JUST MAPS – Schools strengthening global citizenship by mapping local communities

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Project number:  2024-1-ES01-KA220-SCH-000249236 

Duration

36 months (from 1/12/24 to 30/11/2027)

Partnership

  1. ASOCIACION PLAN DE ACCION GLOBAL PARA LA TIERRA GAP ESPANA (Leading Partner, Spain)
  2. Global Action Plan Ltd. (Partner, Ireland)
  3. Fundacja GAP Polska – Plan Globalnego Dzialania na rzecz Ziemi (Partner, Poland)
  4. InEuropa SRL (Coordinating Partner, Italy)
  5. Learning Unpacked Applied (Partner, Kenya)
  6. Pestalozzi soc.coop. (Partner school, Spain)
  7. Artxandape Ikastola (Partner school, Spain)
  8. IC Umberto I (Partner school, Italy)
  9. Aga Khan Academy Mombasa (Partner school, Kenya)

 

Associated partners

  • XXXV Liceum Ogólnokształcące z Oddziałami Dwujęzycznymi im. Bolesława Prusa (School, Poland)
  1. Trinity Comprehensive School of Ballymun (School, Ireland) 
  2. Kenyan AP Yonder Africa (Associated partner, Kenya)

 

Description

The project aims to bring students to act as global citizens in their communities, and to train teachers as facilitators of this process. 

In line with Just Action’s experience, students will be guided to act by being involved in a transnational participatory process that starts with the mapping of their action areas (their ‘neighbourhoods’). They will gather important information to analyse and improve, as global citizens, the life of their communities: facts and issues regarding the environment, inequalities, social justice and history will be the topics of their research. Based on the data collected, they will build a local digital map. The maps from the different partner countries, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the different areas, will be systematised by the young people themselves: each country will elect a delegation of local mappers who will take part in the Transnational Council of Mappers, charged with examining the status quo and imagining actions for improvement. They will do this together, noting how local problems are interconnected, and keeping a non-Eurocentric gaze capable of taking them beyond Europe (Kenya). Once back home, they will try to implement the proposed solutions, with their local community, and launch an awareness-raising campaign for their fellow citizens.

 

Objectives

Just Maps aims to encourage children’s engagement and awareness as global citizens, reinforce students and teachers critical and intercultural skills by collaborating with EU & Global South peers and develop a justice-based approach to local and global interconnected issues. This will be done supporting teachers’ professional growth as facilitators of behavioural change, introducing a whole new approach that will bring innovation into Global Citizenship Education in primary and secondary schools. 

 

Target groups and beneficiaries

– Primary and secondary school students (8-15 years old) from different countries from the Global North (Spain, Italy, Ireland and Poland) and Global South (Kenya). The age range is the same as Just Action project, to give continuation to the project’s action-oriented approach. 

– Primary and secondary school teachers: they will actively take part in the methodology-design process, they will be trained and share the acquired knowledge with their colleagues in a horizontal learning process. They will experience an action- based learning process as facilitators, and they will work on monitoring and evaluating results, also by using the Just Action’s reflection tool, based on a “head-heart-hands” approach.

– Local communities from the partner countries: they will become part of the learning process, and they will benefit from children’s participation with fresh ideas to solve community issues.

 

Just Maps’ results

1 International training programme for teachers

6 video-reports of students-local administrations’ meetings

6 digital maps of the neighbourhoods

6 elected Mappers’ delegations

1 International workshop for students as “Council of Mappers”

1 Transnational Manifesto of Just Cities

6 digital stories of local alternative scenarios

6 local student-led actions

12 students’ advocacy campaign plans

12 students’ campaigns

6 campaigns evaluation reports created by children. 

STAND UP FOR EUROPE!

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Project title

Stand up for Europe! Argumentation training against undemocratic slogans: European extension and updating

 

Project Reference

2023-2-DE04-KA220-YOU-000175190

 

Lead partner 

Akademie Klausenhof gGmbH (Germania)

 

Programme

Erasmus+ – KA2 Cooperation partnerships in Youth (KA220-YOU), Call for Proposals 2023

 

Ongoing project

 

Brief description

The project brings together 6 partners (2 from Germany, 1 from Hungary, 1 from Turkey, 1 from Slovenia and 1 from Italy) to prepare a specific training to respond to antidemocratic slogans and discourse. The training material will be freely accessible through a curriculum, a handbook, and an online self-learning tool (comic self-reflection stories).

