CREATING REALLY ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS STUDENTS (CRECS) is a project aimed at making our pupils conscious and aware of the environment and the climate, because "climate has no borders". Background : the topic of the project is of concern to all the world's population and everyone can have an important impact, even in their day-to-day actions, thus solutions can only come from education (environmental awareness) and international collaboration. This will be made possible by involving pupils from different countries, allowing them to discover various approaches to environmental issues, which can be very different throughout the European continent, due to different geography and ressources, cultural differences, economic pressure, political choices. Objectives : this multidisciplinary project is intended to help our learners with basic training in a variety of topics (e.g. mathematics, literacy...), awareness of cultural differences through Europe, foreign language skills (the project's language is English), and obviously environmental concerns in general. Solutions to environmental issues can only come from international cooperation as the impact of climate change is global (because "climate has no borders"). We must prepare our pupils to think globally on these topics. Participants : 3 secondary schools take part in the project, in Denmark, France, and the Netherlands. Each school will involve 16 pupils over the course of 2 years. The pupils will be aged 14 to 16. Activities : while we are aware we cannot give a comprehensive account of environmental issues, we have decided to focus on some key elements such as : - understanding the current situation : brainstorming and debates about climate change and sustainability, research and surveys about energy use at home, in a school, nationally, - analysing the progress made in the use of energetic resources since the Rio+20 meeting in 2004, and the 17 UN goals for sustainable development, through the study of documents, interviews of professionals, visits of industrial sites, - comparing different energy models and transport management in the three countries, visiting electricity production sites, making models, - creating information panels aimed at the general public and pupils locally, studying the UN goal number 13 (climate action). - summing up all the data, results and proposals for improvement /development of sustainable solutions in a final common video. Methodology : most of the time, the pupils will be working in groups, and we will be forming transnational groups of 6 made up of 2 pupils from each school. The common platform we will use will be eTwinning. The topics of CRECS needing transversal competences, teachers from different subjects will be devoting some of their teaching time to our topics. The groups of pupils will be encouraged to work more autonomously as the project progresses, though with guidance and support from the teachers. The methods used will include debates and exchanges, conferences, visits, interviews, practical work (building models) and the use of SRUM to help plan the activities. The pupils will be spending time in classrooms, the documentation centre, around the school grounds but also outside the school during visits. Results and impact : the concrete results will take the form of information panels to be displayed locally in schools, libraries and local authorities, and towards the end of the project, a common video to sum up all the information gathered, the projections for the future and the pupils' own proposals for developing sustainable solutions. This will be made available to a large public thanks to the use of internet. The impact at each school will be obvious because other classes will be invited to see and discuss the panels and video, but it is also intended that the panels be displayed outside the school (local libraries and town halls), so the general public can also benefit from the results of this project. The implication of the media will help disseminate the information. Long term benefits : for the pupils, new and greener behaviour will become automatic after having spent time on the project, and they will in time transmit this to their families. For the schools, the discovery of the Ecoschool project by two of the partners will motivate them to adhere to the label, the results of CRECS will be used as a teaching tools in future classes, new exchanges will take place to follow up on the project, including new topics (waste management, water quality...). We are all part of Europe and within the last years our curriculums have been amended due to inspiration from research from abroad. We want to be open to the world and to teach and show our pupils the importance of being part of an international community (the EU) – with benefits and responsibilities – and thus their European citizenship.
The CRECS project CREATING REALLY ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS STUDENTS was aiming at making our students from France, Holland and Denmark conscious of the environment and the climate, because "climate has no borders". In spite of the Corona pandemic, various planning challenges and changes to our original activity plan, we consider this project a success. All the students have become aware and conscious of the environment (in general) and their European citizenship. Now they know the importance of our climate and environment as being a common responsibility and a challenge which can only be solved by working together cross-border. The background for this project was that the topic concerns us all and everyone can have an important impact, even in their day-to-day actions, thus solutions can only come from education (environmental awareness) and international collaboration. The most important issue for us - when applying for Erasmus funding – was to create and proceed with the project to make the students conscious of our common environment; that the climate has no borders. This Erasmus project made it possible to involve students from Denmark, Holland and France and for them to discover various approaches to environmental issues, which are very different throughout the European continent, due to different geography and resources, cultural differences, economic pressure, political choices. The objectives were i.e. awareness of cultural differences through Europe, foreign language skills (the common language has been English), and obviously environmental concerns in general. Through this project we have prepared our students in thinking globally on environmental topics. The participants have been our three secondary schools. The age group of the students changed during the three project years due to the special circumstances, which Corona caused. This means that the students involved have represented the age group 13 to 18 years old. Most of the time, the students have been working in transnational groups with students from each school. The common online platform we have been using has been eTwinning. The groups of students have been encouraged to work more autonomously as the project progressed though with guidance and support from the teachers. The methods we used included debates and exchanges, conferences, visits, interviews and practical work (using LEGO). The activities have been brainstorming, discussions and presentations about environmental issues focusing on windmills, steel production, nuclear power and solar panels. The students have been introduced to the activities before actually visiting plants etc. This means that they knew where they were going, had time to prepare questions etc. and thus could participate actively. The students have been working inside the classrooms, but also outside the school and outdoor with hands-on activities. The results of the CRECS project can be seen on the TwinSpace: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/99402/home (pictures from exchanges, videos, pictures of products and different articles). In Denmark the local media has disseminated the CRECS project and thus made it known to the local community. A group of students went to the local teacher’s college, UC South Denmark, and introduced the project to several student teachers. Also a group of German ministers of education came to visit Auraskolen (September 2021) and was introduced to the CRECS project The long-term benefits are both for the students and the teachers. The students are now conscious of the environment and act accordingly. Most of the students are now familiar with the Ecoschool system. They have also got a European network which they use. This was seen when they were writing their final essays to pass their exams. The used each other and contacted each other to get knowledge from their peers in the partner countries. For all teachers this is the first Erasmus KA2 project to be part of and to complete. This means new experience, knowledge and a new professional network. Regarding Erasmus projects then the Danish and the French schools have received Erasmus accreditation. The Dutch school will be applying for this in October 2022. Thus all 3 schools will have the possibility to continue and extend the cooperation. We all wanted to be part of and complete this Erasmus project – CRECS – creating really environmentally conscious students – which we have now successfully finished. We are all part of Europe and within the last couple of years our curriculums have been amended due to inspiration from research from abroad. All 3 schools want to and aim at being open to the world and to teach and support our students of the importance of being a European citizen and part of an international community (the EU) – with benefits and responsibilities. After 3 years we consider the students involved in this CRECS project to be environmentally conscious with strengthened foreign language and intercultural skills.