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Conscious Living
Start date: Sep 1, 2014, End date: Aug 31, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Our society faces many challenges, not least the ones caused by climate change and limited resources. The young European are the ones who will have to face the consequences of this and create a sustainable way of living. By meeting students from different parts of Europe, the students will get an insight into different challenges and different ways of approaching them and can thus . The problems are global and we have to face them globally. European students living in comfortable homes are not always aware of their fortunate circumstances; they just take them for granted. This project aims at raising students’ awareness of how their daily choices and ways of living affect other people’s lives, how they burden the environment, and ultimately, how they affect their own future. The students will also be encouraged to take into account the lessons they can learn from the past and the choices of previous generations. Over the course of three years, three different groups of students from each school participate in the project. The total number of pre-university students (aged 15-17) directly involved will be about 340. 5-10 teachers from each school will be involved over the years. The project is divided into four subtopics which provide the focus for research and project tasks. They are: 1) food and clothes: origin, price, quality, fair trade, organic and environmental choices 2) energy a) production: different sources in different countries and their impact on the environment. b) consumption: efficiency and saving in transport as well as in housing, both in existing houses and in the construction of new, environmentally friendly houses 3) adapting the living circumstances to existing geographical and climate conditions in different countries as well as overcoming the challenges of them 4) disposal of used items such as mobile phones, ipods, bicycles, tv sets, fridges, computers, sofas, chairs The students work with these topics throughout the school year and meet face to face for a week twice a year and work in groups of mixed nationalities. During the exchange weeks, the students will go on excursions and study visits to gather information about their specific tasks. Examples of this can be visiting hydropower plants, visiting and or/doing interviews with local organisations or research prices in local businesses. At the end of each exchange week, the students involved will present their results either as an oral presentation or as a campaign that promotes the solutions that they propose. During the partnership, students will work together in Google Drive, which is a collaborative platform. At the end of each year the results will be published on a blog/website and teachers will also share project tasks and possibly results in eTwinning. At the end of the partnership the outcome of the project, together with the tasks, will be collected in one DVD that will provide learning material and tasks to be used later at schools. Apart from topic related impacts, there are other envisaged impacts, mainly concerning the students directly involved in the project. By working in multinational groups, they will increase both their language skills and their social and cooperative skills. Working on the project, they will also acquire various learning and presentation skills as well as enhancing their ICT skills. The students will be better prepared for further studies and for future employment by having managed their own learning, worked in projects, chosen methods and presented their results in various ways as well as having gained a better understanding of European citizenship. The issue of conscious living and a sustainable lifestyle is an important one that needs to be brought to the attention of as many people as possible as a starting point to change their own lifestyle. We hope that this project will have an impact on not only the students and teachers involved but also on society at a larger scale so that an ever greater number of people will make conscious choices and attain a more sustainable lifestyle.
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