Saturday 6 August 2016

About the project

Erasmus + project, School Education, Strategic Partnership KA219
Identification number: 2016-1-RO01-KA219-024478_1
Duration: 01.Nov. 2016 - 30.Oct. 2018

Erasmus+ Project Results Platform


THE WINNING LOGO
Created by the students from General Kemal Balikesir Ortaokulu, Turkey



PARTNERS:

1. Liceul Tehnologic "Octavian Goga" Jibou, Romania

2.  Agrupamento de Escolas do Forte da Casa, Portugal






3. Zakladni skola Zamberk, 28.rijna 581, Czech Republic




4. General Kemal Balikesir Ortaokulu, Turkey




5. 3rd Primary School of Agios Nikolaos Crete, Greece




This project will focus on promoting the use of ICT in teaching; strengthening the  profile of teaching profession through transnational cooperation, developing, testing, implementing, sharing ideas, practices, teaching materials and tools; developing students' basic skills in maths, science and literacy, improving collaboration with parents and other stakeholders, promoting a sustainable lifestyle through creative recycling.

Our students have changed radically. Today's students are no longer our educational system was designed to teach. Lydia Plowman (2015) suggests that children are often very engaged by digital technology, firstly because it is fun and secondly because succeeding in what they do and the feeling that they can master a challenge effectively. Technology in the field of education is an important tool. It is future oriented, as the future is all about technology and education can't stay behind. Our project aims to develop, test and implement innovative and effective teaching methods using ICT in the classroom, to increase the quality of education, create a pleasant and safe educational environment, promoting peer-learning, problem-based learning, game-based-learning, which will help to increase students' problem solving, numeracy, digital, verbal communication skills, critical thinking, creativity, team-working and will improve their transition to high school. 

The project proposes a strong and close collaboration among European teachers as part of their professional development. Teachers will devise together innovative teaching materials, pedagogical approaches and tools, research, analysis, studies, which we will implement in our school activities and make them available on the Internet for other teachers to use them. To enhance the collaboration and practise team-teaching, to maximize peer-learning and the sharing of good practice, teachers will devise and lead the transnational learning and teaching activities in pair countries.

Moreover, we are aware of the fact that communication and collaboration with parents is an essential part of teaching. A child's education can be greatly enhanced by their parents' involvement in the classroom and at home. Throughout the project we aim to strengthen the cooperation with parents, through directly involving them in our activities, workshops, seminars, parent support groups, making them aware of the importance of their involvement for a successful school life of their children, offering ways of spending time with their children and also raising their awareness on the positive and negative sides of the digital world.

Finally, environmental education is a major challenge of the 21st century. The result of a survey conducted by Euro RSCG Worldwide (2012), shows that, in particular young consumers (52%) believe to have wasted money on things they don't really need. The aim of the creative recycling workshops is to foster students' creativity, develop their ability to turn ideas into action, turn them into a more responsible, global citizen. As many of our students are facing economic obstacles, these workshops are a good way to teach them, that they don't always need money to have new things. With little effort and creativity, they can make themselves the desired products from old materials.

Our primary target group are students aged 10-14, their teachers and parents from the participating organizations. We will extend our impact as we are going to organize workshops and fairs for the local community, publish and make available all our materials and outcomes, as other interested teachers, students, parents, educational organizations to have access to them and use them in their work.

All our partners identify themselves with the topics and problems this project addresses, have a strong desire and are committed to share and spread the benefits of the project's outcomes and to implement them in their schools. Each partner has more or less experience in some aspects, which is a good opportunity to learn from each other, share our good practice and improve in areas in which we are less competent. The international dimension will expand the horizons of our students and teachers, allowing them to value themselves as citizens of their own country and also of Europe. It is a chance to raise participants' interest in learning about new cultures, to promote intercultural learning and European values. Angela Leung, an associate psychology professor at Singapore Management University reports, that people with more experiences of different cultures are better to generate creative ideas and make unexpected links among concepts.