Do Not Let Water Leave Us!

<< Background >>Without water, there would be no life on Earth. Yet we use this and other essential resources without consideration. This carelessness has far-reaching consequences for the environment and our daily lives, not only in Europe but all over the world leading to droughts, floods, a decrease in marine life, and even water-related migration, just to name a few of the consequences. To protect our planet's future, urgent action is needed. We have to encourage children and their families to save water and raise awareness of sustainable practices in daily water consumption. Our project aims to promote creativity, inquiry, and problem-solving skills in school-age children by developing STEAM skills through an interdisciplinary approach. By working together at a European level, we can exchange knowledge and methods to find better solutions to water problems. This collaboration strengthens the abilities of students, staff, and institutions, fostering a culture of good practices in sustainable daily water consumption.<< Objectives >>This project had several key aims, beginning with our aim to raise awareness among students aged 10 to 16 on water issues. By encouraging them to change their habits towards responsible consumption and a global perspective, we hoped to cultivate a sense of conscious citizenship.Simultaneously, we tried to equip students with essential 21st-century skills including creativity, information literacy, problem-solving, critical thinking, and resilience by using a STEAM-based approach. We also focused on enhancing students’ comprehension of significant water challenges, like water pollution, water scarcity, water conservation and sustainability of water resources. Ultimately, our efforts culminated in the development and dissemination of valuable STEAM education materials for teachers and institutions across Europe.<< Implementation >>The project was structured into several work packages, all of which were a result of the active collaboration of all partners. While one partner institution took the lead on each package, guiding its management and ensuring concrete results, the final products were always a collective effort, with all partners providing essential input and support. The final products (Green Platform, Water literate Rubric, STEAM Lesson Plans, Water Save Curriculum) will be explained in the section of the results.Throughout the project, we successfully organized six mobilities. Two of these were attended exclusively by coordinators (TPM), while the other four (LTTA) brought together both students and teachers. All these trips focused on hands-on activities through workshops and field trips to address water-related issues.One of our main priorities was to disseminate our work to a wider audience. We shared our knowledge, activities and material with the public through social media, school homepages, eTwinning and the website “the green platform”, which was created specifically for this project. << Results >>One of the project's primary goals was to raise awareness about the importance of water conservation among both our students and the wider public. We developed the following final products to help achieve this goal:- The Green Platform was specifically created to facilitate the exchange of activities, materials, and best practices related to water issues and the interdisciplinary STEAM approach. This platform gives us the ability to share our knowledge and resources with a wide audience.- A Water Literacy Rubric provides a framework for measuring participants' knowledge and skills related to water conservation and sustainable use. The uploaded document exemplifies how a water-related topic can be processed including such rubric. - The collection of STEAM lesson plans is intended to provide teachers with quick access to water-related topics which they can implement one-to-one in their teaching.- The Water Save Curriculum is a comprehensive framework for teachers. It's designed to help them prepare lessons that teach students about the importance of water as a limited resource, how it's used, and the ways to protect and conserve it.