In the days of "Fridays For Future", our students also increasingly deal with environmental issues. It becomes clear that resources are not unlimited and that every responsible citizen has to deal with the issue of climate change. All students should raise awareness of the diversity and opportunities of European countries in the area of climate change and sustainable development. Students will see that these challenges are the same for all of us and that we can find answers to some problems, such as the amount of energy or water that we use at home, that can apply in any country. For the same reason, they will discover different technical approaches in the participating countries due to the climate and geographic conditions, as well as consumer habits that need to be changed. The eTwinning platform soon found like-minded teachers. A total of 96 students between the ages of 12 and 14 from four different schools will take part in the project: The Colegio Salesiano San Juan Bosco in La Cuesta, Tenerife (Spain), the Schule am Schloss in Sögel (Germany), Dr. Nassau College in Norg (Netherlands) and Nymarkskolen in Svendborg (Denmark). Regionally, all participating schools have their own problems with water resources: The island of Tenerife often struggles with dry periods, and there are no rivers or lakes on the island. The island can guarantee drinking water supply through desalination. In Denmark, we work with a nature school and the neighboring university to research the positive effects of seaweed planting on climate change. The greatest threat in the Netherlands is found in rising sea levels. Dike protection and protection of coastal regions are already very important in the Netherlands. At some stations, we are researching solutions from the Netherlands with regard to coastal protection and the protection of Dutch rivers. In Germany, the topics are in the area of groundwater pollution. In this way, the pupils learn about the tasks of waterworks, sewage treatment plants, water protection areas and bogs. Attention is also paid to traditional agriculture and local industry and their precautions for groundwater protection. Our students should perceive these problems and, above all, work sustainably to solve them. You should research what solutions are available in other countries and what can still be improved. Under the guidance of trained teachers, students should see what is already being done to protect nature and the population outside of their respective countries, and more importantly what they can do to improve it. Cooperation between European partners must be trained at an early stage. For this reason, studying and collaborating on a common project is of paramount importance for developing their ability to work in international teams. The discussion of the topics should take place in different ways: by preparing the problem (presentation) of your classmates in advance and excursions to different locations, the students should be introduced to the topics. Solution approaches should then take place in digital form (videos) and in the creation of models. We teachers from different European schools consider these methods to be particularly appealing and contemporary for our students. In addition to their scientific, technical and linguistic skills, the students also improve their media skills. In addition, the digitally created solutions for the school community (publication of the results on Friday on behalf of the student body) and the public can be made available. With our project, we want to show teachers from different European schools to our young students that the challenges of the future can be tackled by young Europeans and that everyone can contribute on a personal level by raising their awareness of climate change. Areas such as energy saving technologies and sustainable consumption of existing resources are the top priority. The main goals of our project are the experience that active participation in a rapidly changing world is possible, international cooperation is a must, and changes in attitudes, consumer habits and professional orientation. Every mobility is recorded in the media (video diary, photos, blogs) and these are presented on the school homepage after completion and published in the local press. The content is also to be presented and evaluated at the overall conference and regional training events.
The last three years that we have been working on the Erasmus Key Action 2 project “Water as a source of our life” are now behind us and we can draw a conclusion. In many ways, this project experience exceeded our expectations as the participating students grew from the exchange experience in ways we did not think possible. After the first exchange meeting in Spain in May 2022, the students were fascinated by this unique exchange situation. Getting to know the country and its people, in collaboration with international groups and on a topic from their area of interest, was a great enrichment for the students. The returning students were bursting with self-confidence and sometimes showed a new openness in class. So we considered the first mobility a success. We were also pleasantly surprised that the students continued to maintain regular contact with their exchange students, some of them to this day, and even visited each other on their own a few months later. Next came the mobility in the Netherlands in September 2022, with a new group of students getting the chance for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Here, too, the students worked on projects in international groups, spoke English throughout the entire project and got to know the country and its people in a special way through their stay with host families. On a five-day sailing tour through the IJsselmeer, they experienced the Wadden Sea National Park up close and looked at the impact of climate change on coastal protection on the Dutch coast. In Denmark, we continued the red thread through the project by looking at the possibilities and limits of Danish coastal protection for the third mobility in December 2022. For this purpose, the students created, among other things, elevation profiles of the city of Svendborg, which they created using a 3D printer. During this mobility, not only intercultural and linguistic skills were trained, but also manual skills. Finally, the fourth mobility took place at the coordinating school in Germany in May 2023. Here all the experiences abroad were once again bundled, evaluated and presented in various artistic projects such as creating canvases or building water wheels. Students, parents and teachers were consistently enthusiastic about the Erasmus project and grateful for their participation, especially with regard to the accommodation in host families and the support of everyday school life in the respective countries. We as teachers are proud that by taking part in this project we were able to expand the horizons of our students immensely, we were able to see how confident and free they act when placed in a different environment and how they make friends in four different European countries countries that can certainly contribute to the spread of diversity, tolerance and openness. We will continue to try to give our students these unique life experiences in the future, as we see the benefits they have not only for the students directly affected, but also for the entire school. Last but not least, they are an incentive for future students to get involved in sustainable projects of this kind.