“C-osmos-is” reflects the idea that we enter a new “cosmos” and learn in it and about it and its culture through “osmosis” in the sense of learning about something that one is in close contact with. In times of growing euro-skepticism and nationalism we believe it is vital to establish close relations between people in Europe and to raise awareness of our common cultural heritage. Thus, the social and educational value of European cultural heritage is constitutive to this cross-curricular 24 months project: The participating schools, IES Vega del Jarama (San Fernando de Henares, Spain), Liceo "G. Cesare - M. Valgimigli" (Rimini, Italy), Christian-von-Dohm-Gymnasium (Goslar, Germany), 6o Gymnasio Larisas (Larisa, Greece), Kunskapsskolan Örebro (Örebro, Sweden), are all in the vicinity of UNESCO sites (e.g. Alcalá de Henares; Malatesta Library, Rimini; silver mine Rammelsberg, Goslar; Meteora; Skogskykogården, Stockholm) and related to a different focus within the project, which is structured into five different periods centering around the students’ meetings. San Fernando de Henares is connected with art, Rimini with film, Goslar with nature, Larisa with music and Örebro with architecture. Each school hosts a students’ meeting in the course of which the students collaborate with peers from different countries, reflect on their own and others’ cultural heritage to achieve a better understanding of each other and our diversity and similarities. In line with the focus of each meeting is its product, which can be tangible or intangible: In Spain the students create a portfolio, in Italy they produce a docu-film about the meeting, in Goslar they curate an exhibition of their own works of art and compile a multi-lingual guide to tree planting based on their hands-on experience, in Greece they get to know different dances and songs from the participants’ countries and in Sweden they design architectural products for an exhibition. All students’ meetings and their results are covered by an e-magazine to be accomplished as a final documentation of the project. Students’ meetings combine subject-oriented input and research with creative approaches that are realized both in conventional and digital ways. Students improve their creative, planning and digital skills, broaden their horizons through intercultural encounters and expand their communicative, language, and social skills in collaborating with peers. As these come from five different regions spread out over the EU, students develop an openness to different European ways and situations of life that is based on personal experience acquired both in continuous collaboration and in face-to-face meetings. In the long-term, this can also benefit their professional lives. Continuous collaboration between students is carried out on eTwinning: National teams take turns in posting a “Question of the month”, information is exchanged between hosts and guests, and preparatory as well as follow-up work for the students’ meetings is pursued. Two teachers’ training events supplement the project: The first focuses on intercultural learning and digital tools. Both aspects support project work throughout the two project years and are implemented into the partner schools’ curricula. The second teachers’ training has an emphasis on digital representations of art, which also play a central part in the students’ tasks. For both teachers and students new perspectives on art and digital media and its options are opened up. The mid- to long-term benefits of the project are the effects of peer-to-peer learning for both teachers and students, especially taking into account the variety of cultures and school systems represented in the project group. The combination of reflection on one’s own culture and cultural heritage and that in other places visited in the course of the project, the international collaboration and the variety of skills used contribute to an enduring cultural education as a basis of life-long learning.
The name of the project, "C-osmos-is", reflects the idea that we learn about a new "cosmos" and its culture through osmosis, by gathering experience in close contact with something new. This cross-curricular project aimed at establishing closer relations between people in Europe and at heightening awareness of our common cultural heritage. The educational and social value of our common European cultural heritage was central to this project running for 33 months. The participating schools IES Vega del Jarama (San Fernando de Henares, Spain), Liceo "G. Cesare - M. Valgimigli" (Rimini, Italy), Christian-von-Dohm-Gymnasium (Goslar, Germany), 6o Gymnasio Larisas (Larisa, Greece), Kunskapsskolan Örebro (Örebro, Sweden), which are all located near Unesco world heritage sites (e.g. Alcalá de Henares near San Fernando de Henares, Malatesta library in Rimini, Rammelsberg Mine in Goslar, Meteora and Dion near Larisa, Drottningholm Castle accessible from Örebro), were assigned to five different topics. The five topics, art, film, architecture, nature as well as music and dance, were kept like the idea to assign each of them to a students' meeting at one of the partner schools. The planned order had to be partly modified due to the Covid-19 pandemic when it was impossible to travel and thus no physical meetings of students could take place. Project work was done in the national project teams first and then uploaded to the Twinspace and the project website respectively. In this way it became available to the international project team. The results were either used later, when a physical meeting was possible, or - from the end of the first year of the project onwards - soon after they had been created. In the course of the project period it was possible to have a students' meeting at each of the five partner schools. The outcomes included different types of videos (documentations, tutorials, comics, presentations and "tree islands", a preparation for a reforestation project). The students were able to gain new insights and to be creative in both digital and conventional ways. Meeting peers from different European countries and guests staying in host families contributed to the students' intercultural and language skills and also helped them in developing as a person in general. Students took on responsibility, faced the challenge to deal with unfamiliar situations, acted emphatically and cooperatively. These experiences will have a long-term effect too. Due to the pandemic, project work focused on online collaboration for a long period of time. By trying out different forms of online collaboration, which were in part also used in the schools' distance learning, synergies were created that could not have been expected when the project was planned. Digital skills in online collaboration have clearly been improved for all participants. The teachers' training events achieved the objectives of increasing digital skills and broadening the European perspective. The latter applies both to cooperation with partner schools as well as EU institutions and their value as places of learning outside the school building. These aspects can be implemented in school life and have a long-term effect.