Let´s take care of our land! The need to take care of our land - planet is obvious. Global warming is serious issue, so is many other environmental issues such as ecosystem degradation. The issue is very relevant as our youth is getting more aware of the environmental crisis we are facing. We want to build on that interest and provide the young generation an opportunity to learn how to take care of their land. They also need to believe that they can have impact on the issue so that our children in the future can protect their land and also find ways to live in it. We will share knowledge between different European countries about how the challenges on land care are different. But still the task is combined, it´s about taking care of our land and our planet, it´s about our ecosystem, it´s about sustainable development. We will also learn about how our land is important to job creation, economic growth and social cohesion. At last we will get the opportunity of going abroad and seeing and feeling the way of living in other European countries. Living in others homes, eating their food, made by their land, feeling the landscape and learning about the geology is important factor. In the visit to Iceland we will focus on fighting against desertification and importance of using land responsibly. Also on how the harsh nature in Iceland affect land. In Iceland we will also learn about green energy use, why it´s possible in Iceland to produce hot water and electricity from use of water. We will cooperate with the The Soil Conservation Service of Iceland . In the visit to Portugal we will focus on reforesting after wood fires. Why wood fires happen and how it´s possible to grow plant ourselves to plant in the land. As the school already has a greenhouse where they already grow plants to do this it will provide a learning opportunity. We will cooperate with RAIZ - Forest and Paper Research Institute and gain knowledge about solution for the forest based bio economy. In Finland we will have the approach of the forest industry, paper and turf and how it affects our living environment especially swamps and the insects. We will learn how the insects are important for the ecosystem. We have a teachers teaching in Oulu Education Services about those things so he will held a small seminar for the teachers when in Oulu. In Spain we will learn about the coal mines, how they use to be and why they closed down in Northern Spain. We will also learn about abandonment of the agricultural and cattle industry and how this affects the people living in the area. This will demonstrate how the issue is complicated and what is good for the environment can be a real challenge in people lives. Fundación de Reserva de la Biosfera Alto Bernesga and Ayuntamiento de La Pola de Gordon will be working with us. In Lithuania the focus will be on preserve the peatlands and wet forests. How the ecosystem in peatlands and wet forests are and how we the men are part of the nature and responsible of taking care of it. In France the focus will be on living from the land in the mountains. How to grow food responsible and importance of using food that grows near you. We will visit responsible farmers that grows food in eco friendly way and learn about the culture of buying fresh products and markets in France. We will also learn about the impact of pollution and what we can do to fight that threat. This project will open a new window. Window into other countries, who are also struggling to take care of their land. This will get a sense in each school that our land not only belongs to our own country but to a community of European countries. We own the planet together their problems are our problems and we can help each other. The outcome of the project will be learning and sharing. It will be learning for the participants who travels and their families but also for the school community. The knowledge will be shared, it will be documented, we will have a portfolio - a project´s web site, the teachers in the schools will learn new ways of teaching and we hope that it will lead to better quality of education in our schools. We will keep the learning together in one place and establish project web page that will be a portfolio for the learning. There we will document the learning journey with pictures, videos and power point presentations from the visits. Texts from children diaries where it´s possible to read about their reflects and learning. Article about logo competition held in each country where you need to put in a lot of thinking about the project in order to take part. There will also be interviews with parents about the hosting process and articles from teachers about what they learned from the trips. We hope that the web page will be helpful to others to open windows. It can be used as teaching tool for teachers around Europe and further so that you can compare land care challenges in different countries.
