Heat waves, heavy rain and floods in summer or lack of snow in winter show clearly that global warming already has effects on mankind. Our children will perceive even more consequences of climate change in the future. That is why we planned this project "my ecological footprint for a better future" together with our partners from Spain, Italy and the Netherlands with the topics climate change and climate protection. By taking part in this project the children will understand reasons for climate change and start becoming an active part in climate protection. The targets are to promote a basic understanding of climate, climate protection and climate change and to motivate actions. We want to inform the children in all countries, strengthen them and show possibilities to spring into action. By doing so we will educate our pupils to become competent Europeans who make decisions based on the knowledge about sustainability and environment protection. The schools in Spain and the Netherlands already are our partners in the current project. We learned a lot, profited from each other and experienced synergy effects. The idea for another project is the result of our productive and enriching work. We share the thought that it is important for everyone to feel responsible for a climate-friendly future and we want to show the children possibilities to act in responsible ways and develop their own attitudes. On eTwinning we found our fourth partner in Italy who focuses on sustainability in their school development. During the project we will focus on certain topics of climate change and climate protection in our work with the children. These will be the topics of our mobilities with children: - scientific aspects of the ecological footprint - agricultural aspects of the ecological footprint - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – waste prevention - sustainable artwork and upcycling During the six days of a mobility the children and adults will be trained in several workshop groups and work out new contents. The content-related project goals will be achieved by pre- and post-mobility tasks and by the planned Learning, Teaching and Training activities. At the end of each mobility there will be a climate conference with all participants and the whole school who hosts the mobility. In this conference the children will agree upon certain targets which have to be realised in each school during the time between this mobility and the next. The climate conference's decisions are to be implemented and established in each school. In order to achieve this and to promote sustainable thinking and living over the long term, the participants of the climate conference need to become climate-ambassadors in their schools and regions. On the next mobility there will then be a presentation and discussion if and how the decisions were implemented. An overall evaluation will take place during the final mobility with only adults. At the beginning of this project each school will pack a Story Sack and bring it with them to the first mobility. This is a bag or rucksack which contains a children's book from the home country, an English translation, a cuddly toy related to the story and an activity which can be performed with children. The Story Sacks will be passed round at each mobility so that in the end of the project each school had each Story Sack once. Back home each school will have to perform one of the activities that are already in the Story Sack and add a new (invented) activity to the Sack. At the last mobility with children each country gets their own Story Sack back. Each partner will have to prepare a presentation and a handout about their Story Sack and the added activities for the very last mobility with only adults. The teachers benefit at each mobility from the exchange of good practice. They see how everyday life is organised in the different schools, widen their intercultural and communicative competencies and experience the school systems of the partner countries.
The project aimed to create a basic understanding of climate, climate protection and climate change and to motivate to take action. The following points were defined for the work with the children on the topic of climate change and climate protection: - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - waste avoidance - Scientific basics of the ecological footprint - Agricultural aspects of the ecological footprint - Sustainable art and upcycling Due to the Corona pandemic, the first contacts of the project period could initially only take place online. During this time, on the one hand, a common calendar was compiled, for which each participating country designed three months. On the other hand, logo proposals were developed by the students of the respective partner schools, three of which were selected in a school vote. From the now 12 existing logo proposals, the final logo was determined in an international digital poll. The regular video conferences of the coordinators were maintained throughout the project. In these, the partners also exchanged views on important social and cultural aspects of the mobilities. For example, it was determined that each mobility should include musical, artistic and/or sportive aspects in addition to the content aspects. The "mood boards" were important for the first getting to know of the group. During the 6 days of each mobility, the children and teachers were trained in different workshops on the respective mobility topic and content was developed together. The content-related project goals were achieved through the preparation and follow-up as well as through the implementation of the training, teaching and learning activities. At the end of each mobility, a climate conference was held in the respective school with all participants, in which goals were set to be implemented within the participating schools until the next training, teaching and learning activity. The goals set in the climate conferences were to be implemented and established, at best sustainably, in the schools. In addition, the teachers and students participating in the project should act as climate ambassadors in the respective system in order to stimulate sustainable thinking and living in the long term. At the next mobility, an exchange took place on how and to what extent the goals were implemented. An overall evaluation took place during the final mobility of only adults. For the kick-off mobility in Germany, each partner institution was also asked to pack a Story Sack; a backpack or bag containing the following: A children's book on the topic of "Nature and the Environment" from the respective country, if possible an english translation of the text, a matching stuffed animal, and a classroom activity that can be done with the book. With each mobility, the Story Sacks were now passed around in turn. Back at school, everyone had to carry out an existing lesson idea from the Story Sack and add another (self-imagined) one. At the final training, teaching and learning activity with children, everyone received their own Story Sack back. At the final mobility, in which only adults participated, the results of their own Story Sacks were presented and reflected upon. The teachers benefited in each mobility by sharing good practices. They saw how everyday life works in other schools, expanded intercultural and communication skills, and experienced the school systems of other countries. An excellent final product of this project is a calendar with a "target of the month". During the project, each climate conference identified monthly projects through which each partner school could specifically focus on a sustainability issue. At the last mobility, these were assigned to the months and each partner institution will design pictures and tips for each theme in the last months of the project. The aim was to educate and encourage children beyond national borders, to make them strong and to show them room for maneuver in order to educate our students to become self-confident and competent Europeans who can make their decisions based on the acquired knowledge about sustainability and environmental protection.