Nos Ecoles Vertes Innovantes

<< Background >>The coordinating country (France) and its partners have been working on ecology and European citizenship for several years. But we only did basic actions as regards Nature such as recycling with sometimes some innovative ideas such as recycling clothes (Italy). But this only remained at a local level. So participating altogether in an Erasmus + program was sure a logical continuation of our various activities, in order to meet and learn from each other, by sharing our knowledge and skills. This project also meets the national objectives of our respective countries to deal with global warming because the asphalt in our schools creates sources of heat, hence a reflection on how to make more green our buildings in order to create freshness and bring back pollinators which are in decline, while creating a better working environment. In addition, we noticed that our students needed to gain autonomy and self-confidence, which was beneficial and notable during mobility periods and group works through peer tutoring situations.<< Objectives >>Our project was revolving around three main objectives including European priorities which are: - the environment, we wanted to raise awareness about the preservation of Nature in a more concrete way and on a European scale while directing a reflection on school work spaces which are sometimes not very motivating or attractive for our learners lacking greenery and relaxation areas to distress and calm down; - digital technology, omnipresent in our daily teaching but we wanted to show another way of using artificial intelligence, to help them carry out tasks. Moreover the short radio training session was an experience greatly appreciated by all the students; -the inclusion of all students in our classroom activities and mobilities, otherwise by using virtual meetings to pursue exchanges between students, even those who did not participate during mobilities. All of these objectives worked under a peer-to-peer tutoring system and every student felt fully engaged in this project until the end. They also worked on numerous school subjects but also social skills by getting self-confidence and daring to express themselves and make themselves understood in English even if it was not perfect, and in civic skills as a European citizen.<< Implementation >>This two-year project alternated between physical and virtual mobilities. We had worked on a schedule previously with vacations and public holidays written on it between partners, which made it possible to carry out four mobilities of learners and staff in each schools. During these face-to-face visits, we carried out the tasks planned in our schedule in a concrete manner. By the way, the train was one of our preferred means of green transportation when it was possible, in order to be coherent with the objectives of our project. On the other hand, virtual mobilities and tasks were also taken place between staff and coordinators to make regular assessments of our project, to prepare our physical mobilities in order to reassure our learners, but also to end over our ongoing tasks in a common way.<< Results >>Our project focused on 4 modules, which were: the creation of a smartphone application and a game on Nature for primary schools; studies on food waste in our canteens, which allowed students to think about recycling waste and to find other solutions such as ad campaigns for students and staff; a radio program to get to know each other then a short debate on ecology in our schools to convey new ideas; poems talking about Nature recorded on the radio; making our schools more green as part of our well-being at work goal; a collaborative vegetable garden; the construction of a green wall; a water recycling system in Sicily; the creation of a virtual educational calendar for primary schools listing monthly activities in order to raise awareness among young people throughout Europe; writing recipes to use kitchen waste but also to create ecological products such as soap or shampoo; a recycling campaign in the form of posters; and a multilingual comic strip.