of industrialisation and urbanisation as well as social development in the 19th century, not only in Greece. In addition, the effects of the tobacco industry on the environment and on people's health were worked out. Especially this was an important aspect in the perception and development of young people. The town of San Benedetto del Tronto was deliberately founded on the Mediterranean Sea. Life by and with the sea exerts a decisive influence on the lives of the people of the region. This has led to the shaping of a special cultural and historical identity. Digital mobility (C4) has reproduced this influence historically, culturally and economically. The modern aspect consisted in the critical examination of environmental protection and economic fishing. The extent to which these to be reconciled with each other was a new approach in the Italian project. The digital Lithuanian mobility (C5) focused on the development of the Lithuanian nation state. Legends and founding myths were experienced and historical places were visited digitally. An essential aspect of Lithuanian history were the numerous heraldic symbols of rule. The colours and shapes of the coats of arms of important noble families were creatively explored and reconstructed. This, too, served to trace the special nature of the protracted founding of a free state. In the long term, the project is to be understood as a contribution to European understanding and the sustainable anchoring of a European community of values. This intensive form of dealing with events of regional or common history enables a lasting understanding of the neighbouring nations and initiates like-minded action in Europe. Thus, the added value was and is on an individual, social, national and European level.