 

The project outputs will be the result of the update of Klaus-Peter Hufer’s method “Argumentationstraining gegen Stammtischparolen” (Argumentation against populist slogans, widely used in Citizenship Education in Germany, Austria and Switzerland) in a European sense: the partners will make a European version of the training, by enriching it with Europe-specific topics, methods and inputs from the European partners. One of the partners is the University of Augsburg, where Klaus-Peter Hufer developed the training.

 

The project targets groups who are victims of verbal (and physical) attacks through populist, extremist, sexist and stereotypical arguments (migrants, Jews, people with disabilities, women, disadvantaged people, queer people) as well as topics that have become particularly relevant in recent years and are the focus of radical, verbal attacks and hate speech. These topics include: democracy and Europe, gender, climate change, sexual orientation and equality, science/health (vaccination), fake news and migration, war and humanism.

 

The material will serve as a basis for workshops and trainings conducted in the youth and school context, by educational institutions targeting youth. It will consider situations in the family and among friends, in public spaces and in leisure time, at school, in (political) discussions, in voluntary social or political engagement. There will also be a special focus on discussion forums in online media, especially in social networks.

 

What is Argumentationstraining gegen Stammtischparolen?

Stammtischparolen are populist statements and slogans with which numerous groups of people (often social minorities, but also representatives of the “elites”) are discriminated against. Usually, they are also directed against “the” European policy. These slogans are dogmatic, rigid and prejudice-based: in these speeches, there are very strict categories (“we” and “they”), which defend their positions aggressively and with an exclusionary attitude.

 

Professor Dr. Klaus-Peter Hufer is a trainer, a lecturer, an author and scientist. He himself works as an adult educator and as an applied professor. His Argumentation training* teaches effective techniques and tricks for responding to populist slogans in conversations (e.g. with facts, irony, critical inquiries, etc.). In its interactive form, the argumentation training offers the opportunity to try out and experience in exchange with the seminar group how to react appropriately to such slogans.

 

Hufer’s training have been frequently used in educational work for many years, also in youth education or in training for employees and volunteers of NGOs and other institutions, parties, companies, schools and organizations.

 

* Klaus-Peter Hufer: Argumentationstraining gegen Stammtischparolen. Materialien und Anleitungen für Bildungsarbeit und Selbstlernen. 10.  Auflage 2018, 120 Seiten, Wochenschau-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main

 

Target groups

The target group of the workshops is primarily politically and socially interested and active young people from 13 to 30, who are to be strengthened in their civil courage in order to take effective action against radical arguments in everyday life online or in personal discussions.

 

Moreover, the project targets are:

  • Teachers/trainers in schools and youth (education) centres
  • Politically engaged young people
  • Activists and volunteers in youth movements / political parties
  • Employees of NGOs, initiatives, civil rights movements, with focus on youth
  • Stakeholders, scientists, politicians
  • General public


Objectives

  • Identifying and implementing core European values
  • Development of a training programme (curriculum) to train young people to argue effectively in discussions (offline and online) against anti-European statements.
  • Developing methods for raising awareness and communicating European values, through the collection and integration of proven methods for argumentation training and comparable approaches.
  • Defending fundamental values and rights.
  • Recognising violations of fundamental values, by developing methods to identify anti-European values, especially in oral discussion and dialogue situations and in the digital space.
  • Encouraging reflection on one’s own commitment to fundamental values and avoid using stereotypical arguments and behaviour.
  • Use stories/scenarios with a high identification potential to question and evaluate one’s own behaviour.

