The project joins six schools from six countries: Czech Republic, France, Portugal, Iceland, Romania, Greece. They are joined by an interest in environmental issues. They are experienced in international cooperation, in Erasmus+. All schools are of a similar character - smaller schools active in international cooperation and project work. The partner schools are extended to extreme positions of the territory of the European Union. From the north of Iceland to the ocean surrounded Azores. From the inland position of the Czech Republic and Romania to coastal France and Greece. This offers a unique opportunity to compare their environment. Our project deals with the idea of water, its importance, and the necessity to protect it. Our objective is to promote students’ awareness of this issue that is becoming more and more important in our life. We want to reach this objective by implementing activities focused on this topic. By working on the theme of water we will learn about it from different points of view: its characteristics, its occurrence, its importance for life, its role in the countryside, the ways to protect it, etc. We will learn the facts and work with them in a creative way. The project will develop a positive attitude toward science, experiments, exploring. The students will learn about the relationship between humans and nature and develop a better understanding of their personal power to influence things. The project will not include just theory but also very concrete activities helping the environment. The other very important objective of the project is international cooperation. Children will experience cooperation and communication with people from different countries. The project will also improve communication skills in real situations. It will show the importance of the English language as an international language and raise the motivation for learning English. Mobilities make a very important part of the project. The experience of contact with a foreign country as a guest as well as a host is irreplaceable. The meetings will take place in each partner school. Some meetings will consist of student exchanges together with teacher training events, some of them just of student exchanges. During the meetings, we will implement the project activities. Teacher training events will be focused on experiments, implementing environmental education, sharing the experience with methodology, experiencing different climates, environment, and environmental issues. Children will have the opportunity to feel team spirit, cooperate. Even if not all pupils can take part in the student exchanges they will profit from hosting children from partner schools. The project work will increase the ICT knowledge and skills. Children will use a blog and e-Twinning for their communication. Children will experience group work, project work. The cooperation will also involve the families and the local community in school life. It will help to fight xenophobia. It will raise tolerance through learning about other cultures. The project will help the involved teachers not only to increase their qualifications but also to raise their motivation for work and fight against burnout.
Six schools from six countries participated in the project. They were united by their interest in environmental issues. The partner schools came from the extreme locations of the territory of the European Union. From Iceland in the north, to the Azores in the south. From coastal France in the west, through the inland Czech Republic, to Romania and Greece in the east. This offered a unique opportunity to compare their environment. Most of the partners had previous experience with international cooperation. All schools were of a similar character – smaller schools active in international cooperation and project work. The project dealt with the topic of water, its importance and the need to protect it. The goal of the project was to raise the participants' awareness of this issue, which is becoming increasingly important in our lives. This goal was achieved by implementing activities focused on this topic. Six activities for each school year, i.e. a total of twelve. The activities dealt with water from a different point of view: its properties, occurrence, importance for life, role in the landscape, methods of protection, etc. Participants discovered facts and processed them in a creative way. The project developed a positive relationship to science, experiments, research. The participants learned about the relationship between man and nature and better understood their own chances to influence things. In addition to theory, the project also included specific activities that help the environment. Another very important goal of the project was international cooperation. The participants experienced cooperation and communication with people from different countries. The project improved communication skills in real situations. It showed the importance of the English language as an international language of communication and increased the motivation to study it. Mobilities were a very important part of the project. The participants experienced contact with a foreign country in the position of both guest and host. Meetings were held in each partner school. Some meetings consisted of student exchanges together with teacher training and some only of student exchanges. Part of the project activities was implemented during the meetings. Teacher training was focused on experiments, implementation of environmental education, sharing experience with methodology, work in different climatic conditions and environment, with different environmental problems . The participants experienced project work, teamwork, cooperation. Working on the project increased their ICT knowledge and skills. Although not all students could participate in student exchanges, they benefited from the hosting of children from partner schools. The project involved families and the local community in the life of the school. It helped fight xenophobia. It increased tolerance of other cultures. It increased the prestige of the participating schools. The project helped the involved teachers not only to increase their qualifications but also to increase their motivation to work and fight against burnout. The project was greatly affected by the coronavirus crisis. The start of the implementation of the activities was postponed by a year. The project was extended by ten months. It was possible to implement all activities and meetings, but not all planned mobilities. Children could not always be accommodated in host families. The reconstruction of the eTwinning platform was also essential for the realization of the project. The reconstruction took a very long time, when it was not possible to use eTwinning and even after its completion it was not possible to implement the original plan.