Climate Mates

<< Background >>The IPCC report (2022) highlights the impact of climate change (CC) on ecosystems and human civilization. By adopting sustainable lifestyles and implementing necessary infrastructure, technology, and laws, it is possible to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40-70% until 2050. This report calls for immediate human action. Therefore, our primary motivation for initiating this project was to increase public awareness of climate change so as to actively participate in changing and fortifying our resistance to CC and encourage students to adopt climate-conscious behaviors. Besides, we desired to fulfill our responsibilities as teachers, students, and citizens. With this endeavor, we contributed to this worldwide effort with extra-curricular activities by collaborating internationally. This project also advocated for a CC workshop curriculum plan at Science and Art Centers so as to raise more awareness and encourage more sustainable behavior change in daily preferences. Finally, we wished to be positive role models for educators, parents, students, and community members, encouraging them to contribute to the solution of CC.<< Objectives >>Our goal in carrying out this project was, at its core, to help increase public awareness of climate change—its causes as well as its potential impacts. By providing behavioral changes in participants' daily preferences (consumption, transportation, waste management, reducing, reusing, recycling, water, and energy use), we also hoped to develop more environmentally conscious individuals who take action and use green alternative ways to save our planet. Other goals of this project were to build key competencies like scientific knowledge and skills, mathematical literacy, creativity, learning autonomy, ICT skills, English use, peer cooperation and communication skills, and intercultural communicative competence.<< Implementation >>The project activities were as followed:1. eTwinning project named Climate Mates which had both national and European quality labels2. Online parents and partners preparation meetings3. Logo design and voting by all the participants3. Face to face partners' mobility evaluation meetings during the mobilities4. Joining the Erasmus+ days event of the Provincial directorate of National Board of Education5. Organizing Erasmus+ days event where students presented their mobility experiences to the other students of the coordinator school6. Photo exhibitions on partner schools' noticeboards and digital boards.7. Three short-term exchanges of groups of students: a) IES Vega de Atarfe (Spain)-LTT: What a Wonderful World! 02-06 October 2023 b)Çanakkale Science and Art Center (Turkey)-LTT: Climate Change 23-27 October 2023 c)Agrupamento de Escolas de Rio Tinto No3 (Portugal)-LTT: Friends of Biodiversity 20-25 November 20238.Online and pen and paper evaluation of the LTTs9.Meeting the schools' other students10. Dissemination Activities(school websites, instagram and facebook accounts, project website and instagram account, e-magazines, school noticeboards, presenting a paper at a congress)11. CC workshop curriculum plan<< Results >>Results showed that students were happy and learned a lot about CC.They raised awareness of CC, its reasons, impacts and solutions.They understood the importance of green alternative practices.They believed that they could make contributions in the solution of CC with their daily preferences and adopted climate-conscious behaviors.Besides, improving communication and cooperation in English, enhancing intercultural communicative competence,developing scientific,mathematical and digital skills were the other results of the project.Concrete outputs:1.Project logo poster2.Project rules posters3.Upcycled clothes4.CC motto posters5.Weather condition observation tables6.Students' presentations about the importance of environment and their mobility experiences7.Sustainable recipes cooked in mixed teams8.Planting seeds and trees9.Evaluation forms(Pre, Post, Delayed Post tests, Mobility Assessment forms, Parents' and Teachers' Evaluation, Self, Pair and Group Assessment)10.Creating mytical animal11.CC Experiments12.Objects made up from waste materials13.Environmental games14.Short videos,website,noticeboards,presentations15.Field notebook16.Guide with aromatic plants and plant species located17.CC workshop curriculum plan