Nature and Outdoor Education

The five schools realizing general primary education were involved in this two year project, and the partnership and the desire to initiate, organize and anchor an Erasmus project into our schools´ curriculum with the issues of wildlife preservation with the aim of educating and promoting good environmental practices at our schools and local communities were established on e-Twinning platform.As the schools came from diverse cultural backgrounds and geographic areas included in planned visits to explore local wildlife and local cultural and traditional inheritances; therefore this increased the visibility and experience of diversity for included participants of this project. Which also resonated successfully with the main project plan – to educating our students about their own and other partners´ local wildlife, their regional ecosystems and the problems and issues facing their regions with the resolve of finding feasible ways of protecting the wildlife. It was our aim at the beginning of this project that our pupils develop good environmental practices which would make them responsible citizens who appreciate, respect and take an active role in preserving the wildlife in their local region and Europe.Since the beginning of this project, in the Autumn 2018 till the autumn 2020, students leaded by their teachers, have learnt and established their awareness on topic such as: ,, Fish and Footprints’’ in Finland; ,,Bees and other insects’’ in Portugal; ,,Nature is getting ready for winter’’ in Poland; ,,Herbs for well-being’’ in Turkey and ,,Nature trails and Nature and we’’ in Latvia. Included short-term exchanges of groups of students served as possibility for students to know the uniqueness of the local nature in each country.Also great teaching-learning materials have been collected to be used in future educational work in each school. Should be noted, that also academic study has been done within this project to demonstrate the role of the Project Based Learning and Outdoor Activities as a method in the process of promoting knowledge for students, presented at University of Latvia. Teachers should be particularly praised whose energy and enthusiasm serves as a great example for students.It should be noted, in particular, that the final activities of the project were organised in a new unprecedented format, using internet and virtual capabilities. Thus demonstrating and proving that nowadays students and their teachers the same as Erasmus, as a programme, are very flexibly capable of adapting to the current situation, giving hope and inspiration for further work.As the OUTDOOR EDUCATION, using both formal and informal teaching methods such as Project Based Learning and SOLE (self organized learning environment) approach, served as great methodological sample and rise students’ willingness to participate and conduct actively; thus creating confidence and strong belief that groups of our students, will continue to implement the project idea, and rise of good environmental practices will make them as responsible citizens who appreciate, respect and take an active role in preserving the nature in their local regions and in Europe as whole.