Once upon an island

"Once upon an island was a project done by six schools located in Poland, Greece, Portugal, Croatia, Italy and Ireland. Taking into account the importance of key comptences for the future of young people and unsatisfactory results of our research (on the topic of being creative) the main objectives of the projects were to:- develop the ability to work effectively with information, using it at all levels of Bloom's Taxonomy (remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating) and also understanding the many ways that information is produced and distributed,- increase students' motivation to learn mathematics and science by, for example, rectifying preconceived beliefs that the subjects are particularly difficult, - improve foreign language skills,- develop digital comptences which enable our students to acquire other key competences (e.g. language, mathematics, learning to learn, cultural awareness),- teaching ""learning to learn"" (teaching strategy: establish goals, determine essential information, find patterns and ""chunk"" information, plan and manage time (prioritize) and seek help when necessary),- learn entrepreneurial skills,- improve social nad civic competences, foster the the ability to communicate constructively in different environments, to show tolerance, express and understand different viewpoints, to negotiate with the ability to create confidence, and to feel empathy. The target group of this project were primary school students aged 11-15, both boys and girls, the students of partners' schools.In the starting point of the project, students were involved in a shipwreck and all passengers survived on an island in the middle of nowhere. Step by step students planned everyday life there. They started with a map of the island, they also set up a government and established elementary laws . Afterwards they designed houses using their creative imagination and planned the island's economy (its industry, agriculture and services) . Besides all of these, they also arranged the island entertainment - sports, theatre, arts. Schools for survivors' kids, restaurants and entrepreneurship games were also included into project work.The students had to communicate with each other, making compromises, learning making decisions in democratic way, they had to act using as many skills as possible. Through the student exchanges we aimed at giving travel and intercultural exchange opportunities and so reducing barriers to mobility across Europe whilst also promoting language learning to all children. ICT activities in all project tasks developed the children’s computer skills and ensured access all children to modern technology. Most of the tasks like the Island's Entertainment and the production of CDs and DVDs aimed at promoting a sense of entrepreneurship."