 

Partnership

Lead Partner: Akademie Klausenhof, Germany (adult/youth education provider)

Other Partners:

University of Augsburg, Germany

InEuropa srl, Italy

KatHaz, Hungary

Doga School, Turkey

Socialna Akademija, Slovenia

 

Duration

24 months (from 01/03/2023 to 28/02/2026)

 

EU grant

250,000 total grant

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® WORKSHOP – EUROPEAN YOUTH FAENZA

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Project: Europe for young people: values, methods, tools

Implementing partner: Unione Romagna Faentina

Funded under: Call for the promotion of European citizenship 2022 (Bando per la promozione della cittadinanza europea 2022)

Period: November-December 2022

Objective: to promote a learning journey about European values, rights and opportunities, as well as young people’s participation in public administration choices and European planning, intended for middle and high schools in EU territory.

These are the main activities:

  • Workshops on European values called “Bricks4Rights,“ carried out using the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY methodology, intended for middle schools, identified through the schools participating in the initiative.
  • Seminars presenting European opportunities and informative workshops. Meetings partly dedicated to high schools, partly aimed at local youth, identified through youth associations and by individual registration.
  • Workshop on digital communication of cultural heritage. Meetings held by the European Route of Ceramics Association, a Council of Europe-certified Cultural Route, coordinated by the City of Faenza. Again, the meetings are geared towards young people.

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Workshop Number: 4

The experience of the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® workshops, called “Bricks4Rights – European Values and Rights,” allowed students from secondary schools in the Municipality of Faenza (third year students) to undertake a unique experience, being stimulated to reflect and open up through sharing and confrontation on issues such as citizenship, their own identity and the identity of the European Union today.  The LSP methodology is a tool that has still proven to be innovative and effective in channeling individual energies and knowledge into discussion and reflection on a given topic. Through the workshops, not only was the purpose of raising awareness toward European values and rights achieved, but also the (no less important) purpose of bringing out feelings, passions, and thoughts.

SHINE – mainstreaming Systems tHinking In Natural sciences and Environmental education

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SHINE – mainstreaming Systems tHinking In Natural sciences and Environmental education

Agreement number: 2023-1-DE03-KA220-SCH-000158255

Program and Call

ERASMUS PLUS – Call 2023 Round 1 KA2

KA220- SCH – Cooperation partnerships in School Education

Ongoing project

Short description

Education for sustainable development gives learners of all ages the knowledge, skills, values and agency to address interconnected global challenges including climate change. The call for teachers is to develop strategies, tools and methodologies to achieve such key competencies to address the required complexity. Managing and solving sustainability problems require people with systemic competences who are able to see the whole in the individual, presenting a breadth of vision for a complex world. Since Systems Thinking (ST) is one of the key competencies in the education for sustainable development, it is crucial to train in-service teachers on the ST approach to give them the possibility to implement ST at school in science education classes. The SHINE project aims at bringing the ST approach in Natural Science education involving in-service teachers and students in the target age of 8-16 years old. SHINE aims at introducing the ST approach at school by training in-service teachers and by developing, validating and testing innovative didactic tools to effectively introduce and practice ST with students in natural science and ecology education. ST offers a new language in understanding how the world works, it enables students to see the parts of the whole and the network of relationships simultaneously, and consequently it tries to reveal the structure that creates change by questioning how events occur over time.

Objectives

SHINE’s overall objective is to prepare future citizens to face climate change challenges by promoting the introduction and mainstream of ST skills in natural science education. To reach this objective, SHINE sets 5 specific sub-objectives:

  1. Educate in-service teachers on ST principles and how to apply them in natural science;
  2. Support students in developing ST approach by introducing game-based learning and innovative didactics approach in science education;
  3. Sustain scientific skills and the deep learning of complex topics such as ecosystems and climate change;
  4. Promote collaboration among different school grades (8-16 y.o.)

Main activities

–  Development of a training course for in-service teachers replicated in each partner’s country and involving at least 25 natural science teachers.

– Design of a serious game (digital/board with different levels of difficulties accordingly with target age) to support students in practicing and experimenting ST applied to climate change issues.

– Creation of a digital toolkit containing specific didactic modules to introduce ST at school in natural science classes, assessment tools to evaluate the students’ improvement in ST reasoning in a long term perspective;

– Organisation of a set of digital and in-person transnational events to boost both students and teachers from partners’ countries to cooperate in understanding and finding possible common answers to the climate change effects occurring now and in a future perspective.

