Health is an important prerequisite for learning to function. Young people aged 14-17 in particular often do not pay much attention to their health, such as healthy eating or moderate consumption of social media or computer games. We want to show our students in which parts of life they live unhealthily and what a healthy lifestyle could look like. The 4 goals/topics of our project are: 1. Reducing time spent in front of the computer, tablet or mobile phone. 2. More exercise on the way to school and during the breaks. 3. healthier diet, especially at school. 4. Better learning by improving learning conditions - the learning space (light, loudness, CO2 concentration, ...) and better mental health by avoiding/ reducing bullying (cyberbullying). Deficits in the 4 topics are particularly pronounced among weaker pupils and we are convinced that pupils could perform better if they paid more attention to their health. Through our project, we try to get the students interested in their health so that they can improve their performance at school and move up to the next school level and avoid repeating the school level or dropping out.
We teachers involved in the project exchanged information about our students and discussed similarities and differences. The topic of health came up again and again. All schools have in common that many pupils are brought to school by their parents instead of riding by bicycle or using public transport. During the breaks, many pupils sit in front of their mobile phones and eat crisps with iced tea as a snack. This is how the idea came about to find and implement many possible solutions through a joint project. We know from previous projects that mobility to students from other schools and video conferences with other students helps to broaden their horizons. Above all, however, the motivation to work on such a project is increased immensely by having young people from other countries on board and a trip to the virtual partners is a highlight for all the young people involved. As in our previous projects, it is very important to us to integrate pupils from financially weak backgrounds into this project. The school or the parents would not be able to afford such a trip from their means alone. This enables young people to travel abroad, sometimes for the first time, and to come into contact with other Europeans.