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SURF – Sustainable Rural Future

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SURF – Sustainable Rural Future

Agreement number: 2023-1-ES01-KA220-ADU-000151613

 

Program and Call

ERASMUS PLUS – Call 2023 Round 1 KA2

KA220- SCH – Cooperation partnerships in Adult Education

Ongoing project

 

Short description

The project aims to improve knowledge about climate change in rural communities through the creation of an educational itinerary (integrating formal and nonformal education) in order to foster learning for green transition in rural areas. In addition, SURF seeks to promote the development of integral solutions and connect people through the consolidation of a European Rural Network. The project will use the participatory action-research (PAR) approach in order to emphasize the participation and action of community members in targeted rural areas to create a learning pathway that strengthens existing capacities and provides solutions to local problems by involving local communities in decision-making.

 

Objectives

The main objective is to create an innovative training itinerary for adults to increase the opportunities of rural areas in the context of green transition and climate change adaptation by:

– Improving rural communities’ knowledge of climate change;

– fostering social participation to involve communities in decision-making processes;

– contributing to sustainable rural development;

– creating a European rural network to promote information exchange.

 

Main activities

The most relevant activities for achieving the objectives are:

– Creation of an online platform containing all project materials;

– training course on climate change adaptation in rural areas and participatory research-action approach;

-local training events for implementation of the PAR approach to identify opportunities, challenges, difficulties of rural communities;

– creation of a Good Practice Guide;

– formation and consolidation of the European Rural Network.

 

Expected results

Tangible results: online platform; updated content; discussion forums; climate change educational materials; online course on the PAR approach (manual, course and training); guides; webinars; workshops; a connected rural network; events.

Intangibles: discussions among people with similar concerns; ongoing social participation in different locations; increased knowledge and skills of educators and local community members.

 

Coordinator

– Fundación de la Comunitat Valenciana para una Economía Baja en Carbón – Low Carbon Economy Foundation (ES)

 

Partenarship

– InEuropa Srl (IT)

– Universitat Jaume I De Castellon (ES)

– Center Za Trajnostni Razvoj Podezelja Kranj – CTRPK (SI)

– Univerza V Ljubljani (SI)

– Associazione A.R.C.E.S. (IT)

 

Duration

The project will last 24 months (4 December 2023 – 3 December 2025)

 

Budget

250.000 €

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