By implementing the project, all partners wanted to open a new window. Window into other countries, who are all struggling in their own way to take care of their land. We wanted to make a feeling in each school that our land not only belongs to our own country but to a community of European countries. We own the planet together. Their problems are our problems and we can help each other. We wanted the outcome of the project to be learning and sharing. Learning for the participants who travel, their families and also for the school community. We wanted the knowledge to be shared, to be documented. We decided to make a portfolio with a project ́s web site with pictures, videos and powerpoint presentations that we used and made in the project. We wanted the teachers in the schools to learn new ways of teaching and we hoped that it would lead to better quality of education in our schools. In this learning journey, the pandemic happened. So we needed to adjust the program a lot, we were allowed to change so that we travelled with teachers only but not students. Nevertheless we still wanted to achieve goals. FOR SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS: Learn to take care of our land develop school cooperation despite covid time learn about innovative practices : observing classes, exchange about school systems and other jobs implemented in some schools : special needs teachers for example. Talk about evaluation process in each country (conference + workshop) FOR STUDENTS Learn to take care of our land develop use of foreign languages Learn how to adjust and work with other students and teachers online instead of travelling learn about other cultures
To start with, the different partners have already been working with each other on three different Erasmus projects before applying for this project and it was a real success, working together on a European scale. As a consequence, it seemed crucial to strengthen the links between each partner school by applying again as a continuity to all the preceding work both with students, teachers and the education community to improve international cooperation and make it durable through time. All partners agreed to a common obvious topic that addresses both citizenship, educational process and environmental issues: the need to take care of our land - our planet. Indeed, global warming is a serious issue all around Europe, as are many other environmental issues such as ecosystem degradation and it really addresses both the future generations as it does the current one. We wanted to share knowledge between different European countries about how the challenges on land care are different in each country. But still the task is combined, it is about taking care of our land and our planet, it ís about our ecosystem, it ís about sustainable development. We also wanted to learn about how our land is important to job creation, economic growth and social cohesion. We also wanted to get the opportunity to go abroad to see and feel the way of living in other European countries and to experience their land with our own eyes and senses. We did plan this project so that we would travel with students, to give the youth this opportunity to make them feel land, different from their own. Before addressing citizenship and environmental needs, all partners had agreed that working together on a European level could prove efficient in our daily teaching practices. It seemed relevant to exchange good innovative practices in order to improve our daily teaching methods. This project was supposed to be a way to help our students understand the importance of living and working together as future citizens, possibly working together all through Europe, alongside practical things like: gaining self-confidence, improving oral and written skills and the use of foreign languages, learn about each other’s culture and traditions and school systems. Finally our students could gain an understanding that there is not much difference despite geographical frontiers. We planned to include different students, including those with special needs. The experience should be amazing both for students willing to enter European universities later and also a great opportunity for students with difficulties to learn from their peers and to improve skills. During the mobility week in France we wanted to focus on living from the land in the mountains and to learn how to grow food responsibly and the importance of using food that grows near you. We decided to visit responsible farmers that grow food in an eco-friendly way and learn about the culture of buying fresh products from markets in France. We also aimed at learning about the impact of pollution and what we can do to fight that threat. Regarding our mobility week to Finland we wanted to learn about the forest industry, paper and turf and how it affects their living environment especially swamps and insects. In Iceland, the learning activity week laid the emphasis on fighting against desertification and the importance of using land responsibly. The focus was also on how the harsh nature in Iceland may affect land. We also wanted to learn about green energy use, why it ́s possible in Iceland to provide electricity from the use of waterpower. We decided to cooperate with The Soil Conservation Service of Iceland. The mobility week in Spain was going to be dedicated to learning about the coal mines and to how they used to be and why they closed down. We wanted to learn about abandonment of the agricultural and cattle industry and how it affects the people living in the area. We decided to work with Fundación de Reserva de la Biosfera Alto Bernesga and Ayuntamiento de La Pola de Gordon. On the visit in Portugal, we wanted to focus on reforesting after wood fires. Why it happens and how they in Portugal work post those fires. We decided to work with RAIZ - Forest and Paper Research Institute and gain knowledge about solutions for the forest based bio economy. Eventually, the mobility week in Lithuania was meant to shed light upon the preservation of peatlands and wet forests. Our goal was to study how the ecosystem in peatlands and wet forests is and how we humans are part of nature and responsible for taking care of it. So all trips had clear goals, to learn about the land you are visiting and how to take care of it.