„Heads up! Young TechnoLingua Emphatic Minds“ is a Strategic Partnership for Schools formed by the coordinating „Gesamtschule der Gemeinde Rödinghausen“, Germany, „IES Blas Infante“, Spain, and „Kabatas Erkek Lisesi“, Turkey. All three schools are schools in secondary education and teach between 850 and 1000 students. In an ever changing world, a world being connected through globalization and digitalization, with new technologies and modified means of social interaction, this project focuses on teaching a sensible use of modern media while at the same time valuing empathy and social skills, also in terms of intercultural understanding across countries. Especially in the aftermaths of the Corona pandemic these aspects have become increasingly important, on the one hand in terms of switching from personal to digital contact, but on the other hand in terms of a heightened need for family and togetherness in general. Thus, the project will follow these objectives: Innovative practices in a digital era + New technologies - digital competences + Supporting individuals in acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences + Social and educational value of European cultural heritage These project objectives and goals have an effect on the whole school community, but foremost up to 24 students from each school will participate most actively. These students are around 15 years of age. They will learn a great deal from each other, from students in other countries with different knowledge about media and with a different set of cultural values guiding their social interaction. To achieve these goals, students will work on the following activities: Exchange of experiences, feelings and activities during Corona lockdown; discussion of internet safety and devising Do’s and Don’ts; role- plays on (cyber-)bullying to raise awareness and empathy of an increasing problem among youths; class discussions about sensible school rules; creating a game (such as Kahoot! or Trivia) about respectful word usages; writing emails to the exchange partners about school rules and means of punishment; workshops at project meetings focusing on e-safety, school rules and coexistence; conducting interviews with the elderly, professionals in their field of work and other role models about the change their (work) lives have undergone. The methods used throughout the project are clearly task-based. Students will be presented with challenges to solve. This process requires collaborative and team work within the project group of each country, but also between the partners in the other countries. Highlight of shared ideas and experiences will be the three project meetings at which the teenagers traveling can work with their partners face to face. Thus, the activities and methods emphasize creativity as well as product and activity orientation. As more concrete results, we expect the following: A video showing featuring experiences, activities and other related scenes from the time of strictest Corona restrictions in the three countries. A video featuring a typical digital day in the life of a teenager in Córdoba, Istanbul or Rödinghausen. A video about „European“ school rules and politeness, featuring again shared ideas from the three partner schools. An exchange booklet keeping track of the project meetings An exhibition after completing the project. In conclusion, this partnership will foster development in the area of digital skills as well as communicative skills needed in personal social interaction. Additionally, students will improve their creativity and further knowledge about digital media on the one hand, but maybe even more importantly on empathy and cultural understanding, especially when it comes to sensible topics such as cyberbullying or interaction across countries all over Europe. As the results will be shared with the participants' peers, for example when discussing e-safety, or with the rest of the school community, including other students, teachers and parents, the impact of the project is a great one. Outside of school, local companies and the whole community will be involved and made aware of ongoing changes with the help of broadcasting results on local radio or TV stations. As disseminating activities, students will also prepare exhibitions to present the project results to a wider audience; examples are the Entrepreneur May Fair in Córdoba or a presentation at a University Conference in Istanbul. German students will also be embassadors to younger students at elementary school and teach them about e-safety, for instance. Last but not least, teachers’ centres, local and regional educational authorities, local governments such as councillors and mayors, will be involved by either inviting them or presenting ideas to them. Going beyond the three cities which are part of the project, many results, such as parts of the exchange booklet, will be uploaded to our Erasmus+ webpage for everybody to use wherever suitable.
“Heads up! Young TechnoLingua Emphatic Minds“ was a Strategic Partnership for Schools formed by the coordinating “Gesamtschule der Gemeinde Rödinghausen“, in Rödinghausen, Germany, “IES Blas Infante“, in Córdoba, Spain, and “Kabatas Erkek Lisesi“, in Istanbul, Turkey. All three schools are schools in secondary education and teach between 850 and 1000 students. Each school held a project meeting and hosted about 12 students around 15-16 years of age and 3 accompanying staff from each school. The project application was finished during the pandemic lockdown in spring 2020. This fact influenced the objectives and contents of the partnership as we saw the importance of making participants aware of an intelligent use of digital media working on empathy, social skills and intercultural understanding. As a result, we agreed on these three main project objectives: 1. Improve awareness about digital safety among our students. 2. Promote ethical values and school coexistence. 3. Know the values within our cultural heritage. To fulfill these objectives, we carried out among other activities: exchange of experiences, feelings and activities during Corona lockdown, discussion on internet safety and devising Do’s and Don’ts, role-plays on cyber-bullying to raise awareness and empathy about an increasing problem among youths, class discussions about sensible school rules, writing emails to the exchange partners about school rules and means of punishment, workshops at project meetings focusing on e-safety, school rules and coexistence, conducting interviews with the elderly, professionals in their field of work and other role models about the change their lives have undergone due to digitalization, We used the task-based approach to carry out these learning situations. Students were presented with challenges to solve. This process required collaborative and team work within the project group of each country, which faced the difficulties associated to the pandemic especially during 2020-21 where students were not even at school or were unable to interact face to face. Luckily, we were finally able to meet at the beginning of 2022 at the Turkey meeting to share ideas and experiences, which lead to the other two meetings and more real interaction at schools leading to an increasingly more creative, interactive and empathetic methodology. As more concrete results, we were able to produce these common outputs to the three partner schools: personal videos and presentations on experiences during the Corona lockdown, videos showing students’ digital lives, posters with Do’s and Don’ts on eSafety rules, videos and scripts of roleplays about cyberbullying, emails about school rules and audio and video files with role models interviews. At the Spanish school they produced a video to introduce their school, another video about the School Coexistance Plan. ESafety was deepened through a contest for the best poster, a Kahoot quiz and a virtual game with Cospaces. They also produced an exchange booklet for the Turkey meeting and another for the Spain meeting to get information about the project itinerary and other useful information and reflect on the experience. During the meetings, several workshops and events were especially relevant to the project objectives about digitalization, empathy and cultural heritage. During the Turkey meeting, the experiences as deaf and blind people, the visit to the emergencies park to know how to deal with natural disasters and the visits to Dolmabahçe, Topkapı, Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque, Grand and Spice Bazaars. The Spanish meeting highlighted the traditional games challenge race with grandparents, the discussions on school rules and coexistence, the maths workshop on the Cordobesian proportion and the visits to the Courtyards Festival, Alcázar, Mosque-Cathedral and Alhambra. Finally, the workshop on digitalization at schools, the scout group visit, the German traditions, the visit to the Heinz Nixdorf Museum, the world’s biggest computer museum, the rope climbing activity, the Detmold Outdoor Museum and the visit to the local football stadium were the most outstanding experiences of the German meeting. In conclusion, this partnership fostered development in the area of digital skills as well as communicative skills needed in personal social interaction. Additionally, students improved their creativity and further knowledge about digital media on the one hand, but even more importantly on empathy and cultural understanding, especially when it comes to sensible topics such as cyberbullying or interaction across countries all over Europe.