The OUR HEALTH IN OUR HANDS project was drafted by teachers of the Primary School in Grzechynia in cooperation with teachers from schools in Aravete (Estonia), Volos (Greece) and Sanluri (Italy). The main goal of the project is to shapethe students’ pro-health and pro-ecological attitudes and make them aware of the role that everyone has to fulfill in the development of living conditions in health and in a clean environment. The project will result in the students’ awareness of how they influence their quality of life. They will become aware of the preservation of a clean, natural environment.They will also have a positive impact on other people’s behaviourin their environment, and in the future, they will be citizens aware of their influence on creating the conditions in which they want to live. A good education is an opportunity for students to develop and participate effectively in the culturally diverse society of a common Europe, and the implementation of the project will affect the development of basic skills and key competencies. The project activities will also include elements of intercultural and intergenerational education as well as social and educational values of European cultural heritage. The implementation of the project will also strengthen the status of teaching professions. The project there will be an increase in knowledge and skills of participants in the field for health and nature protection, their personal and professional development, improvement of language skills and ICT, increased tolerance for cultural diversity and a sense of satisfaction with the implementation of an ambitious task. The project partners represent various the climate areas of Europe, which will allow to determine differences in eating habits resulting from climatic conditions and to look for similarities resulting from universal laws of nature. Partner schools are located in diverse natural areas which will give, the participants of the project,the opportunity to compare the scope of activities that help to maintain an unpolluted environment. Students will learn about traditional recipes and methods of food production free from chemical additives, and how local communities care about their natural environment and what actions prevent the contamination of nature. The project is planned for 22 months. The project is dedicated to pupils aged from 12 to 15. From each school will be involved in it 18 pupils and 6 teachers. All of students and teachers of partner schools will be involved indirectly. Students' families and local societies will also participate in the project to a certain extent. As part of the project, there will be five-day student exchanges. The program of each meeting will have its motto: "Secrets of the Mediterranean diet" - October 2019 in Greece, "With traditions to the future" - May 2020 in Estonia, "To be healthy" - October 2020 in Poland and "Our common goal" - April 2021 in Italy. Interesting programs of activities were prepared for the duration of students' stay in partner schools. Culinary workshops will take place, and the students will prepare dishes according to traditional recipes collected from older people. Educational trips, among other things, to small establishments producing food according to old recipes will help them to understand the importance of the quality of food products. There will be discussions, integration events, cultural presentations, games, and sports.The students will be accommodated in the family homes of their peers which will introduce them to the customs and traditions of the region. Simultaneously, virtual cooperation will be carried out via the eTwinning community. Its tools will allow cooperation before and between the trips. Thanks to the platform, participants will exchange information, conduct discussions, collect course materials and document the effects of their work. The material outcome will be the paper and digital publication ‘Kitchens of our great-grandparents’ containing culinary recipes tested on the workshops and photos of ready-made dishes. The coordinators will meet twice for the good implementation of the project. The first meeting, at the beginning of the project, will be devoted to the final agreement of the schedules, scope of responsibilities, procedures, monitoring, studying the effects and the project’s evaluation and second will focus on the summary and plans for further cooperation. The lessons learned from observing good practices in the partner schools, especially in the methodological or organizational field, will be used by the teachers in their daily work. Besides, the school, as an institution, will strengthen its image in the local community. All the experience acquired by the teachers will serve them in further years for successive education for health and a clean environment.
The OUR HEALTH IN OUR HANDS project was drafted by teachers of the Primary School in Grzechynia in cooperation with teachers from schools in Aravete (Estonia), Volos (Greece) and Sanluri (Italy). The main goal of the project was to shape the pro-health and pro-ecological attitudes of students and make them aware of the role that everyone has to play in shaping the conditions of living in a healthy and clean environment. Students have aware of the importance of the behavior of each individual for the preservation of the welfare of the natural environment. By their example, they give a positive impact on the environment, and in the future, as informed citizens, they will create the conditions in which they want to live by their choices. The project was an opportunity for students to educate their conscious participation in a culturally diverse European society and to develop basic skills and key competences. Project activities implemented elements of intercultural and intergenerational education as well as European cultural heritage. For teachers, it was an opportunity to develop professional competences, exchange experiences, acquire knowledge and skills specific for international cooperation. As a result of the project implementation, the participants' knowledge and skills in the field of health education and nature protection increased, their personal and professional development, language skills and the use of ITC, increased tolerance for cultural diversity and a sense of satisfaction with the implementation of an ambitious task. Project partners represented different climatic areas of Europe, which allowed to identify differences in eating habits resulting from climatic conditions, but also to search for similarities resulting from universal laws of nature. Also, the problems related to maintaining a clean natural environment differ in the partner countries, which results from different climatic, geographic and population conditions. Local communities have specific problems (e.g. clean food production) implement other procedures that prevent contamination of nature. The implementation of the project was planned for 22 months. Due to the pandemic situation, approval was obtained for a 12-month extension. The project was dedicated to students aged 12 to 15. 18 students and 6 teachers from each school were to participate directly in it. In the case of the school in Grzechynia, 8 students left for the last trip (Sanluri, Italy). Economical budget management allowed to increase the number of participants. Most of the students and teachers of partner schools indirectly participated in the project activities. Students' families and local communities were also involved to some extent. As part of the project, five-day student exchanges took place: "Secrets of the Mediterranean Diet" - October 2019 in Greece, "With traditions to the future" - November 2021 in Estonia, "To be healthy" - December 2021 in Poland and "Our common goal" - April 2022 in Italy. Interesting programms have been prepared for the duration of students' stay in partner schools. Culinary and art workshops were held, and students prepared dishes according to traditional recipes collected from older people. Educational trips were aimed at getting to know the historic and important places of the visited region, but also getting to know food production plants or museums presenting this type of activity in the past centuries. There were discussions, integration events, presentations of culture, games, games and sports competitions. During the first youth exchange (Greece, December 2018), students lived in their peers' family homes. Then the partners decided that the guests would stay in hotels with their guardians. This decision resulted from the epidemic. A project with the same title was launched on the eTwinning platform. It contains materials illustrating the implementation of subsequent project activities. Due to the pandemic situation and the long periods of remote learning, students' contact via eTwinning was not as expected in the application, especially some of the students who initially got involved in the project graduated from school. The material result is the paper and digital publication "Kitchens of our great-grandparents". Two project meetings of coordinators have been planned for the successful implementation of the project. The first one, at the beginning of the project implementation, was devoted to the final arrangements of schedules, scope of duties, procedures, monitoring and examination of the effects and evaluation. There was no second meeting at the end of the implementation. The last youth exchange took place in April 2022. The partners decided that there was too little time for an additional meeting. The end of the school year is absorbing in schools (exams, grading), moreover, some of the partners already had limited financial resources (additional costs related to accommodation of students in a hotel).