The daily lives of teenagers is undergoing fundamental social change. With the closure of the last mines, the Ruhr area and northern France are at the end of a phase of change, which was completed in Noordwijkerhout in the 20th century. Northern Portugal has also undergone economic change: the region is increasingly shaped by tourism, replacing the traditional fishing industry. Thus, in the future, all regions will be defined by other factors like service, digitalization, universities, and culture. In this project the students learn that their respective cultural heritage also shapes their identity. Looking at other cultures and their cultural heritage is an enriching experience for students and enables them to reflect their own culture and develop an intercultural understanding. The project, as a primary experience, brings together the different national perspectives: by meeting students from different cultural backgrounds, they realize that identity is defined by region, language and history. This way, they can develop a common European perspective for the future. Central goals of the project are the presentation and examination of the cultural heritage of the respective countries as well as the exchange of own and foreign identity. The pupils experience essential elements of the respective cultural heritage with all their senses. The question of their own identity and the exchange about it promote an active European engagement and understanding for each other. Ultimately, this will strengthen social cohesion in Europe. The project involves four schools with students aged 13-15 years. The participants take part in a workshop accompanying the project at their schools. All groups are supervised by teachers, who assist the students in the on-site project activities and guide them through the transnational project meetings they prepare and follow up. At these meetings, they deal with the cultural heritage of the respective region with their heads, hearts and hands. The results will be presented in the form of an interactive padlet, which will be continuously developed. A blog documents and comments on the experiences of project participants from a personal perspective. In exchange with their European partners, the students deepen a variety of methodological skills, among others team building, research and presentation techniques. The project contributes significantly to the internationalization of the participating schools.
The daily lives of teenagers is undergoing fundamental social change. With the closure of the last mines, the Ruhr area and northern France are at the end of a phase of change, which was completed in Noordwijkerhout in the 20th century. Northern Portugal has also undergone economic change: the region is increasingly shaped by tourism, replacing the traditional fishing industry. Thus, in the future, all regions will be defined by other factors like service, digitalization, universities, and culture. In this project the students learn that their respective cultural heritage also shapes their identity. Looking at other cultures and their cultural heritage is an enriching experience for students and enables them to reflect their own culture and develop an intercultural understanding. The project, as a primary experience, brings together the different national perspectives: by meeting students from different cultural backgrounds, they realize that identity is defined by region, language and history. This way, they can develop a common European perspective for the future. Central goals of the project are the presentation and examination of the cultural heritage of the respective countries as well as the exchange of own and foreign identity. The pupils experience essential elements of the respective cultural heritage with all their senses. The question of their own identity and the exchange about it promote an active European engagement and understanding for each other. Ultimately, this will strengthen social cohesion in Europe. The project involves four schools with students aged 13-15 years. The participants take part in a workshop accompanying the project at their schools. All groups are supervised by teachers, who assist the students in the on-site project activities and guide them through the transnational project meetings they prepare and follow up. At these meetings, they deal with the cultural heritage of the respective region with their heads, hearts and hands. The results will be presented in the form of an interactive padlet, which will be continuously developed. A blog documents and comments on the experiences of project participants from a personal perspective. In exchange with their European partners, the students deepen a variety of methodological skills, among others team building, research and presentation techniques. The project contributes significantly to the internationalization of the participating schools. Due to the corona pandemic and the associated restrictions on international travel for school groups, only one meeting could be held in Bochum, which was designed as a kick-off meeting. The students dealt with the structural change in the Ruhr area and the subsequent tertiarization (excursions: Zeche Zollverein Essen, football museum Dortmund). On this basis, they created simple explanatory videos. The other goals, which were particularly linked to the concrete implementation of the student exchanges (keyword primary experiences), could not be achieved because the exchanges could not be carried out due to the travel restrictions.