Expected results

  • Effectively supporting teachers in implementing and assessing ST at school with students of different ages by training them on the approach and co-producing specific didactic tools.
  • Applying ST in natural science and sustainability disciplines for assessing the student’s progress in a long-time perspective.
  • Enhancing the promotion of more engaging didactics and boosting the active involvement of students by cooperation “inter pares”
  • Facilitating and mainstream the introduction of ST into education as a way to deepen science principles and especially as a lens for understanding problems such as climate change and environment protection.

Coordinator

Hochschule RheinMain (DE)

Partnership

– InEuropa Srl (IT)

– Libera Università di Bolzano (IT)

– Tallin University (EE)

– Virtual Campus Lda (PT)

Duration

The project will last 36 months (1st October 2023 – 30th September 2026)

Budget

The grant is € 400.000,00

Project A(RT)CTION for Climate Change

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A(RT)CTION

A(RT)CTION for Climate Change

Programme and Call for proposals

Erasmus + KA220-YOU Cooperation Partnerships – Youth – call 2021

Project number: 2021-1-EL02-KA220-YOU-000029005

Open project

Brief description

A(RT)CTION is a transnational project co-funded by the Programme Erasmus + KA2 – Cooperation Partnerships – Youth within EAC/A01/2021 (Call for proposals 2021).

InEuropa srl is partner in the project.

Objectives
A(RT)CTION project was born out of all partner’s shared vision to contribute to the fight against the most pressing issues of our time, that is climate change. It is a multi-dimensional project that will enable behavioural changes for individual preferences, consumption habits, and lifestyle by training and educating young visual artists and youth workers on how to be true agents of change and green entrepreneurial practitioners. In the specific, the project intends to contribute to a more sustainable future by capitalizing on the influential power of arts and green entrepreneurship to raise awareness about environmental issues and foster positive behavioural change. The involved young artists will be able to employ their artworks as a tool to raise environmental awareness and trigger change at transnational level.

Deliverables

The project foresees the achievement of 4 main deliverables:

  • Artists ‘as Green Actors of Change’ Curriculum: development of the research methodology and implementation of questionnaires and interviews with the target groups; development of the structure of the Curriculum, with interrelated topics connected to the issue of climate change and how young visual artists can address it; testing of the Curriculum prior to its dissemination.
  • The ‘Green E-learning Platform & Cross-cultural Network for Collaboration’ Platform: design and development of the platform; transformation of the Curriculum into e-learning materials; assembly of the Curriculum into a cohesive course ready for piloting via the interactive platform.
  • ‘Artists for Climate Change’ Toolkit: creation of this tool with content and resources aimed at young people and arts professionals.
  • Book/e-Book for Young Artists on ‘How to become a Successful Green Social Entrepreneur/ Actor of Change’: aimed at young artists, it will offer practical advice and guidance regarding green arts and entrepreneurship, with a special focus on how visual artists should employ their art to raise awareness toward green issues, inspire appropriate behaviour, and influence people to be more environmentally conscious.

Results
The main expected results of A(RT)CTION are:

  • Strengthening the sense of initiative of young people, through the promotion of green entrepreneurship and creative learning;
  • Increase in the number of young artists and youth workers who act as true agents of change and help the society in which they live to face the challenges of climate change;
  • Increased quality innovation and recognition of youth work (in the arts sector) as well as productive knowledge exchange, and stimulation of intercultural dialogue with people across Europe;
  • Developed sustainability competences of educators and education leaders and support the planned approaches of the participating organisations regarding environmental sustainability.

Applicant
ORGANOSI GI (GREECE)

Partners

  • CENTRE FOR ADVANCEMENT OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY LTD – CARDET (CYPRUS)
  • INEUROPA SRL (ITALY)
  • FUNDACIO INTERARTS PER A LA COOPERACIO CULTURAL INTERNACIONAL (SPAIN)
  • AMAZING YOUTH (GREECE)
  • ARTIT ATHENS ΜΟΝΟΠΡΟΣΩΠΗ ΙΔΙΩΤΙΚΗ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΥΧΙΚΗ ΕΤΑΙΡΕΙΑ (GREECE)
  • KENTRO MERIMNAS OIKOGENEIAS KAI PAIDIOU (GREECE)

Duration
24 months (8 December 2021 – 7 December 2023)

Website
under contruction

Budget
The project received a grant of € 255.650,00.

