Made in Europe
Start date: Sep 1, 2015,
End date: Aug 31, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
MADE IN EUROPE - quest for a European heritage and identity
As our previous Comenius project focused on the shady side of Europe ( problems dealing with immigrants and other minorities in researching the motives of migration in Europe), we felt the need to explore the sunny side of Europe. The book 'Made in Europe' by Pieter Steinz was the main source of inspiration.
From the survey which has been filled in by the pupils of the schools involved in the coming program, in The Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Hungary an Turkey, a weak feeling of Europeanism became apparent. Pupils don’t seem to be Eurosceptic, but just don’t feel very connected. The pupils aren’t aware of any European roots in the areas Sports, Sciences and Arts. It became clear that there is a definite need for a quest to European heritage. The compass of this quest will be the acquiring and use of the 21st century study, social and life skills, such as creative and critical thinking, working together and communicating in transnational groups, flexibility and open mindedness.
The main objective of the project is the creation of a European awareness and by pursuing this, develop and strengthen these 21st century skills, because they will be needed in international relations which get more and more important in the 21st century.
Creating a European awareness can only be successfully done through exchanges of pupils from the participating schools. During such exchanges the dissemination of adaptive education will be the most effective.
Six schools (Gymnasia) will participate in the project and about 800 students of the 10th and 11th grade will be involved in it for two years. The schools are from Gliwice (PL), Rotterdam (NL), Munich (DE), Budapest (HU) and Istanbul (TR). Five of them had very good experience together in the previous international Comenius project. The new partner from Istanbul has participated in many other European exchange projects. Each school has specific qualities, such as learning skills in adaptive education or experience with working in project groups, but also knowledge and expertise on the topics Arts, Sciences and Sports.
Nine activities during international exchange weeks and in the curriculum of the regular lessons Arts, Sciences and Sports will be manifest in the outcome of the intellectual outputs. Teachers will provide 20 lessons in total on 4 topics: the quest for European Arts, Sciences, and Sports and the influence of the Byzantine-Ottoman culture on Europe. Students and teachers will produce the other five intellectual outputs in project activities: writing a diary booklet with reflections and reports about the activities and exchange programs; a transnational European youth orchestra; a documentary film about the topics and the quest itself for a European cultural heritage and identiy; an interactive gallery and interactive international shortlist about the topics on the project site and a blog with background information or links to other sources; a European menu in a cooking contest and recipes, which will be added to the booklet. Alle activities and outputs will be produced in transnational workgroups of students and teachers. Every workgroup will have one special task, which students can choose for themselves, but all students will take part in all project lessons in Arts, Sciences and Sports.
The project should not become a one-day fly, on the contrary it has the intention to become an innovation of education in the fields of Sports, Sciences and Arts that will continue for years to come at our schools. Thus it will be a sustainable project and there will be a longer term benefit, not only for the participating schools, but also as an opportunity for other European secondary schools to teach these lessons too. Each final product will be distributed in such a way that also extern stakeholders such as schools through Europe, national musea, local sport clubs, entrepreneurs from all over Europe, restaurants, foundations for education and migrant integration, will benefit from them. This will be done during several international multplying events. External stakeholders will be approached and will be informed through an active PR policy and social and other media. Multiplying will be done by means of a number of lessons series concerning Sports, Sciences and Arts which can be used in any school in Europe. A projectsite will be installed by pupils and will be updated every three months by the students and the system administrator of each partner school.
The project will have its finale during a Multiplying Event in Rotterdam in which all products of the various subjects and work groups will be presented. The products including for instance a youth orchestra performing their own European composition, and a designer contest will be presented. Besides these presentations, workshops will be given so that the result of the projects will be distributed in a very effective way.