The project ‘Aquatic Environment and Cultural&Natural Heritage’ is aimed at promoting awareness of the close relationship between the environment and the development of society: its culture, its traditions, its economy. In particular the project considers different kinds of aquatic environments in Europe to make the participants aware of the diversity, wealth and fragility of various natural environments and of their importance for the richness of European natural and cultural heritage. Thanks to the project the participants will discover the common roots of the European civilization and also the importance of the human action and of an environmentally conscious attitude for the safeguard of the natural and cultural heritage. They will also become aware of the role of EU since ‘EU water policy focuses on protecting water resources, achieve good ecological status and enable sustainable use’ ( Eurostat) and ‘Water is essential for life and an indispensable resource for the economy. It is permanently renewed but it is also finite and cannot be made or replaced with other resources’. So far ‘EU water policy has successfully contributed to water protection...Europeans can safely drink tap water and swim in thousands of coastal areas, rivers and lakes’ but ‘Major additional action is needed to preserve and improve EU waters’ (2012 EU communication A Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Water Resources). The acquired knowledge of the European heritage will be for pupils and all the participants a step towards European identity and understanding how the collaboration among the different Nations gives great opportunities of economic development and prosperity and increases the likelihood of peace, which cannot be taken for granted. The objectives of the project are: - to develop an awareness of the European cultural and natural heritage - to highlight the importance of water environment for human health, economy, and culture - to increase the awareness of an environmentally conscious attitude and of the importance of the active citizenship for the safeguard of the environment - to enhance the use of new didactic methodological approaches, mainly project based learning, both in archive researches, outdoor activities, and in the discovery of local cultural and natural heritage. - to improve students language, digital and communication skills and to develop their social and high order competences, such as critical thinking and creativity Four secondary high schools, students aged 14-18, from Italy, Greece, Romania and Spain will join to collaborate on this project. 144 students and 32 teachers will be involved in the mobility, taking part in the educational activity abroad, but the participation to the project will be wider, almost all students and teachers will participate in the project through workshops/seminaries. Furthermore, the families of the students and the communities of each country will take part and will collaborate to the success of the project and to spread the results. The activities planned involve - a transnational kickoff meeting, in Italy. The teachers will learn about the basic ITC tools, social media and eTwinning platform and the skills needed to successfully manage the project - four short term learning teaching activities: first year in Romania (natural and cultural heritage of the Danube Delta) and Spain (traditions and tourist/economic opportunities from the Esca river in Navarra, sports activities), second year in Greece (natural heritage of the Pinios river, from the Templi Valley to the Delta, and the coastal region of the Thermaikos sea and the Aegean sea, the myth and the cultural heritage) and Italy (the network of the Navigli artificial canals and the contribution of Leonardo Da Vinci, their impact on economy, art and the natural environment) - an eTwinning project: students will communicate, plan and share the results of their research thanks to this platform. At the end of the project an event will be created to disseminate the results - Natural/Cultural excursions, events, visits to museum, seminars - Students will write some papers about their research through the school journals. We expect to reach the objectives through the project activities. Furthermore, we expect to enhance the students’ knowledge through all the explored fields, history, art, literature, sports activities, science and physics, and that they better understand the relations between the different fields area of similar subjects, thanks to a multidisciplinary approach. Students will also develop an appreciation of the European cultural diversity and respect of different traditions and culture. Teachers will also improve their mastering of the vehicular language and will develop their professional competence. The dissemination initiatives aim to develop an awareness of the natural and cultural European heritage and the need for its safeguard through an active citizenship at local and transnational level.
The project ‘Aquatic Environment and Cultural&Natural Heritage’ is aimed at promoting awareness of the close relationship between the environment and the development of society: its culture, its traditions, its economy. In particular the project considers different kinds of aquatic environments in Europe to make the participants aware of the diversity, wealth and fragility of various natural environments and of their importance for the richness of European natural and cultural heritage. Thanks to the project the participants will discover the common roots of the European civilization and also the importance of the human action and of an environmentally conscious attitude for the safeguard of the natural and cultural heritage. They will also become aware of the role of EU since ‘EU water policy focuses on protecting water resources, achieve good ecological status and enable sustainable use’ (Eurostat) The acquired knowledge of the European heritage will be for pupils and all the participants a step towards European identity and understanding how the collaboration among the different Nations gives great opportunities of economic development and prosperity and increases the likelihood of peace, which cannot be taken for granted. The objectives of the project are: - to develop an awareness of the European cultural and natural heritage - to highlight the importance of water environment for human health, economy, and culture - to increase the awareness of an environmentally conscious attitude and of the importance of the active citizenship for the safeguard of the environment - to enhance the use of new didactic methodological approaches both in archive researches, outdoor activities, and in the discovery of local cultural and natural heritage. - to improve students’ language, digital and communication skills and to develop their social and high order competences, such as critical thinking and creativity Three secondary high schools, students aged 14-18, from Italy, Greece and Romania joined to collaborate on this project. The fourth partner, a Spanish VET school applying to the project, was not authorized to take part: this inconvenience required a change in the planned activities and gave rise to a strong will to turn this difficulty into an opportunity. 140 students and 33 teachers took part in the educational activity abroad, but the participation to the project was wider, many other students and teachers collaborated to the project during the Learning Teaching Training Activities, LTTA and were involved in the implementation of the project. The families and the communities of each country were also involved. Due to the pandemic, all but the first transnational meeting have been postponed and the duration of the project has been extended by one year and all the goals have been reached The following activities have been carried out - a transnational kickoff meeting, in Italy. The objective of this LTTA was to give to teachers the needed competences about the basic ITC tools, social media and eTwinning platform and the skills required to successfully manage the project. During this meeting a conference has been organized both to deep the knowledge about the topics of the project, thanks to the invitation of experts, and to present the project to the community, inside and outside the school. - four short term LTTA: in Romania (the Danube Delta), Greece (the Pinios river, from the Templi Valley to the Delta, and the coastal region of the Thermaikos and the Aegean sea) and Italy (the network of the Navigli artificial canals) and Spain (the Esca river in Navarra). The mobility in Spain has been successfully replaced by a LTTA in Strasbourg where students took part in the European Youth Event 2021 (EYE2021) at the European Parliament. They successfully applied to take part as ‘active participants’ with the proposal of an artistic performance about the safeguard of the environment. Guided by an expert, they wrote autonomously the script and selected and played the soundtrack. - Excursion, events, visits to museum, seminars - Online meetings Furthermore, an eTwinning project, a blog, a Facebook page, an Instagram account were implemented, papers on the school magazine were published and presentation, videos and a multilingual mini-dictionary about water were realized. The objectives have been reached thanks to the project activities and an enhance of the students’ competencies and knowledge has been obtained with a multidisciplinary approach, group activities and pear to pear learning. Students were also able to appreciate the European cultural diversity and the value of different traditions and cultures. Teachers improved their mastering of the vehicular language and their professional competence. The dissemination initiatives aimed to develop an awareness of the natural and cultural European heritage and the need for its safeguard through an active citizenship at local and transnational level.