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Youth 4 Earth. Spaces Without Borders
Youth 4 Earth. Spaces Without Borders
Start date: Sep 1, 2015,
End date: Aug 31, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
"YOUTH 4 EARTH. SPACE WITHOUT BORDERS”
The keywords of this project are: multilingualism, internationalization, key competencies, social inclusion, environmental awareness, multiculturalism, ICT, the sharing of good teaching practices.
I.E.S. Carlos Alvarez (Churriana-Málaga) is a public secondary school (which covers the age group of 12-16) which is committed to social inclusion, the use of ICT and the REA and multilingual training of its students. Our school participates in the program "Coastwatch Europe" along with many public and private agencies from 23 countries which collaborate for a day of inspection of the entire coast of the continent and monitor its condition. As the local entity collaborating we will deal with the inspection of a stretch of five kilometers of coast assigned to us by the regional organization responsible. The data is sent to the Irish headquarters to carry out its annual report. Also every year, we schedule monitoring visits and work on the protected natural area located along the stretch of coastline associated the river Guadalhorce delta. It is a Natural Site inscribed in the Natura 2000 network as an SCI (Site of Community Interest) of the European Union for its high ecological value for its wintering or nesting of migratory birds, some of which are endangered. These two activities are useful for carrying out of various basic and transversal key competences tasks by our students from the various teaching departments (Science, Geography and History, English, Mathematics, Technology, etc)
The goals we pursue through this project are: The improvement of language skills through linguistic immersion, the training in the use of new technologies for communication and spreading of results, International cooperation by sharing good teaching practices, awareness of the global importance of maintaining our local biodiversity, challenging prejudice and xenophobia, by accepting the natural multiculturalism of Europe.
For the development of our project, we have been in contact with schools located on coastal areas of Italy and Poland, which are "united with us" by the migratory routes of birds and our commun interest in achieving the aforementioned goals. Our intention is that teams of students from all three countries work together performing the activities and studies described above by sharing information through virtual communication (video conferencing, emails, social networks, etwinning, etc.) and real physical exchanges. We think it's a great opportunity to encourage cooperation among teenagers from different countries to achieve common goals such as practicing the use of new technologies, expanding their cultural and human horizons, comparing different lifestyles and through linguistic immersion consolidate their learning. We will insist specially on two ideas: that migrations are natural processes that are used by many species (including humans) in order to adapt to the environment ,and that the changes of natural areas at the local level have consequences on places thousands of miles away.
Our project will involve a large group of teachers and students from each school. Two international meetings will be held (one in Spain and one in Poland) for the organization and execution of the project involving 2 teachers and the headmasterof each school. In the three exchange activities, one in each country, 12 students and 2 teachers from each of the two foreign schools (3 for the Italian school) and the students and teachers of the host country will be involved, so each school will host a total of 24 students and 4 (or 5) teachers in the exchanges.
The materials produced (inspection questionnaires, reports, presentations, radio programmes, videos, school bird watching guides, plants, marine life, routes, museum trips, brochures, etc) will be used in future courses for students from our school and other European schools. The project will contribute to the modernization of our educational system through the exchange of innovative working methods and better teaching practices. It will also help new schools to join the Coastwatch initiative. It will also have a positive impact on families and the local community through the cultural enrichment that the internationalization of this project will involve.