Známa rozprávka „Soľ nad zlato“ nás inšpirovala venovať sa téme soli a zistiť, prečo mala soľ v minulosti cenu zlata, akú hodnotu má dnes, aké sú jej negatívne vplyvy na život a zdravie človeka, ale aj na životné prostredie. Pre toto zistenie je potrebné spoznať soľ ako chemickú zlúčeninu a minerálnu látku, čo je predmetom učiva prírodných vied – chémie, biológie, mineralógie. Prírodné vedy nepatria vo všeobecnosti k populárnym predmetom, preto cieľom nášho projektu je predstaviť projektové aktivity a nástroje, ktoré ich môžu obohatiť o zábavné, ale aj poučné experimenty, exkurzie, prácu v teréne a spoluprácu s odborníkmi z oblasti liečebnej výživy a dietológie, lesníctva, pôdohospodárstva, gastronómie, a tak zlepšiť vzťah študentov k týmto predmetom a spojiť ich s reálnymi životnými situáciami. Chceli by sme, aby si študenti uvedomili, ktoré jedlá (často ich obľúbené rýchle občerstvenie) majú vysoký obsah soli, ktorá sa stáva príčinou civilizačných chorôb aj medzi mladými ľuďmi. Chceme ich upozorniť na štatistiky Svetovej zdravotníckej organizácie v oblasti konzumácie soli v jednotlivých krajinách a zistiť, na akom mieste sa nachádza ich vlastná krajina. Cieľom projektu je predstaviť aj lepšiu stránku soli a spoznať jej hodnotu ako cennej komodity v minulosti, jej symbolizmus, ktorý poznali už v biblických časoch a rozprávkach, a pochopiť význam rituálov so soľou v niektorých krajinách. Študentom chceme predstaviť aj využitie soli v umení. Cieľovou skupinou projektu sú 14 – 18-roční študenti, ale aj učitelia, ktorých úlohou je ukázať, že aj téma soli môže posilniť medzipredmetovú spoluprácu, keďže v projekte budú zastúpení učitelia biológie, chémie, geografie, histórie, umenia a kultúry, informatiky, ale aj materinského a cudzích jazykov. Približne 140 – 175 študentov v každej škole bude rozvíjať kľúčové kompetencie a zručnosti modernej doby (kritické myslenie, kreativitu, komunikáciu, tímovú prácu) pri vytváraní projektových výstupov: webovej stránky, prezentácií, máp soľných baní, plagátov, brožúr, dramatizácii rozprávky, netradičného maľovania a iných tvorivých techník so soľou. Dôležitou súčasťou projektových aktivít budú stretnutia a debaty s odborníkmi, ktorí spestria učebný proces alebo mimoškolské aktivity. Veríme, že projektové aktivity pomôžu študentom si dlhodobo vytvoriť lepší vzťah k prírodným vedám a podporia ich kľúčové kompetencie. The well-known fairy tale „More than salt“ inspired us to deal with the topic of salt with the aim to find out the value of salt in the past, its value today, its negative impacts on human life and health and even on the environment. To find it out we need to learn about salt as a chemical compound and mineral matter, which are dealt with at Science subjects – chemistry, biology, mineralogy. In general, Sciences are not popular school subjects therefore the aim of the project is to present project activities and tools which could enrich them with funny and informative experiments, excursions, fieldwork and cooperation with specialists from nutrition therapy, dietology, forestry, farming, gastronomy fields, and thus to improve students´ attitude to the subjects and connect them with real-life situations. We would like students to realize what food (often their favourite fast food) has a high salt content, which causes common lifestyle diseases even among young people. We would like to draw students´ attention to the World Health Organisation´s statistics on salt consumption in different countries and learn about their own country´s ranking. The project also aims to present a better side of salt and to learn about it as a precious commodity in the past, its symbolism known in the biblical times and tales, to understand salt rituals in some countries. We will present salt in arts as well. The project is targeted at 14 – 18-year-old students as well as teachers whose role is to show that the topic of salt can strengthen interdisciplinary cooperation as there are teachers of biology, chemistry, geography, history, art and culture, IT, as well as mother and foreign languages involved. Around 140 – 175 students in each school will develop their key competences and skills of modern era (critical thinking, creativity, communication, teamwork) creating project outcomes: website, presentations, salt mines maps, posters, brochures, dramatisation of a salt fairy tale, untraditional salt painting and other salt art techniques. Meetings and debates with specialists, which will enrich the learning process, will be an important part of the project work. We believe that the project activities will help students improve their attitude to Sciences in the long-term and foster their key competences.
The project named Salt over Gold – myth or truth? was to start on 1 September 2020 and was scheduled for 24 months. The pandemic situation connected with COVID19 influenced the initial activities which could be carried out in on-line forms only. Therefore we applied for prolongation of the project for 12 months until 31 August 2023. One of the project´s objectives was to support and popularize science subjects among students by means of the chemical substance sodium chloride (salt). We were inspired by the fairy tale Salt over gold, where salt played a significant role as a commodity, which cannot be replaced by gold. We wanted to refer to various aspects of the substance, both positive and negative. We aimed to get students familiar with various kinds of salt during chemistry lessons, in an exhibition, quiz and presentations. The students learnt about salt as a currency, a precious commodity in the past, they mapped the salt routes. We pointed out the ecological aspect - the influence of salt on soil, its salinity and the negative impact on plants. The students did experiments with plants using water with a different salt content. They were detecting how the high salt content in water harms the plants. The issue was discussed with a botanist at a meeting. Our aim was to highlight the high salt consumption and present high sodium foods. We took part in a meeting with a dietologist and chefs who taught us what to replace salt in a diet and cooking with to make the food healthier. We presented a positive aspect of salt in literature, art, halotherapy. The students prepared dramatization of the tale Salt over Gold. We used salt in arts - the students made Christmas cards, painted on silk and paper. We arranged excursions to salt mines, caves, a salt museum. We created a project website where the products have been uploaded and teachers or students can use them in the future. Other products – the brochures of salt types, the booklet of salt tales, the Dictionary of salt, a salt map of Europe, a video about a salt cave, leaflets about salty food can be used in various lessons in the future. All the products can be used as examples of students´ digital, English language and creative skills in the future.