CONTEXT- At the basis of the project there is the need to increase pupils' awareness & their ability to become active European citizens. The project WHERE IS BEAUTY is focused on AESTHETICS & ETHICS. “Beauty will save the world. Let's find it out and preserve it” this is our motto! We aim at helping children discovering the beauty inside & around them, providing opportunities experiences & tools to preserve this beauty,by making ethical decisions. BACKGROUND OF PROJECT-The partnership comes from the collaboration in an eTwinning project of 6 schools: Italy-Portugal-Norway-Bulgaria-Turkey-Spain. 3 schools with a strong Europeanization experience(coming also from a previous successful Erasmus KA2 & with 1 eTwinning ambassador & 2 ETwinning Schools and 3 totally newcomer schools in the European paths. This combination will be perfect to support & mentor them in their Europeanization path. The 6 schools have very different backgrounds, lands & perspectives and this will grant the partnership richness. OBJECTIVES- By funding this project, our students, teachers and communities will: -develop a deeper awareness of Europe and how important being active & responsible European citizens is -get in touch with roots & wings, past, present & future -discover European beauties & find the way to preserve them, day by day, by making personal ethical decisions that will improve European society, by serving & taking care of our societies -understand that single decisions can affect society, that each one can contribute to building a better world -realize that the future is theirs & they have the right, the duty & the possibility to build their future today by becoming aware citizens -develop 21st century competencies such as: fundamental literacy, cultural & social awareness, foreign languages, digital skills, cooperation & communication, resilience, initiative, leadership… PARTICIPANTS-The partnership involves students from 8 to 14 & it will work hard to have the maximum participation of teachers, students & communities from the 6 partner schools. -140 people are involved in mobilities -about 1000 students & teachers will be involved in the project activities -3000 at least the members of the community that will be involved thanks to dissemination -Several municipalities, associations, entrepreneurs & sponsors will be involved in the Service Learning Activities (volunteering) ACTIVITIES will be carried out DURING MEETINGS & in the INTERMEETING PERIODS. Everytime in each session both AESTHETIC & ETHICAL part will be faced MEETINGS & INTERMEETINGS. During meetings, aesthetics & ethics will be the focus of all activities carried out to become aware & preserve the beauty of the 6 topics chosen: MYSELF & THE OTHERS-NATURE-SPORT-FOOD-MUSIC-ART&ARCHITECTURE. This goal will be also reached during the intermeetings, mostly working in PBL with SERVICE LEARNING APPROACH that will guarantee to get the students accustomed in serving their societies. Ethical & aesthetic activities will be furthermore spread through creation & dissemination of the planned products/eTwinning virtual exchanges & TwinSpace activities Determinants will be also dissemination,monitoring & evaluation activities that will lead to a systematization of Europeanization also in the school documents & plans METHODS -Active methods will be at the basis of the whole project. In particular activities will be carried on using Project Based Learning method in Service Learning Approach. Metacognitive revision will be largely spread during all the activities. Digital content & foreign language acquisition will be highly integrated RESULTS & IMPACT -Enhanced civic engagement & participation -Augmented awareness of the European Cultural Heritage -Increased awareness of the beauty inside & around us -Awareness of the relation between decisions & consequences -Ability to set goals & the steps needed to reach them -Awareness of the impact that ethical choices can have in the world -Ability to transform a project in reality -Communication & cooperation skills -Active citizenship -Increased social & civic competences -Increased foreign languages skills -Spreading of volunteering practice All this will highly impact our Schools & Communities in the following ways: -Europeanization process at the basis of our school curricula -Application of innovative teaching methods & digital practices -Enhanced awareness of cultural heritage & inclination towards European culture, citizenship & democracy -Positive & inclusive school climate -Appreciation of diversity -Improvement of local communities LONGER TERM BENEFITS -The Europeanization path will be improved or begun in all partner schools & it will be at the basis of the school curricola. Enabling students & teachers understand their power to change the world, making them aware that to become active citizens is not only their right but it is also their duty,will be our long term benefit having a downstream impact.
