The project was planned with the participation of six schools from Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and the UK, Hungary being the coordinator. The group of the participating countries was formed partly on the base of co-operations in previous projects, partly on the base of recommendations by previous project partners.
The project idea was born seeing the common needs of the participating schools. Present-day teaching and learning environment struggles with the undermotivation of students not only in the lessons but also in out-of-classroom activities, specially designed for them. Attendance in these activities is low, irrespective from the fact whether it is a special school celebration or an entertaining activity.
Another challenge for the schools of the 21st century is using innovative tools like ICT in the classroom. Some schools (Estonian, Finnish) are more experienced in this area than the others, but having new applications and tools issued every day, we feel that it is not easy to cope and keep pace with the speed of the spread of the new technology.
Seeing these two big challenges that are characteristic for each school, we decided to find a common solution to handle them: we are working on the topic of special days in our lives using the tools of modern information technology. In this way, we are making a relationship between old traditions and modern technology.
Participants of the project will be students of the partner schools. They are students of a wide age group, 6-16 years old. However, the ones taking part in the international learning activities will be the ones who show the most dedication through the project, have the best communication skills in English, as this language is our working language, and have the digital skills needed for the implementation of the tasks of the activities. All through the project they will study and produce various documents of their own special events (state and religious holidays as well as other special events like Children’s Day), share their finding with the other participants, and through our website with other schools and stakeholders in Europe.
As a result of the project, we hope to have students and teachers with a better understanding of traditions and European values as well as with greater computer skills. They will have a greater respect towards special events and European values. Last but not least, they will also see that there is more to the use of computers and digital technology than just playing games and chatting.
With the tutorials on the use of various application, made by our students, we will provide guidance to other students and teachers who are willing to use or increase their knowledge of these applications. The tutorials will be shared on various platforms like Youtub, eTwinning and social websites to make them available for a wide audience.
After the project, we plan to continue our cooperation and widen our activities in a new international project, involving new partners.
The program is supported by the European Union.
