Students Harmonizing Internationally Vibrant Activities in Nature (SHIVA in Nature) is a project based on gamification about the film "Nausicäa" in the Wind Valley by Hayao Miyazaki. We seek to raise awareness among students about the need to care for the environment right now that the Climate Change has become a global challenge. Educational institutions must take a leading role in educating future generations by helping them achieve the objectives of the European 2020 Strategy related to climate. Through the study and undertook various actions on the environment, the project aims that the participants are involved in/ commit themselves in real environmental needs with the intention of taking care of them and optimizing them. These actions will not only remain in the immediate environment, but also are intent to have an effect at regional, national and international level through the development of tangible and intangible products that reach beyond the environment of the schools involved. The use of new ICT methodologies and resources is the correct way to make them known as well as to respond to the demands of current students. The use of the training we have received in a previous KA101 will allow us to work with a wide range of known computer applications. In addition, with two of the three partner schools, we began our cooperation in 2016 in several eTwinning projects that have led us to work on an Erasmus + KA229 on cultural heritage, which has allowed us to discover how rich is the culture of the participating countries and share it. Now with SHIVA we will work on the natural heritage (investigating Biosphere Reserves of the four countries, on their trees and plants, as well as terrestrial, air and aquatic animals, discovering protected species and endangered species), continuing the learning of the previous project, that the study of European natural heritage has implicitly associated knowledge of cultural value. This project will be a way to explore, collect and share aspects of the Biosphere Reserves of the different countries involved; create a personal and, at the same time, collective identity of feeling of belonging to a common European territory; develop and apply new technologies through Etwinning and try new methodologies such as gamification; promote collaborative work with other European schools and, at the same time, with the context close to the school (families, associations, town hall ...); know the Biosphere Reserves, their flora and fauna of the different countries involved through new methodologies; promote knowledge, appreciation and awareness of the natural environment and the effect of human action on it; exchange of good practices and mobility of students for the knowledge of the European Natural Heritage through joint work; development of linguistic and intercultural competences among the participating students. We mainly seek to develop social, civic, linguistic and digital competences. In addition, the partnership, mobilities and exchange of practices, will achieve a promotion of language skills among students and teachers, who will use English as the main language. The partnership allows us a constant mutual exchange. We will continue with the application of active methodologies, with which children will be active agents of their learning, and will collaborate with others to overcome the challenges-activities that we present to them. The research of animal and plant species of the different Biosphere Reserves will be the first step for students to develop attitudes of respect towards the environment and practice different basic skills and abilities using the scientific method and field studies, as different resources derived from Gamification and Service Learning methods. To move from one block to another they will have to accumulate points as they perform different activities successfully. We have to guide their actions to provoke positive changes in the environment, that they understand the cause-effect binomial of their actions with the environment and that they transmit those values and apply them in any area of their lives. We will also continue with the collaboration between teachers and exchanging experiences throughout the development of the project as we have been doing and which is giving us such good results professionally and personally. All the contents and activities developed in the six thematic blocks (Biosphere Reserves, trees, plants, terrestrial animals, air animals and aquatic animals as well as protected species) will converge on some final products, which we will give visibility and diffusion in different ways ( eTwinning, school´s social networks, web, talks, events, corridors, triptychs, ...). All materials will be public and will be available to anyone who wants to consult them and use it.
SHIVA (Students Harmonizing Internationally Vibrant Activities) in Nature, is a project inspired by the film Nausicäa in the Valley of the Wind Miyazaki) characterized by the use of active methodologies such as gamification. The main objective has been to raise awareness among infant and primary school students about the care and respect for the environment throughout contents from Environmental Sciences and Biology (ecology, botany and zoology). SHIVA has led to the continuation and expansion of a partnership of schools committed to educational internationalization and the commitment to the European dimension following active participation in eTwinning and Erasmus+ projects. Aware of the need for environmental sustainability, the fight against climate change and the care of the planet, SHIVA was born as a project that aimed to expand knowledge about the natural heritage, discovering biosphere reserves, its flora and fauna. Thanks to different activities, the four schools involved in this project have been able to explore, collect and share aspects of the biosphere reserves of their countries, deepening the knowledge of their trees, plants, land, water and aerial animals. This approach to natural heritage has allowed students to develop attitudes of respect and changes in their actions, causing positive changes in the environment in favor of the environment. Some of the objectives achieved include: - The change of school culture and environmental practices, promoting collaborative work among schools and opening these institutions to the near context (families, associations, townhalls...) - Implementation of long-term projects. - The development of linguistic and intercultural competences fostering an identity of belonging to a common European territory. - Extending digital competence through the use of a wide variety of digital tools. A wide range of activities organized in six blocks of contents were planned to achieve all of this. Some of them included: research on the reserves of the biosphere through the creation of lapbooks; crafts with recycled materials to know aspects about the fauna (characteristics, habitats, food, dangers...); creation of collaborative stories and drama with animals as main characters; participation in a phenological study with a family of swallows; making and laying of feeders and nest boxes; tree planting and creation of veggies gardens and vertical gardens at schools; participation in workshops given by environmental associations... In addition, schools have worked closely with SPEA (Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves), creating a synergy that has given as a product a notebook illustrated by the students and that gathers information of some species from the countries of this project. Also, according to another priority of the Erasmus+ programme, inclusion has been a key aspect, adapting many of these materials and activities to ASD students. The contents and activities developed have resulted in several final products: a journal, a guide, a collaborative dictionary, open educational resources (OER) or informative dossiers. All materials are public and available for those who wants to consult and/or reuse. Unfortunately, the project's mobilities were interrupted by the arrival of the COVID pandemic. However, the school worked hard to readjust the planned activities and try to mitigate the consequences of the cancelation of the mobilities, getting the students approached, by a digital way, some of the activities planned for these trips. We point out as another of the strong aspects of SHIVA its impact on schools, strengthening environmental practices, which implies an impact of long-term objectives. Examples of these are the implementation of waste reduction programmes in schools (healthy breakfasts), celebration of international environmental days or the creation of school gardens. Finally, the project has been characterized by a wide dissemination plan that has led SHIVA to internal, external, national and international contexts of the centers involved in its development and application through the participation of teachers in presentations, organization of exhibitions, Open Doors days, participation of teachers in courses, publication of press articles, participation in radio or initiatives of some of the National Agencies such as SEPIE. Without any doubt, SHIVA has been a before and an after for students, teachers, families and all the agents involved in this Erasmus+.