TripleS – Students Support Sustainibility In TripleS 10- to 12-year-olds from Croatia, Romania and Germany explore ways to face climate change. They gain knowledge to save the climate and use their creativity to spread their knowledge in a song. The song will be composed collaboratively and in its production, recording and performance students experience European unity as they face a fundamental threat to their future. The topic of TripleS ties in with the global interest of very many young people in slowing down climate change and offers ample opportunity to act both environmentally and climate friendly at local and international level. Creativity of young learners is used to find ways of expressing facts and feelings linked to the project’s topic and to be an inspiration to other locals who might feel the same and share the interest of TripleS. During the production of the song and the video young learners experience collaborative work in international groups as one means to solve an existential problem. The song and the accompanying video pick up the main focuses of TripleS: sustainability in food, consumer behaviour and mobility. Various workshops deal with each focus during and in between short-term exchanges of groups of pupils. These workshops and short term projects go alongside with the song composition, production and recording which require strong international cooperation of the three project partners who have agreed to use eTwinning as their means of communication, documentation and evaluation. The three schools contribute towards the project with different skills. The German school has a solid background in music, the Romanian school is experienced in dancing with large groups and the Croatian school is skilled in making traditional instruments. All teams share the interest to act towards saving the climate and are very open to exchange at global and European level. The partners of TripleS intend to further develop their skills both as individuals and as a team of teachers and they plan to include more sustainability issues in their schools’ profiles. Additionally, they aim at inspiring fellow learners and people from their local communities towards a more sustainable lifestyle. At each partner school between 80 and 150 students are frequently involved in project activities. In their work they continuously combine intellectual work on content issues and creative work on the shared song and the accompanying video. The project teachers hope for interesting exchange, inspiring collaboration und peaceful European experience for all participants of TripleS.
During the 30-month project period of "Students Support Sustainibility" (TripleS), 10- to 15-year-olds from Croatia, Romania and Germany tested strategies to confront climate change. They acquired knowledge on climate rescue and used their creativity to disseminate this knowledge in videos, dance choreographies and theatre productions. These were developed by the students in international teams from idea generation to publication. During the exchange, digital and analogue cooperation intertwined. The students experienced themselves as part of a strong European team, which together dealt with an existential threat and developed strategies to face it. TripleS tied in with the worldwide desire of many people to stop climate change as far as possible. It offered a variety of opportunities to become sustainably active. TripleS drew on the creativity of European students to express facts and emotions related to climate change and inspire others to take climate action, too. During creative activities, the students experienced working together in international groups as a powerful way to address an existential problem. Music, video, dance choreographies and theatre productions were created on the three TripleS focal points: food, mobility and consumer behavior. The project duration of TripleS was increased from 24 to 30 months due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Four short-term exchanges (C1-C4) took place, with only teachers participating in the C1 exchange. During C1 in October 2021, teachers learned how to use uniformly purchased equipment for video production. This ensured that international student collaboration between and during C2, C3 and C4 was technically smooth. Sustainability and mobility "Moving Thoughts" was the title of C2 in Braunschweig in May 2022. After a two-month digital preparation project, collaborative videos were produced during the exchange week in which the students expressed the emotional impact that sustainable mobility can have. Sustainability and consumerer behavior During C3 in October 2022 in Pazin, Croatia, the students explored ways to make new, useful things out of waste and thus consume less and more sustainably. Musical instruments were made from rubbish, old T-shirts turned into new bags. A piece of music was composed, rehearsed and performed. In addition, a dance choreography was developed and performed to traditional Romanian, Croatian and German music. Sustainability and food Dancing as a unifying element and great means of communication was also taken up during C4 in March 2023 in Medias, Romania. The topic of that exchange was sustainability and food. The students examined fairy tales from the three countries for the dishes they contained. In teams, sustainable meals inspired by the fairy tales were prepared and shared. In addition, the students developed theatre productions based on the fairy tales, which also focused on sustainable food. Throughout TripleS, eTwinning proved to be a useful tool for communication, documentation and evaluation. After 30 months of running the project, all TripleS members are now proficient users of this versatile tool. This is also underlined by three eTwinning Quality Labels awarded to the German team in 2020, 2021 and 2022 for TripleS projects. English served as the project language. Expanding English skills was another TripleS goal, which was simply worked on during each digital and face-to-face exchange. The teaching team looks proudly at the TripleS success in this area. During TripleS, teachers and students as a whole benefited enormously from each other, because each team has its own special competences that it put at the service of TripleS. The German school has a solid musical and technical background. They also brought in expertise in performing arts, which was important for the video and theatre productions. The Romanian school has experience in dancing and cooking and the Croatian school knows how to build traditional instruments and is experienced in composing program music and in developing dance choreographies. Overall, through the exchange, all teachers and students discovered various new ways to address climate change in a sustainable way. This enables them to carry the idea of sustainability further into their own schools and communities. In doing so, all participants benefit from the experience of working not as individuals, but as a strong, European team.