Co-financing Organization
Erasmus+ National Agency – NEDIVIM Youth and Lifelong Learning Foundation – GREECE

JUST ACTION – Teachers and students towards a sustainable transition

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JUST ACTION – TEACHERS AND STUDENTS TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE TRANSITION

Action on Global Citizenship – empowering student voices for climate action at primary and post primary level

Project number: 2021-1-IE01-KA220-SCH-000031615

Lead Partner
Global Action Plan Ltd. (Ireland)

Programme
Erasmus+ Programme – KA2 Cooperation partnerships in school education, Call for Proposals 2021

Brief description
Action on Global Citizenship (AOGC) is a programme that aims to empower teachers in primary and secondary/high schools to engage their learners critically in the theme of climate action through a Global Citizenship Education (GCE) lens and to support learners in taking relevant, meaningful action to the climate issues they encounter.

The project stems from a growing awareness of the globalised and interconnected nature of climate action and the need for systemic change starting with young people, supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Action.

Creating the space for exploration within the school environment will enable students to actively engage in transforming the world around them for the better.

In this context, a partnership of environmental education organisations from the GAP International Network from Italy, Ireland, Spain and Norway have designed the Action on Global Citizenship programme to support the acquisition of knowledge (head), values & attitudes (hearts) and skills for action (hand) so learners can take appropriate actions to address climate and sustainability challenges.

Given the ability to reach a large number of learners and their influence as educators, the programme has a strong focus on supporting teachers.

Objectives
The overall project objective is to implement a sustainable, scalable Global Citizenship Education programme at primary and secondary that has been designed and piloted through a participatory design methodology and will reach teachers and learners across the programme countries.

Specific objectives of the programme are:

  • to provide appropriate educational resources for primary and secondary teachers and their students
  • to provide a training programme for teachers at both levels, supported by an online Resource and Learning Platform for teacher and student access
  • to make learners feel empowered to participate as an active global citizen and take action on climate and sustainability issues and challenges that matter to them most
  • to create greater opportunities for school to school collaboration via eTwinning
  • to grow, scale and sustain the programme through the regional education systems in each country, thus increasing access of the programme to schools, teachers and learners nationally and transnationally
  • to build capacity of the programme partners to manage the design life cycle of educational programmes

Activities 

  • Secondary School Action on Global Citizenship Programme: a toolkit that supports teachers in secondary schools to guide learners together in tackling local issues identified by learners that are related to the climate crisis and exploring them critically through a global lens and collectively creating meaningful actions and campaigns that address these issues. Included will be a student workbook that will support learners during the programme.
  • Primary School Action on Global Citizenship Programme: a toolkit that supports teachers in primary schools to guide learners together in tackling local issues identified by learners that are related to the climate crisis and exploring them critically through a global lens and collectively creating meaningful actions and campaigns that address these issues. Included will be a student workbook that will support learners during the programme.
  • Action on Global Citizenship Teacher Training Programme: the programme will support primary and secondary school teachers and give them the competencies to integrate the GCE programme in their teaching and learning practices. The deliverables for this output will be in the form of training materials (presentations, activity books, learning resources, support videos) and support documents for the programme such as learning outcome documents, lesson plans and administration forms.
  • Action on Global Citizenship Resource and Learning Online Platform: resource platform for schools to access a comprehensive repository of open education resources and learning materials that will support the teaching and learning process as they undertake the Action on Global Citizenship programme in their school. The platform will be multilingual in English, Spanish, Italian and Norwegian. Designed into the overall programme will be an emphasis on international school collaboration using eTwinning.

Expected outcomes 

  • The Action on Global Citizenship programme piloted in 8 primary and 8 secondary schools, with 32 teachers and up to 1000 learners
  • 200 teachers trained in Action on Global Citizenship training
  • 12,000 learners reached by the programme and connecting to other European students via eTwinning

Target group
The main target groups and beneficiaries of the project are students, teachers and school managers from primary and secondary schools.