We totally followed the project plans: CONTEXT- At the basis of the project there was the need to increase pupils' awareness & their ability to become active European citizens. Focused on AESTHETICS & ETHICS, the project helped children discover the beauty inside & around them, & provided opportunities, experiences & tools to preserve it, by making ethical decisions & actions. It also supported teachers in innovating their didactics, digital skills and propension toward sensitive aspects for the new educational paradigm. BACKGROUND OF PROJECT-The partnership came from an eTwinning collaboration of 6 schools: Italy-Portugal- Norway- Bulgaria- Turkey- Spain. The first 3 partners with a strong Europeanization experience, the second 3 totally newcomers in Erasmus. This was a perfect combination for the newcomers to grow through support & mentoring. The 6 different backgrounds, granted a visible partnership richness. OBJECTIVES- The project completely reached the fundamental objectives planned for students, teachers & communities, and supported our targets in order to: -develop a deeper awareness about how important being active & responsible European citizens is -get in touch with past, present & future and develop cultural awareness -discover European beauties & find the way to preserve them, by making personal ethical decisions & actions to improve the European society -understand that the everyday single decisions affect societies -develop 21st century competencies such as: fundamental literacy, cultural & social awareness, foreign languages, digital skills, cooperation & communication, resilience, initiative, leadership… PARTICIPANTS-The partnership had the maximum participation of students, teachers & communities from the 6 partner schools. We included kids from primary to lower secondary school, new and expert teachers, members of municipalities, associations, stakeholders, parents… ACTIVITIES- both during MEETINGS & INTERMEETING PERIODS all activities carried out in active didactics, digitally integrated and extremely inclusive, were focused on AESTHETIC & ETHICS and organised about 6 main topics, faced one by one quarterly MEETINGS & INTERMEETINGS-During the online covid year, the pupils LTTA in the 6 partner countries & during the intermeeting periods, the 6 topics chosen: MYSELF & OTHERS- NATURE- SPORT- FOOD- MUSIC & DANCE- ART&ARCHITECTURE, were the quarterly framework to raise the aesthetics & ethics sense of kids. During the intermeetings, we mostly worked in PBL, SERVICE LEARNING APPROACH. This guaranteed to get the students accustomed to serving their societies. Ethical & aesthetic activities were furthermore spread through creation & dissemination of the planned products/, eTwinning online exchanges &TwinSpace activities METHODS-Active methods, digitally integrated, were always at the basis of the whole project, in particular using PBL in Service Learning approach. Metacognitive revision was largely used during all the activities. Digital content & foreign language acquisition were highly integrated. We always worked collaboratively both in international groups and internally RESULTS that we saw during this 3 years project can be identified in: -Enhanced civic engagement & participation -Augmented awareness of the European Cultural Heritage -Increased awareness of the beauty inside & around participants -Boosted awareness of the relation between decisions & consequences & the impact that ethical choices can have in the world, ability to set the goals & the steps needed to reach them. -Augmented ability to transform ideas into projects and projects into reality -Stronger communication & cooperation skills -Boosted active citizenship -Increased social & civic competences -Increased foreign languages skills -Higher volunteering practice -Systemic integration of digital practices IMPACT- All this, highly impacted our Schools & Communities in the following ways: -Europeanization process at the basis of our school curricula -Application of innovative teaching methods & digital practices -Enhanced awareness of cultural heritage & inclination towards European culture, citizenship & democracy -Positive & inclusive school climate -Appreciation of diversity -Reduced isolation -Improvement of local communities LONGER TERM BENEFITS-The improved/begun Europeanization pathway is now highly part of the partner schools’ system and vision. PBL & Service Learning are now normal practices, such as civic commitment and digital integration. This will affect the future concept of the partner schools for years New Erasmus projects & partnerships were born from this pathway Communities are more integrated in the schools’ concept and practices in a continuous and reciprocal support: communities toward schools and students toward communities.