Promotion and development of students’ skills and knowledge of the English language, maths, biology and science with the use of modern technology and ICT is the main aim for all five schools participating in the project. During the course of the project, all ambassadors want to raise students' awareness of cultural differences between the European countries. In our project ‘The Mystery of Science’ 14-16 year-old students will have a chance to collaborate in national and international groups. They will take part in five mobilities to different countries, each focusing on different skills (maths, physics, chemistry, biology or geography) which will significantly develop their knowledge and language skills. The number of participants who will visit partner schools will be at least 100 students (5 from each school go to one mobility) and up to 40 teachers (2 from each school go to one mobility). We assume that the number of local participants who will take part in the online part may be bigger depending on the school. During the first meeting in Poland, the ambassadors will discuss differences in theoretical aspects such as the different educational systems. They will decide on the basic required knowledge and skills of future students participants. Before each mobility, students will prepare themselves by fulfilling tasks prepared by the teachers and students of the school which the will visit. Each school has picked up one book written by their national author, this will be a plot and base for all group online exercises such as international podcasts, discussions, mind maps and quizzes. They will also prepare a base for future escape rooms which they will create together during the mobility. We hope that diversity of knowledge, language and culture in international groups will encourage students to exchange knowledge and experience and gain a new perspective. The highlight of each mobility will be creation of escape rooms but also specially prepared workshops, which will be available online for those who can not take part in mobility, and hare and hounds game based on the workshops and local history and culture. The participants will have a chance to develop their language skills, science knowledge as well as learn more about participating schools and their local environment. After online tasks and after each mobility we plan to conduct a survey to check if all aspects of the project are properly prepared and if they fulfil students' expectations and needs. A set of ready to use educational tools will be the result of each of the five parts of the project (online work+mobility). It will consist of quizzes, escape rooms, hare and hound games and online webinars. Students will also create a digital book which will present their time during the exchange and it will be published online to promote the project. All experience will be shared online on school websites so the participants can show some interesting and funny events to raise awareness of the culture of European countries, differences in educational systems and their most important parts of the project. The longer-term benefits of this project will be increasing the prestige of the schools as well as the promotion of bilingual teaching. We think that the proper motivation of the students and their participation will highly increase their knowledge and skills and as a result their scores on final exams. Moreover, this experience will be highly influential for all teachers working in schools which take part in the project. As a part of the follow-up, we would like to share this experience with as many teachers and representatives of the local community as possible.
The project, in accordance with our assumptions, combined both the knowledge and skills from different fields related to science as well as the social functioning of students (eventually, the age range was from 13 to 17, so slightly broader than assumed). The total number of student participants was 110. The main goals of the project included: the development of students' knowledge of science subjects and English language skills with the use of modern technologies and ICT, as well as expanding awareness of cultural differences in European countries, with an emphasis especially put on the partner countries. All of the goals - despite the restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine - have been fully implemented. In addition, the teachers broadened their knowledge and skills. During two short training programs (the first in a remote form, the second as staff mobility), the teachers increased their ICT competencies and broadened their knowledge about CLIL and bilingual teaching. All five planned mobilities for each of the countries participating in the project were completed. Part of the mobilities, due to the pandemic and the health situation of the students, has been divided into two (Polish, Croatian and Czech). The group from Finland - for the reasons indicated above - made most of its trips at a later date. In the case of mobility to Croatia, both Finnish and Czech students went during the second term. During each trip, as planned, all participants focused on one of the key competencies: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology or geography, and also developed their language skills. During the first meeting in Poland, the coordinators discussed program differences and the results of the internal evaluation of the project. They focused on how to solve the obstacles they encountered (some of them resulted from the fact that the first year of work was completely remote). Before each mobility, the students, under the supervision of their teachers, prepared and performed tasks related to the selected scientific field, which were based, if possible, on the plot of the book they selected. The position indicated by them became a fictional base for project design activities; preparation of: materials promoting the book (including quizzes, songs, posters, crosswords) and tasks in the field of science, i.e. during the execution of escape rooms, as well as during games and field tasks (urban game, online and stationary workshops) conducted during various mobilities. For each country, these were the following novels: for Poland "The Witcher" by Andrzej Sapkowski, Estonia - "Three Jolly Fellows", Czech - "77 Prague Legends", Croatia - "Croatian tales of long ago", Finland - “Moominpappa at Sea”. Each of the mobilities was preceded - as intended - by time for reading and promoting the book, as well as online activities intended to prepare for individual mobilities, which, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, took place a little later than originally planned. Online activities that were intended to expand students' knowledge before they had the opportunity to meet in person included online lectures, webinars and interactive assignments. In the case of Estonia, these were also tasks that students performed in their own countries, i.e. growing mushrooms based on materials and tips sent by post by Estonian project participants. The culmination of each mobility was an urban game, in which all students participating in a given mobility participated, and during which knowledge in three areas was tested: a selected science subject, knowledge about a given country and city, and knowledge of tropes from a book chosen by a given country. After each mobility, the evaluation surveys determining the effectiveness and form of fulfilling the project assumptions were carried out. Each session of the project (online work + mobility) resulted in a set of educational materials, such as quizzes, escape rooms, city games, webinars and dictionaries prepared by students and teachers. After each mobility, students also created a short vlog documenting a week spent in a partner country. According to the assumptions, it was supposed to be a photo book, however, the coordinators and participants have decided to change it into a more attractive and interactive form, namely a digital book created by all countries, which documents their experiences and conclusions drawn from each of the mobilities. The book as well as the current reports on the progress of the project are published on school websites and in their social media. According to the assumptions, the long-term benefits of the project are certainly: increasing the prestige of schools and the local environment and promoting teaching in bilingual departments (of the schools concerned) as well as learning English and developing some positive educational practices among the teachers.