The main goal of this project is to sharpen or increase the awareness of students with and without special needs and thereby permanently strengthen their sense of responsibility for the environment. They should recognize the impact of their daily actions on the environment and that everyone can do something about pollution and for the preservation of our planet. An activity book on the subject of environmental protection is to be created in several languages (English, Polish, Italian, German), which can be downloaded, modified or supplemented. It is characterized by the fact that it offers material at different levels, so that a group of children with and without special needs can work together on a topic. All children, regardless of their special focus, have the opportunity to learn and make their personal contribution. The activity book can e.g. be used as workshop material in project weeks, in the context of environmental education or in youth work in the leisure sector, etc.. It will be divided into two parts. The first part provides a theoretical, informative insight into the topics of climate change, global warming, waste, air pollution, pollution of the oceans, their effects and our impact on them. The second part then offers exercises, tasks, etc. that consolidate the new knowledge or also put it into practice (depending on the material) and thus make solution approaches visible or initiate new solution ideas. The young activist Greta Thunberg has motivated many young people to think about the environment and since we consider this to be very important, we would like to contribute to the sustainable protection of our planet with our project. 36 Erasmus+ students (16 -17 years) and 8 teachers from three nations are involved in this project, as well as approx. 110 students (11-13 years), who test and evaluate the material in the course of the project (approx. 20) and at the end of the project in our workshops (approx. 90.) During the project, the Erasmus+ students deal intensively with the topic of environmental pollution and climate change and their consequences in their countries and worldwide. They develop and share their ideas not only during the project meetings on site, but also regularly during the entire project time via social media channels. For this purpose, small fixed international working groups are formed, which consist of 2 students per nation. The task of these groups is to inform each other about the current status of each nation, to exchange, test, and jointly optimize potential work results. These results are then shared again in the own (national) group and this ensures the greatest possible transparency and optimization.
The main objective of this project is to increase the awareness of young students with and without special needs and thereby strengthen their sense of responsibility for the environment. They should realise the impact of their actions on the environment and know that everyone can do something to preserve our planet. It is about raising awareness for environmentally friendly action and developing approaches to solutions. Greta Thunberg has inspired many young people and we also want to contribute to the sustainable protection of our planet with this project. The result of our project is a workbook (WB) with informative, self-produced texts and tasks of different levels of difficulty for pupils aged 10-13. The tasks consolidate the new knowledge or put it into practice (depending on the material) and stimulate new ideas for solutions. Thematically, the following aspects are dealt with: Climate change, global warming, waste, air pollution, marine pollution and their effects. The tasks are designed in such a way that students with and without special needs can work together. Each pupil can participate in work phases or discussions according to his/her possibilities. The WB is translated into 4 languages: German, English, Polish and Italian. This means that the workbook can be used in many other European schools. Each institution decides the implementation in lessons on the topic of environmental education or in project weeks individually. It is also possible to adapt the material to one's own needs or to use it as a stimulus for further work. The WB was translated by our Erasmus+ participants themselves and then linguistically revised together with the respective supervising teachers. In addition to making our results available on the project results platform, the information will be forwarded to our respective other (foreign) school contacts and networks so that the level of awareness of our WB within Europe can continue to progress and bear fruit. Print versions of the WB are made available to schools in the area to promote our cause there as well. The download can be accessed via our project's own homepage, which will be linked to our school homepages. The 3 meetings planned in the application could not take place in their original form due to the pandemic. Meetings 1+3 were replaced by 5 virtual meetings. The 2nd meeting took place in Poland. Unfortunately, due to C-19, Italy could only participate virtually in this meeting. The coordinating institution clearly summarised the agreements made in the pre-meeting for all participants and regularly reviewed them. In addition to the content-related aspects, this also involved continuous cooperation and regular exchange over the entire project period and not just limited to the planned mobilities. The students were divided into fixed international groups, consisting of 2 students per nation. These groups had the task of meeting virtually on a regular basis to inform each other about the state of affairs and the materials, to discuss them and to optimise them. Teams, WhatsApp and Discord were used. These small groups not only created the greatest possible transparency regarding our work results, but also had a great influence on the students on a social level. They got to know each other better and better and this trusting relationship enabled them to overcome their fear of communicating in the foreign language. Key competences, such as the ability to work in a team or to take criticism, were also promoted and felt to be enriching. The whole project started with a get-to-know-you online meeting. There was a general introduction and the nations presented their schools and cities. Afterwards, the small groups (put together by the coordinator) met for the first time in their breakout rooms. Numbers were exchanged and appointments made. The teaching staff also made further arrangements. The main focus of the project work was the discussion of climate and environmental protection in their own country, followed by the situation worldwide and possible solutions. In addition to the content-related work, our project also required methodological and didactic skills in order to present the complex content to the target group as comprehensibly as possible later on. The test phase of the WB in the form of a workshop took place in Germany in years 5 and 6. The Erasmus+ students, as the responsible teachers, had to act on a content-related, didactic, methodological and educational level. The guidance of younger students by older students promoted both the growth of knowledge on both sides as well as key competences such as problem-solving skills, communication skills, the ability to deal with conflicts and reach consensus as well as the ability to work in a team.