Climate change and the way how humans have been destroying the planet for example by overusing its resources call for action, which is why students should be informed better. They already take part in events like the “Fridays for Future” demonstrations, however, the students are often believed to know too little about the actual matter.We want to inspire students to be more aware of how they’re contributing to the destruction of our planet and consequently, how they can help to better the situation. In our project they are supposed to learn how every individual can make a difference. There are lots of concepts or ways of behaving in daily life and school life, a change or improvement of which can effect change. Having undertaken the exchange between or three schools multiple times, we already know that cultural exchange widens one’s horizon. Especially the method of working on a shared project helps to communicate across state boundaries and emphasizes the “European Idea”. Since the students’ working language is English they also improve their English, which is a useful side effect and secondary objective. The aim of the project is to implement doable, practical concepts of raising the awareness of the need to protect the environment and to live more sustainably. Therefore, we’re planning to establish new student projects and to make practical changes at our schools in order to effect a flow of information about sustainable living. By sharing our innovations via social media, we’re aiming at making a difference on a European level. The project is voluntary for students and teachers. At least 40 students per schoolyear, 15 to 17 years old, will participate. At the start of the project, we will inform students about it. To join, students will send in an application form. Selection will be based on a student’s written motivation. The motivation will have to include interest in the project’s theme and in other people's living schemes and the will to share one's own. The selected students will have to be welcoming hosts and well-behaved guests during the exchanges. Besides the coordinator and two or three accompanying teachers when traveling, interested teachers will be invited to join the project to teach classes or accompany excursions. For some activities, especially during the exchanges, experts will be invited to assist. During the exchange we will undertake all kinds of activities that will raise an awareness of one’s role in the climate change. All activities aim to make students think of ways to change their behaviour in the context of climate change and to minimize their share in pollution in their own environment: at school and in their homes. The first exchange in a cycle of three will be held in Alkmaar. Increasing awareness regarding the state of the earth is a first step towards behavioral change. The focus will be on raising awareness on pollution, waste generation and waste management. In the Darmstadt meetings the focus will be on “waste”. Students will learn about toxic sideeffects and the pollution caused by the use ofplastic. The focus will also be on how to reduce and/or recycle plastic waste. In Troyes the focus will be on the topic of eco-construction and greenbuilding. One of the tasks the students will have to fulfil is to imagine their ideal school in terms of ecological transition. Therefore the precious work of school’s eco-delegates will be inspiring. Historically, Troyes is also the city of knitting. Therefore part of the activities taking place during the meeting in Troyes will be linked to textile and clothing. Methodology to be used during the activities will includ: -icebreaker games (like milling around to talk about change of behaviour in use of water, transport... or cooperative sportgames and the empowerment activity called "cross the line") -research, evaluation, survreys, interviews (i.e. about plastics use, pollution, health hazards...interview professionals of clothing facturay and students of the EPF university) -measure the ecological footprint/plastic footprint -group discussions and debate (i.e. about pollution) -teamwork (in every activity) -create films and vlogs (i.e. to promote a plastic free lifestyle) -art projects -presentation or exhibition Results will take different forms : documentary research, production of slideshows and videos, oral presentations, interviews of professionals, creation of models, production of a handbag and a piece of art/masquottes with recycled material that will constitute a leitmotif during the meetings. We hope that what will be learnt and understood during the project work will help changing minds and habits concerning waste. Indeed, involving students and their families, but also schools, our twin cities and partners outside school will spread an awareness towards more and more people. Collaboration with the city halls, but also local press and professionals will have an impact on many behaviors around us.
The advancing climate change caused by human activity affects us all and calls on us to inform ourselves and take action. Our students are already doing this for the most part, for example by getting involved in "Fridays for Future". Nevertheless, a survey conducted by us beforehand showed that they would like to get more involved in the field of resource conservation and waste avoidance in their own everyday lives in order to experience themselves as effective. The aim of our project was therefore to raise awareness among students of the size of their own ecological footprint on the one hand, and on the other hand to show how they themselves can become active in the area of climate protection through small actions in their everyday school and private lives. Here we use existing concepts of the local schools (e.g. sustainability projects as well as the work with eco-delegates and local partners within the cities like second-hand stores, sustainability delegates, “Unverpackt” = “no-wrapping” stores etc.). This allowed all partner schools to benefit from each other and broaden their own horizons. In addition to this focus on content, another goal was to improve the language skills of the students, as they communicated, researched and presented in English throughout the project. Participation in the project was voluntary. 46 students aged between 14 and 18 took part. Before the start of the project, former participants and/or the project leaders of the respective schools advertised among the student body. This was followed by an invitation to register (in some cases also by submitting a letter of motivation). All participants were once hosts and once travelers to one of the three possible target countries Netherlands, Germany, France. In all three countries 2 teachers accompanied the traveling students. A local teacher team was responsible to carry out and lead the project activities in the respective host country. Local partners and experts as mentioned above also supported and carried out some activities. The first exchange meeting took place in Alkmaar, the second in Darmstadt and the third in Troyes. In Alkmaar, the first step was to determine one's own ecological footprint and to think about and discuss concepts that could lead to a reduction of this footprint. In Darmstadt, the focus was then on trying out concrete concepts. We concentrated on the theme of waste avoidance here (especially with regard to plastic waste). In Troyes, the preliminary projects were evaluated and compared. In addition, the students were again asked to try out challenges as a whole group on the topic of "sustainability" (clothing, water, food, etc.) and they learned a lot about energy-efficient living. The school's eco-delegates presented already established projects. We carried out the following concrete activities during the exchange: - Measuring our own ecological footprint and identifying cultural behavioral differences and similarities with regard to sustainable, eco-friendly living - Debates, discussion rounds and short presentations on issues of climate protection and climate policy as well as on our own consumption behavior and the use of resources (partly in local town halls) - City hunts (city tours with special assignments) with the focus on "sustainability" as well as workshops at local sustainability partners (Unverpackt-Laden (Darmstadt), Second-Hand Shop RataPlan (Alkmaar)), visit of the farmers’ market (Alkmaar), EPF /Troyes) - shopping and cooking together without waste and without wrappings as well as the Red-Paper-Clip-Challenge - Questionnaires, interviews and research on resource-conserving behavior The following methods and media were used during the exchange, and some of them also served to record the results at the same time: -debates, creation of videos and flogs on plastic waste prevention, group puzzle for information on the opportunities and dangers of plastic, sports and cooperation games for getting to know each other better, cross-the-line activity for reflection on one's own consumption behavior. In all schools, long-term goals and results emerged from the project work and the methods implemented. These included installing a water dispenser to reduce plastic bottle use in the school, installing a collection bin for batteries and deposit bottles in the auditorium, obtaining the E3D label for sustainability, regular visits to local partners and embedding these in the school's own curricula (e.g. the concepts of the “Unverpackt” store, the RataPlan and the work with eco-delegates). We think that the project work and the project results contribute to learning from each other and experiencing oneself as self-effective. By securing the results, working with local partners, using existing concepts in the schools and presenting our results in local newspapers and on open visitors' days in the schools, we hope that in the long run more people can benefit from our project.