MOTIVATION

 

The motivation for the project has arisen from the location of each of the schools as they are all near a National Park or a Nature Reserve. These Parks and Reserves are often the life blood of the local communities.  The people rely on them for jobs, recreation, and economics and in some cases for food.

The different school communities are linked in many ways with The National Parks and Nature Reserves, many of the school parents, wider family circles and management work directly in the Parks / Reserves or with services that rely on the Parks or in tourism that is dependent on the National Parks / Reserves.

The schools wish to learn more about their National Parks and Nature Reserves. They wish to study ways that they can maintain these Parks / Reserves for future generations. They want to instil a sense of pride in their students in the special elements of their parks. They also want to learn about other similar Parks / Reserves in other countries, share their own knowledge with the schools in these countries and to learn from the schools as to how they work with their Park / Reserve authorities for the Education of their students.

The idea of a European project on National Parks and Nature Reserves has been a dream of The Irish School for many years. This proposed project was discussed with some of the schools applying for the project in June 2011 and the Irish school hosted a preparatory meeting in October 2012 to prepare this application in conjunction with the partner schools.

                                                 

NEED FOR THE PROJECT

 

This project is vital for schools that are close to National Parks and Nature Reserves.

• Each school works with the different Parks and Reserves in various ways but we can only learn from others how best to fully utilise the vast Educational resources that are The Parks and Nature Reserves.

• Not all schools in Europe are lucky enough to have such resources on their doorstep. We wish not only to share experiences with each other but also with other schools through our proposed website, newsletters, blogs, eTwinning and The EST.

• Appreciation of the Environment is vital for young Europeans. We wish for our pupils to fully appreciate their own unique environments and those of others.

• The project is needed  for Educational Institutions to work together and to learn from each other.

• All the Parks and Reserves are threatened in different ways. This project will heighten awareness of these threats in the communities and enable us to protect them.

• Europe shares a Nature that has been influenced by human activity over the millennia. We wish to learn about this European Human influenced Nature.

• Children learn easily from each other, our project will enable them to meet and to videoconference to learn from each other.

• We wish through this project for young Europeans in each country to be proud of their local Nature and to learn about other countries' Natural Heritage. We want for these children to grow up as responsible adults with a healthy respect for their  local National Parks and Nature Reserves and  to enable them  to help in various ways to preserve them for future European generations.

• The project will enable the realization of many objectives of environmental and social education which would be difficult to achieve in the basic didactic process.

• We want to provide our pupils with an attractive and healthy way of spending their leisure time, to develop their interest in Nature, in their region and in the leisure activities enabled by their local Parks and Reserves.

• We will facilitate students in their acquisition of IT skills through videoconferencing, poster design, blogging, emailing and other presentations.

• The project will enable students and teachers to communicate and understand each other’s cultures through meetings, videoconferencing and writing to each other (acquisition and development of language skills).

• Rationally used funds which will be allocated for the project will enable schools to purchase didactic tools.

• Funds will enable students from poorer families to visit foreign countries.

The project is necessary so that our pupils can be immersed in the local environment which may encourage some pupils to take up environmental careers in the future.

 

PROJECT OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY

 

• To provide opportunities for the pupils from different countries to work together towards a common goal – we will achieve this aim by working with the same themes, and by communicating and reporting about them.

• To develop knowledge and understanding of European National Parks and Nature Reserves, to see what they have in common: tourism, difficulties, unique flora, fauna and landscapes – we will achieve these objectives by comparing  each other's National Parks and Nature Reserves when sharing information, legends, music, songs, project work, and information.

• To develop and to deepen the contacts of the cooperation between the young people and teachers from the foreign schools

• To realize that the local activity is meaningful for the general condition of the nature

• To raise the ecological awareness of pupils

• To introduce pupils to the proper behaviour in the contact with the nature, especially in natural parks

• To familiarize with the jobs in natural parks

• To focus on the coexistence of a man with the nature

• To convince pupils of the necessity of continuation pro-ecological activities

• To exchange the professional experiences of teachers

• To promote and to disseminate the project in the local society

• To improve language skills through European cooperation – We are making a common website in English, and all the school websites will have information on the project in their Native languages. The pupils will be reading and listening to words, songs and poems in their partner countries languages – they will also listen to stories in Gaelic and  Catalane

• To encourage the use of ICT within the European context and in the context of environmental education – We will make a project website, translate, we will use a blog for sharing documents, photos and films and online communication, and we will use eTwinning / Twinspace  and The EST

• To develop European concepts in teaching-learning methods and strategies of the school.

• To teach pupils to work actively for saving the nature

• To make exhibitions, which can attract attention from parents, the local community and visitors to The National Parks and Nature Reserves.

• To increase the awareness of European Citizenship.