Partnership
Lead partner: Global Action Plan Ltd. (IE)
PP1: Framtiden i våre hender (NO)
PP2: ASOCIACION PLAN DE ACCION GLOBAL PARA LA TIERRA GAP ESPANA (ES)
PP3: InEuropa Srl (IT)

Duration
The project has a duration of 36 months (from 01/11/2021 to 01/11/2024)

EU grant
The project has a total cost of di 258,538.00€

e^4 — tools in higher Education for an Embodied & creative Energy Education

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E^4 — tools in higher Education for an Embodied & creative Energy Education

Programme and Call for Proposals

 

ERASMUS PLUS – Call 2021 Round 1 KA2

KA220-HED – Cooperation partnerships in higher education

 

Brief description

Given the urgency of environmental and technological change in the face of challenges such as climate change, the main need recorded is raising awareness of possible solutions and necessary measures, also given the challenge of educating the coming generation in these matters.

We feel the urgent need for both supporting and reforming teacher education (for teachers of primary school and lower secondary or middle school levels) at academic institutions in matters concerning energy (energy solutions, energy and the environment, energy and society).

On this scenario, we intend to create:

  • Innovative materials for teacher education in the field of energy technology.
  • A network of academic institutions and external stakeholders dealing practically with matters concerning energy.
  • A dedicated web platform were both learning materials for university courses and material, knowledge, and opportunities provided by the network are available.

Objectives

  • Develop and/or enrich higher education curricula (in teacher education for primary and lower secondary school levels), following a didactic approach based on “tools of imagination” like storytelling, gamification, embodied simulation, digital simulation, and play to facilitate science communication;
  • train academics charged with teacher education in innovative pedagogies and approaches to teaching science courses (including the use of appropriate aids and materials);
  • promote learning and teaching partnerships between universities and the private energy sector;
  • upskill future science teachers with new approaches to teaching to encourage girls for scientific carriers and fight against gender stereotypes in scientific and engineering careers;
  • support the strengthening of science skills of EU citizens and professionals to make conscious choices and use creativity and a critical mindset to contribute to lower CO2 emissions towards EU 2050 targets.

 

Main Activities

  • Creating guidelines for a Network of academic and private/public partnerships.
  • “Imaginative course” Curriculum for teaching through imaginative tools.
  • Interactive web platform supporting the Curriculum and the Network.

Results

  • Increased competences and skills of partners’ staff.
  • Increased competences in teachers of primary and secondary schools: 20 teachers (5 for each of the 4 countries involved) will participate in a transnational training session to get acquainted with the offline workshop activities proposed.
  • 30 prospective teachers in each country will join local testing and implement full testing of the blended course (web and software-based activities plus workshop activities). We expect 75% to 85% of participating teachers to be women. Thanks to local testing the project will reach about 1000 students in the 4 countries.
  • 300 participants will be interviewed as part of project assessment.

We expect the project to produce a change in teaching approaches at all levels:

  •  At university level, improving academics’ science teaching approaches, also blending online and in presence courses, improving the efficacy of their courses both at university and jointly with the private and public energy sector.
  • At school level, helping student teachers and in-service teachers to be more motivated for and engaged in new imaginative teaching methods, will lead to innovation in school curricula. Teachers will be able to adapt their teaching approaches to the new generation’s learning capacities and skills needs through the application of creativity fostered by imaginative tools.

Lead partner

LIBERA UNIVERSITA’ DI BOLZANO (Italy)

Partners

– InEuropa Srl – Italy

– Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika W Toruniu – Poland

– Esciencia Eventos Cientificos Sl Aragón Zaragoza – Spain

– Universitat de Valencia – Spain

– Sustainable Innovation Technology Services Ltd Mid-West Castletroy – Irleland

– Università degli Studi Di Modena e Reggio Emilia – Italy

– Dublin City University – Ireland

Duration
The project will last 36 months (28 February 2022 – 27 February 2025)

Website
https://energy4teachers.eu/

Budget
The project received a grant of € 395 506,00

SUNRAISE

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Project name: Stem UNlimited Raise thanks to Arts at School in Europe

