Spisska Nova Ves is a gateway to Slovak Paradise National Park. That might be one of the reasons why so many teachers of our school are close to nature, understand its role in our lives and value its significance for not only our physical but mental health as well. Unfortunatelly, we are witnessing global climate changes and we do not want to just talk or teach about steps which are necessary to be made; we want to take action and one way how we can do it is by attracting students` attention and raising public awareness through activities done in this project. Thus the main objective of our project is to contribute to the EU's achievement of climate change targets by contributing to awareness-raising activities against climate change. When considering the partnership, we tried to bare in mind certain balance between experienced partners as well as partnering schools with little or no prior project experience but on the other hand, we also took into account the relevance other schools demonstrate in the issue of climate changes or particular measures they have already taken. We firmly believe we succeeded in creating a strong strategic partnership (consisting of 5 schools) in which mutual learning and teaching processes will be highly valued and thus help gain the best results possible. What is even more, students of all participating schools will not only learn and disseminate the knowledge on climate change, its consequences and possible solutions to prevent dramatic changes, they will also develop their key skills and competences, such as communication skills, flexibility, cooperation skills, goal oriented thinking, creativity, planning of work and strategy, responsibility, motivation etc. We also tried to create a partnership rich in cultural diversity since beside the main objectives of the project, its aim is also to promote active citizenship in democratic life in Europe, to improve intercultural dialogue and intercultural awareness, to improve foreign language skills and competences and to contribute to intercultural tolerance and respect. Our project will include students at the age group between 14 and 19 years old from 5 different countries. As for the number of participants, we decided to include 4 students from each participating school for each learning activity except for Aruban school and the learning activity taking place in Aruba (there will be 2 participants from each schools and 2 accompanying persons). The decision was made upon a thorough consideration based not only on less convenient logistics but also much more demanding requirements on accompanying persons. The participants of this age group need to express an interest in environmental and climate change issues, be aware of the need to protect the environment. Our aim is to broaden their horizons and strengthen their determination to combat climate change and the problems it brings. In order to achieve the goals of the project, we have determined 5 modules covering our goals and the activities that will reach these goals. Module 1: Burning fossil fuels, Concrete Output: Electric vehicle design - Line following vehicle will be built., Module 2: Beach and ocean environmental damage due to plastic pollution, Concrete Output: Design of creative objects from plastic recycling., Module 3: Land use changes, Concrete Output: Design of ideal agricultural environments, Restortion of local wetlands by planting native trees, shrubs and flowers., Module 4: Deforestation, Concrete Output: A different approach to recycling: Toy design from Waste Forest products., Module 5: Green Energy, Concrete Output: Innovative home design that meets your needs and supports energy saving with green energy sources. In addition, planned outputs of the project are logo of the project, a presentation and an e-book describing the regional climate changes, a booklet of good practices, a letter to the European Parliament explaining the project, the project website, climate change boards, climate change T-shirts, hats, pens etc. In project execution, methods such as activity-based teaching, project cycle method, flipped classroom, cooperative learning, problem-based learning, design thinking and gamification will be given a priority. Teachers will prefer student-centered approach and try to focus on such students` skills and practices that enable lifelong learning and independent problem-solving. Dissemination is of great importance and we envisage a long-term impact and benefits of our project as the outputs of it will be integrated into the curriculum of Biology classes. Thus, the dissemination activities will include powerpoint presentations, project posters, open lectures, e-Book, Good Practices Guide, conferences with the presence of local as well as national media, social media accounts etc. The satisfaction of teachers, students and their parents will be given a high priority and will be evaluated through forums and surveys.
The "European Challengers To Save Climate" project was created and became part of the lives of people who are not indifferent to our planet and are aware of the need to do something, not just fear global climate change and watch more and more frequent extreme weather events. Since we are aware of the enormous power we have in our hands in shaping the opinions and attitudes of young people, it was in this context that the project was not only created but also planned and implemented. The main goal of the project was to contribute to the achievement of the goals set by the EU as part of the fight against climate change, namely by raising awareness of climate change with the help of various activities based on innovative and activating teaching methods and forms of work that develop their entire personality and various competencies. Short-term educational and training activities were aimed at individual goals, all of which; however, contributed to the fulfilment of the main one. These sub-goals had the task to 1. raise awareness of the negative impacts of burning fossil fuels on climate change, 2. raise awareness of the negative impact of plastic pollution of the oceans, 3. raise awareness of land use changes, 4. raise awareness of the threats of deforestation and about the possibilities of recycling wood waste, 5. raise awareness about the possibilities of saving energy and its alternative sources. During the cycle of project, we had to face various challenges that significantly affected the implementation plan, whether it was the Covid-19 pandemic or the death of a Turkish colleague who succumbed to this disease. In the Italian school, there were personnel changes due to retirement age and the E+ coordinator of this school was replaced by another colleague. Such changes required an increased level of patience, tolerance, empathy and last but not least, coordination and management. Despite the challenges mentioned above, we implemented the planned educational, teaching and training activities, students aged 15-19 had the opportunity to visit a total of 4 countries and collect unforgettable experiences such as planting trees or making objects from wood waste. They learned to design a model of an electric car and saw that it is possible to make electricity from a municipal waste dump. We cleaned local wetlands of invasive plants and a part of the gorge in Slovak Paradise. We visited a research center for biomass production, measured our own carbon footprint, virtually visited the EP and participated in a meeting with representatives of the EP. Last but not least, we wrote letters addressed to the city management and the EP in order to draw attention to the seriousness and necessity of solving the problem of climate change and to encourage those responsible to take at least small steps forward. One of the main priorities of the project was also the satisfaction of teachers, pupils and their parents, therefore it was continuously monitored with various interviews and questionnaires in which, after each short-term educational activity, we found out how the participants evaluated the given experience, how they evaluated the implementation of the given mobility, to what extent their expectations were met, what were the best aspects of the given mobility, whether there was space for improvement, etc. The public learned about the results of the project from the websites of the participating schools as well as from the FB page of the project itself, which we regularly updated. In addition, the results of the project were continuously presented on occasions such as the Open Day at schools, on regional TV where a report on the short-term exchange of students in Slovakia was broadcast, in local monthly magazines, on advertising items and at the large event of Erasmus Days 2023. Students and teachers of participating schools were informed about project activities during conferences organized for students on occasions such as Earth Day, Erasmus+, etc., during information meetings for teachers where we shared experiences of good practice. We consider the development of several specific activities, worksheets, posters, PowerPoint presentations, videos and an e-Book, which will be integrated into the subjects of Conversation in English, Biology and Chemistry, to be a long-term and universal benefit of the project. However, they are usable and adaptable for the needs of teachers of various subjects and the cross-curicular topic of Environmental Education and pupils / students of different ages. Last but not least, we consider a change in the mindset of all participants who participated in the implementation of the project in any way as a great benefit, because they gained knowledge and skills about the issue of sustainability and experiences that shape their personality and lead to responsibility for the environment on a local and global level, a healthy lifestyle, the use of renewable resources, etc.