With the adoption of the new Circular Economy Action Plan (2020), the European Commission reaffirmed the need to go beyond the traditional linear development model and to establish a new, more inclusive, sustainable and responsible economic model that includes the recovery, regeneration and reuse of natural resources and goods produced. Environmental remediation activities are an integral part of this model. While circular economy practices related to water and soil contribute to the achievement of certain United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the achievement of certain SDGs may allow circular economy practices to be implemented more quickly, thus establishing a virtuous circle of sustainable development. As the dissemination of new practices will depend on the technical skills of tomorrow's workers and entrepreneurs, it becomes necessary to insist on developing the skills of young people, including technical and cross-cutting skills, at EU level. The CiELO project aims to transfer knowledge and skills related to sustainable development and, in particular, to the field of the circular economy, water and soil remediation and recovery. The project aims, on the one hand, to provide students and teachers with the scientific knowledge and skills to understand circular economy practices in Europe and current issues related to sustainable development. On the other hand, the project aims to stimulate students to learn, develop and share conscious behaviours, as well as transversal skills that can create virtuous development circles in the future. The project, lasting 36 months, will involve about 160 students from 4 institutes located in three European countries and their teachers; 3 scientific partners (one of which is an associated partner) specialized in circular economy issues and 1 technical partner specialized in the development of innovative digital educational materials. The selected partners are complementary from the point of view of specific competencies (scientific, methodological, technological, educational, etc.), and similar from the point of view of interest in the topics covered and this not only for the scientific partners but also for the schools involved, since they are located in areas with significant interests in soil and water reclamation and redevelopment and protection of groundwaters, which gives experimental concreteness to the project activities. To achieve its objectives, the project will support students, guided by properly trained teachers and tutors and through the use of a Cloud Plat-form, in the development of some activities based on innovative digital technologies designed to stimulate the inclusion of participants and to facilitate their learning process. The educational approach of the project will, therefore, be highly innovative, based on ICT and digital technologies and multimedia tools that ensure a high level of student involvement. Among the outputs of the project, it is important to mention: the online Cloud Platform, namely a virtual learning environment structured in different levels and which will act as a communication means and dissemination channel, shared repository and interactive training tool; training materials for teachers, including masterclasses on the project topics; videos, digital dossiers and micro-sites produced by the students involved; a report on the Flipped Classroom methodology. In addition, within the project, there will be organized n. 3 mobility (Learning, Teaching and Traning Activities) for students who will represent extremely effective intensive and unconventional learning opportunities. Between 24 and 32 students will be involved during each mobility and they will carry out a week of research in the field each time. Students participating in the mobilities will be selected on the basis of the results of the activities in which they will be protagonists and will be judged by their peers as well as by a Scientific Committee formed by the project partners. At the same time, 3 "Short-term joint staff training events" will be organized with the participation of representatives of the technical and scientific partners, to support the training activities for students. The CiELO project will have an impact on all those involved, but in particular on students, as it will improve their scientific knowledge of the circular economy and their transversal skills (linguistic, technological, communicative, etc.), and on teachers who will acquire innovative teaching methods as well as scientific skills on the topics covered by the project.
CiELO aimed to transfer knowledge and skills on sustainable development, paying particular attention to the circular economy and the recovery of environmental resources. The initiative aimed to involve 160 students and their teachers from at least three European countries, Italy, Croatia, Lithuania, to which Romania was then added. The main objective of the project was twofold. On the one hand, orienting students towards circular solutions, both in daily life with conscious choices and with practical examples illustrated during the project, inviting them to imagine their own more sustainable future and helping them to face the current challenges of sustainable development. On the other hand, stimulate active learning, personal development and the sharing of conscious behaviors in students, encouraging the formation of virtuous circles of development. In parallel, the project aimed to update and raise awareness of the teachers involved, a crucial aspect to generate a cascade effect that the positive influence of the teachers will have on other students during their careers, with the ambition of contributing to a cultural change and lasting education in Europe.
Today there is a clear need to overcome the traditional linear development model, based on the consumption of non-renewable resources, to adopt a new, more inclusive, sustainable and responsible economic approach. This new model should embrace the concepts of recovery, regeneration and reuse of natural resources and produced goods, placing the circular economy at the centre. The widespread diffusion of practices related to the circular economy and related business models will strongly depend on the technical skills of the workers and entrepreneurs of the future. Therefore, it is imperative to focus on skill development in youth, including technical and soft aspects, in order to effectively support this paradigm shift. This process cannot only be promoted at a national level, but must be implemented at a European level and is fundamental to support community development and the well-being of European citizens. The CiELO partnership wanted to contribute to responding to these needs by providing the schools involved with the tools to understand, implement and promote change and making them available to all European citizens.