Call and programme: Erasmus + – Call 2021 Round 1 KA 2

KA220-SCH – Cooperation partnerships in school education

Ongoing project 

Brief description

The project SUNRAISE – Stem UNlimited Raise thanks to Arts at School in Europe involves 7 partners from five different European countries and it aims to develop a set of inclusive training tools for secondary school teachers and educators in order to teach STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects combined with artistic techniques (for instance Geometry and Music, Physics and Dance, Ecology and Theatre etc). Several challenges that are aimed to be tackled through SUNRAISE include the increasing inequalities in accessing learning for students with disadvantages (both socio-economic ones, disabilities, special educational needs) generally reducing the quality of learning and school achievements, with a risk of disengagement and dropout, climate change. This adds up to the already scarce performance and interest shown by EU students in STEM, despite the key importance of these subjects to develop the necessary innovation to face contemporary challenges. It is necessary that young people combine knowledge with interdisciplinary competences to solve problems, participate actively and responsibly in society, think critically and creatively, while at the moment they are more likely to be left behind. The risk is to grow a generation of people less prepared to face contemporary challenges.

Objectives

The priorities of SUNRAISE include the promotion of interest and excellence in STEM subjects with the adoption of the STEAM approach. In this context, the cultural and creative sector can contribute in developing ways SUNRAISE responds to this situation by developing a set of training tools for secondary school teachers and educators to teach STEM subjects combined with artistic techniques (e.g. Geometry and Music, Physics and Dance, Ecology and Theatre, etc). In this context, culture and art can give a unique contribution in developing ways of bridging creativity and arts with educational approaches. This approach will be even more effective for students with disabilities/SEN as the use of creativity and visual languages will improve their learning process even in difficult subjects such as science.

Therefore, the project objectives are:

  • To improve teaching quality through innovative and alternative didactics that enrich STEM teaching with different artistic expressions, facilitating inclusive and participatory learning.
  • To integrate formal education with non-formal education by professional artists and artists with disabilities, letting cultural and creative organizations play an active role in the recovery by starting new collaborations with the education sector to build a resilient society.
  • To help teachers develop their skills regarding STEM and creativity fostering creative thinking and sense of initiative, useful to find innovative solutions to individual and collective challenges.
  • To offer students, including students with disabilities, SEN and/or social and economic disadvantage, new opportunities of self-expression exploring contamination between STEM and arts.
  • To foster students’ awareness, relational and communication skills and their ability to think out of the box.

Activities:

  • Initial analysis of the current situation in partner countries regarding STEM achievements and education methodologies in place, including good practices, and investigation of teachers’ and education professionals’ needs in terms of skills development and innovative teaching.
  • Development of the E-learning platform as a “virtual classroom” for training teachers and students which will host all training materials.
  • Preparation of SUNRAISE innovative training programme for teaching STEM and scientific subjects through creative approaches; the programme will consist in modules, each combining 1 STEM subject with specific art techniques and represents an innovative methodology to build curiosity and engagement, practical and creative thinking, with a special added value for students with learning and social difficulties or disabilities. The modules will be piloted by each partner in lessons/training sessions in secondary schools.
  • Creation of the SUNRAISE e-book, which will bring together all the research, pilots, learning and main findings of the project.

Expected results

  • Increased interest of students in STEM subjects and stronger inclination to undertake STEM studies and careers.
  • Improved teaching’s quality through innovative & alternative didactics that will foster the methodology of STEM teaching through artistic approaches.
  • Increased inclusivity and appeal of STEM teaching, either in presence and at distance, addressing the needs of every student including those with a disability or difficult background or SEN.
  • Increased students’ capacity to think in an interdisciplinary way and put in place creative solutions to complex and/or abstract problems.
  • Increased teachers’ capacity to engage students and reach out to them in a fruitful way.
  • Increased empowerment, higher inclusion and active participation of students.
  • New collaboration opportunities among organizations in the cultural and artistic sector, schools, education and youth organizations, finding a new role across disciplines and real-world applications.

Coordinator:  Nazareno Societa’ Cooperativa Sociale – Italy

Partnership

  • CSI Center For Social Innovation Ltd – Cyprus
  • ICIMSS – Stowarzyszenie Miedzynarodowe Centrum Zarzadzania Informacja – Poland
  • Esciencia Eventos Cientificos Sl – Spain
  • THEAMA Theatro Atomon Me Anapiria – Greece
  • Cooperativa Sociale La Carovana – Italy
  • Zespół Szkół Drogowo-Geodezyjnych i Licealnych im. Augusta Witkowskiego w Jarosławiu – Poland

Duration: the project will last 24 months (February 2022 – January 2024).

