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Creating a Sustainable Tomorrow
Start date: Sep 1, 2015, End date: Aug 31, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

With our project "Creating a sustainable tomorrow", we aim at raising students' awareness about their consumer behaviour and the ecological problems it involves. We want to focus on various environmental problem areas in different European countries and develop an understanding that a more sustainable lifestyle is needed if we want to save the planet. The students will learn about their own surrounding, get to know different European realities, and develop an understanding that ecological problems are regionally diverse yet universal, and that action needs to be taken. Inspired and influenced through their project experiences, the desired outcome of the project is to make the students actively change something about their consumer behaviour, to have an impact on others, and to thus make a difference to their own future as young European citizens. Four schools will work together in this project: One partner has successfully worked in Comenius projects with 2 of the other schools, though not simultaneously; the 4th partner has not been involved in a EU-funded project yet and was found via e-twinning. The schools involved are all very different in their surroundings and ecological conditions, a circumstance which will be exploited for the learning/teaching activities (country meetings). The main target group for the project will be years 7-9 (12-15 yrs.); 8-10 (different) students and 2-3 teachers will participate in the 4 country mobilities. At each school, this core team of up to 30 students will work on the respective results and disseminate them in various ways to a wider public (Twinspace, school website, noticeboards, etc.). Language teachers as well as science and geography teachers will ensure the quality of the produced material. The project will be subdivided into different phases. In between the mobilities, the students will work in a progressive way: In the 1st semester they will examine, evaluate and compare their consumer behaviour and find out what ecological problems it entails. They will gain an awareness that a more sustainable lifestyle is needed. In the 2nd semester, they will investigate their own surrounding and find out what is already being done in their own communities, before they will research new ideas and inventions to find out what more could be done to be more sustainable in the 3rd semester. The sum of all these findings will result in a "Charter for a sustainable livestyle." In the first 3 semesters, the students will produce e.g. prezis, podcasts, articles and films in English on all the topics. In the 4th semester they will write stories about their visions of the future, which will then be transformed into a film, photo story or comic. At the country meetings the students will work in-depth and in international teams on an ecologically relevant topic. Here, they will produce a tangible outcome to be presented as a team using different methods of cooperative and task-based learning : The "upcycled stuff" they produce will be presented in a "fashion show", the presentations about "water world" will be experienced in a "gallery walk"; for the unit on alternative energies and car propulsions we will see a "car race" with the toy cars set up by the students, and for the "natural care products" we will have a "market place" presentation. For the semester work as well as for the mobilities, we will work with a lerner-centered task-based approach: within a given frame, the students work in teams and choose a subtopic of their interest; they will complete a meaningful task, their contribution can be very diverse and the students will work with all the language at their disposal. They will thus learn how to work independently and outcome-oriented, which will also greatly enhance their self-competence. By participating in the project, students can acquire important key competences and transversal skills relevant for their future careers: they will enhance their foreign language competences, digital skills, presentation skills as well as their basic competence in science and technology but they will also develop critical thinking and active citizenship. For the teachers, working with colleagues from other European countries provides the opportunity to get to know different and innovative teaching methods and to reflect and improve their own teaching style. Interdisciplinary teams will work together at each school and thus enhance the cooperation and team spirit among colleagues. The products like a bilingual glossary,the presentations on ecological problems, the charter, etc.. will be lasting material that can be used for class work beyond the project. Other potential longer term benefits would be increased compectences, a change in consumer behaviour patterns and that some new sustainable ideas might be implemented in the communities.
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