ECO-LOGIC was born from the shared commitment of the partners in the areas such as environmental consciousness, active citizenship, outdoor education, social and civic competences, EU cultural heritage. The applicant, Calvisano Institute (IT), wants to share its innovative experience of participation in Q-Educational projects by involving the partners in activities of common interest. The partnership is composed of 5 EU primary and lower-secondary schools from Italy, Lithuania, Greece, Denmark and Portugal. The project will see an involvement of two external experts for the use of the educational platform (Q-cumber). ECO-LOGIC was inspired by the character of Leonardo da Vinci: a great example of a brilliant citizen, who used his talents to propose innovative solutions in many fields of life of his time. The project promotes active participation of pupils, wants to enhance their sense of belonging to the society and make them feel responsible citizens. Eco-logic aims to: - develop citizenship skills and soft skills of the participants - increase pupils’ awareness of the global environmental challenges - orientate towards STEAM careers - promote outdoor education and contamination with the territories; build partnerships with local stakeholders - strengthen teachers’ skills towards innovative teaching tools, methods and approaches - support teachers and students to ICT in didactics - for the involved schools, to change in EU dimension, increase their ability to work on international level, stimulate innovation and processes’ improvement, and to promote the values of inclusion and tolerance. The project envisages one transnational training for teachers (on the Q-Cumber platform usage) and five transnational learning/teaching activities with groups of 5 pupils from every partner school to work together on chosen topics: clay and painting; theatre and drama; sounds and music; photography; STEAM activities. Also virtual eTwinning meetings are planned to reinforce the exchange among the involved schools. On local level, the schools will organize fieldwork activities with the pupils collecting material and uploading them on the Q-cumber platform. They will be asked to identify environmental and artistic-cultural sites of their territory, creating a “map” with “case studies” for sensitizing campaigns and regeneration projects promotion. The Q-cumber platform will be the main instrument for the project implementation and a shared working and monitoring space. The proposal will see parallel eTwinning collaboration between partners. The project involves directly the following beneficiaries: - primary and lower-secondary level teachers from the 5 schools involved - 10 -13 years old students to be involved virtual exchanges, local activities and transnational mobility - other school staff members (principals and administrative staff ) - hosting families. Indirect beneficiaries: - other teachers - other pupils and families - local stakeholders and citizens Expected results are: - developed soft skills of pupils involved (especially: citizenship, social and civic skills, spirit of initiative, etc.) through participatory approach - increased use of ICTs as learning tools, through the Q-cumber digital platform and eTwinning - increased teachers’ skills in innovative pedagogies (outdoor education, project-based learning, STEAM teaching) - enhanced understanding of problems related to pollution and human intervention and better results in English of pupils - spread of a new attitude of responsibility towards the environment protection - international network of schools, based on the exchange of best practices. The project will have an important positive impact on the development of the involved schools in the long term. The involved schools will: enhance their EU dimension and increase their ability to work in international projects; stimulate innovation, improvement and diversification of educational proposals and school management; implement innovative teaching methodologies such as outdoor learning, project-based teaching, STEAM teaching. ECO-LOGIC will permit to integrate the skills acquired in school management and in innovative pedagogical proposals for better teaching and better schools’ managing. Thanks to the increased EU network and acquired skills and motivation from the project’s experience, the participating schools’ will reinforce their internationalization level and develop future EU projects. The involved schools will be able to implement other intercultural and transnational activities for pupils and teachers such as virtual exchanges and projects on eTwinning, international on-line training. ECO-LOGIC will reinforce also future local collaborations thanks to stronger partnerships with local stakeholders in order to face together identified challenges and opportunities in cultural/environmental field.
“ECO-LOGIC Environmental Consciousness as Opportunity: from Leonardo to Oncoming, Globally Involved Citizens” is a project whose aim was to spread environmental awareness, active citizenship, external education and knowledge of the territory, to activate social and civic skills and to introduce foreign students to the beauty of the European territory, often also UNESCO heritage. Due to the spread of the virus from Covid-19, the project activities were extended for the maximum available, however, despite the pandemic emergency, it was still possible to carry out all mobility in presence in every country, even if the mobilities were not done in the expected order. In this way, exchanges between the different European countries were made. The project involved five primary and secondary schools from five European countries: Italy, Lithuania, Greece, Denmark and Portugal. In particular the partner schools were: - Istituto Comprensivo di Calvisano, Italy - 5o GYMNASIO VOLOU, Greece - Taurages Martyno Mazvydo progimnazija, Lithuania - Agrupamento de Escolas de Soure, Portugal - Højby Skole, Denmark For each partner school, five students and two accompanying teachers travelled, whereas for the schools that hosted the mobility, the number of participants pupils was always different. Moreover, each mobility had the duration of five days, plus two of travel and it was therefore a "short-term exchange of groups of pupils". At the beginning of the project, however, an additional mobility was made in the Italian partner school Istituto Comprensivo di Calvisano, which involved the teachers of the participating schools. It was a three day “short-term joint staff training event”, in which teachers learnt about the incoming mobilities and the innovative methods of the project. The pupils in each mobility were to work together on chosen topics: clay and painting; theatre and drama; sounds and music; photography; STEAM activities. The main objectives of the project were to: - Develop citizenship skills and knowledge of the European context among pupils and understand the importance of a European exchange by learning about new cultures and expressing their own - Raise awareness about climate problems through an on-site approach: acknowledgement of the territory, of its problems and working in teams to design alternative and sustainable scenarios - Use STEAM approaches - Strengthen teachers' skills through the use of innovative, technological and engaging teaching methods. Exchange of good practice and new ideas for teaching methods - Encourage the use of innovative learning platforms in schools - Promote outdoor education and practical knowledge of the territory. School is seen as a central model in encouraging the involvement of pupils with respect to the environment - Increase the capacity of schools, teachers and pupils to collaborate internationally Activities have been implemented according to the above themes. Each mobility included a welcome and final greeting ceremony, initial ice-breaking and team-building activities. In addition, all mobilities have included more than one outdoor activity and a visit to a city or a place whose importance is particularly relevant either for historical and cultural reasons or for issues related to the environment. During the visits, the students were able to get to know the places in depth through guided tours, outdoor activities or group activities. As for the results, pupils have developed skills in the field of European active citizenship. The implemented activities, working in teams, and peer-to-peer activities, and therefore heterogeneous nationalities working groups, have also allowed students to experiment working and sharing with a culturally different person and thus develop tolerance towards others. Thanks to the different themes, the students were able to experience their creativity, both in visual arts, in painting, in creating music with reused materials or with their own body and even in the theater, activity that also allowed them to investigate their emotions and communication skills. In the long term, both pupils and teachers have increased their communicative skills in foreign languages, they have increased their digital knowledge; including the importance of alternative, innovative and technological teaching methods and outdoor activities. Projects like ECOLOGIC allow the individual to open the mind, be more open and tolerant towards others and towards cultural, social and political models other than those of origin.