The project officially started in May 2022 and has been extended to May 2024.

Budget: the project received a grant of € 327.707

Project GET UP!

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GET UP!

Gamification as an Educational Tool for Upper schools on Parks and environment

Programme and call for proposals

Erasmus +, KA2 (Cooperation for Innovation and Exchange of Good Practices, Strategic Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness)  – extra call for proposals 2020 in response to Covid-19

Brief description

The project aims to support students and teachers in upper secondary schools in acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences related to biodiversity protection, sustainability and environmental issues, through the collective design of a video game simulating the management of a nature park, contributing to digital education.

InEuropa srl is partner.

Objectives
• to increase the competence and awareness on environmental issues in upper secondary school students, who are about to enter the world of work, by stimulating their interest in this topic (by improving their knowledge of problems and issues related to nature conservation and, consequently, to local and global environmental challenges) using the language and modalities of the new media;

  • to increase the skills of upper secondary school students in problem solving, ICT use and digital literacy, through the use of gamification in school education, applied to environmental lessons;
  • to encourage open and innovative education with an emphasis on digital tools applied to a specific topic (functioning of natural parks, protection of biodiversity and sustainable development), which represents a significant social and educational value of European cultural heritage, with strong connections to the creation of future new jobs.

Activities

The Nature Parks that will be involved in the educational project are:

  • Regional Park Cento Laghi – Italy
  • Regional Park Sierra de Espadà – Spain
  • National Park Snæfellsjökull – Iceland
  • Little Carpathian Protected Landscape – Slovakia

The main project activities are:

  • Collection of information (boundaries, different degree of conservation areas, adjacent urban centres, roads, hiking trails, forest cover, protected flora and fauna present, etc.) by the 4 parks involved, for the development of the content of the educational video game;
  • Development of a video game as a digital educational tool in English, which will simulate the challenges that a nature park authority has to face in its daily work. It will also contain narrative parts, be organised in levels and contain other elements such as characters, scenarios, educational challenges related to the management of protected natural areas, etc;
  • Promotion of the video game as an educational gamification tool, by drafting a storyboard of the activity and relating the different phases and parts of the game to different aspects of gamification theory and practice;
  • Training activities for high school teachers on gamification and digital tools;
  • Training activities for project staff on the creation of the video game;
  • Field visit and experimental application of the new educational method for students;
  • Dissemination events in Italy, Iceland, Spain and Poland.

Results
The main expected results are:

  • Increase of secondary school students’ skills on environmental issues, biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, learning more directly about the complexity of a relevant element of European cultural heritage such as natural parks, through the use of a video game, achieving the goal of combining open education and innovative practices in the digital age.
  • Increase of teachers’ competences towards new educational methods related to gamification and the use of digital tools for teaching, together with a deeper involvement in environmental and nature protection issues, achieving the result of strengthening the profile of teaching professions.
  • Strengthening the professionalism of other stakeholders, such as nature parks and environmental educators, and evaluating new tools in the digital age for the promotion of cultural heritage in education.

Lead partner

Fundación de la Comunitat Valenciana para una Economía Baja en Carbón – ES

Partnership
The partnership consists of 7 actors from 5 different countries:

  • Gymnazium Karola Stura – SK
  • InEuropa srl – IT
  • INSTITUTO DE EDUCACIÓN SECUNDARIA BOTÀNIC CAVANILLES – ES
  • eco&eco Economia e Ecologia srl – IT
  • Environmental Agency of Iceland – ISL
  • DANMAR COMPUTERS SP ZOO – PL
  • Ente di Gestione per i Parchi e la Biodiversità Emilia Occidentale – IT

Duration
The project has a duration of 24 months (1 May 2021 – 30 April 2023)

Website
In progress

Total budget
The EU grant received is € 163.139,00

Funding body

European Commission – Erasmus + National Agency ES01