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Recent European History Through Personal Histories
Start date: Sep 1, 2014, End date: Aug 31, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

SYNOPSIS: Researching about History doesn`t have to mean only aiming old books in silent libraries. It can also be a very practical matter helping students to understand how history affected directly their relatives´ lives and, as a consequence, themselves. In this project we have linked two different fields of knowledge: History, as the study of past events and Personal Histories which are related mainly to Autobiographical Memory research. The project will allow our students to have a better knowledge of their own countries as well as the partner countries. They will enhance the ability to implement research techniques and develop speaking skills in their own language during the survey and in English, which will be the common language. They also will make use of ICT as a mean of developing their work, using the twinspace platform as well as different tools. CONTEXT: The adult people of our countries have witnessed amazing economical, political and social changes which have made appear new rules, habits and ways of living and organizing our societies. This has happened in a very fast way and many people have valid information reflected on their own lives. OBJECTIVES: The main objective of this project is to establish connections between personal histories of our students’ families and historical events which have taken part after the end of World War II. Our project will aim national characteristics in history. The goal is to see how historical events that have played an important role in our nations’ History are linked to people`s lives. The common aim is to research about a common topic, which are migrations. Other relevant objectives will be: improve the language skills of the students, their capacity for teamworking, their knowledge of other cultures and their use of new technologies. PARTICIPANTS: The schools of the countries participating (Spain, Germany, Turkey, Poland, Portugal and Romania) will focus on the main historical events in every country and the common topic about migrations. For all the partners there is one main subject that plays an important role in the lives of people of all the European nations: Migrations. Since World War II ended, migration has been a fact, a problem, a question of humanity, a necessity, a need for the economical systems of some nations, a cultural challenge, a question of “good neighborhood”, a question of organizing everybody’s work and much more. So, all our partners will have made their experiences with the consequences or effects of migrations in their countries. The students would research in every country the following topics: For Spain, the topics will be the transition to democracy and the failed military coup of 1981. For the German group, the topics will be the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, including the existence of two German states at the same time and the German Reunification in 1990. For the Polish group the national topics would be the influence of the political and economic changes on the lives of Polish people after World War II and the social transformations that have occurred in the Upper -Silesian region since the World War II. The topics for Romania will be the Communism era and the National Economical Crisis based on the International crisis in 2008. The topics in Turkey will be the establishment of Turkish Republic and the status of Turkey after the Second World War. The two national topics for Portugal will be the 25th April Revolution (when the dictatorship ended and democracy arose) and the 10th June, as it is the day of Portugal, the poet Camões and the Portuguese Communities. Activities: The project includes a survey which will be implemented by the pupils, asking for the consequences in family and private lives of people after certain historical events and/or global range. METHODOLOGY: It is planned that the pupils will ask people of all ages (relatives, neighbours, friends, teachers, politicians of all kinds, etc.) about their knowledge and memories of these events and in what way these events had an impact on their private situation. Personal interviews and/or questionnaires in written form will be the important tools in order to find out the results. During the mobilities/visits in the countries of the partners the students will have the chance of encounters with “contemporary witnesses” – either in museums or in reality. Information given by experts (In the case of Spain, the researchers of the Historical Archive from Albacete) or people directly involved may be added in order to complete the project. RESULTS, IMPACT AND LONGER TERM BENEFITS: These results will be published in a little booklet printed by each partner. It is also considered to make a video about interviews, results and of places that symbolize special events or regulations. All the results of all the partners will be published in a common book showing the international results.
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