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Description
Mobility for Education about Energy and Ecology (M4E3) is a learning project for a short-term mobility of students in secondary education. Altogether there will be 52 students and 9 teachers involved in the mobility. Gymnazium Teplice in the Czech Republic cooperates with two schools - Mentaskólinn í Kópavogi in Iceland and Numedal Videregaende skole in Norway.
During the mobilities, energy production and consequences on nearby areas will be the main topic of the project. Each country has its own history, culture and the main type of energy sources. The focus of the project will be nuclear and thermal energy in the Czech Republic, water energy in Norway and geothermal energy in Iceland. During the meetings, the students and teachers will visit various interesting places significantly important in the field of energy production, discuss consequences that energy production might have on the nearby areas, nature and work in international groups with practical energy calculations and lab- exercises.
Using English as a project language will help to increase English language skills of participants whose first language is not English. Students will mostly live with host families when visiting partner schools. This will increase their understanding of daily life, customs, cultures and the language. Working with students from other schools will motivate students to do their best to fulfil set tasks. Real life problems will motivate students even further. Students will be acquainted with working life: the students learn to meet deadlines and give presentations to others about their work.
Students taking part in international projects at an early stage in their education are hopefully more open minded about other cultures and international working environments later in life. The project also aims at building a strong relation between the participating schools, and hopefully it can motivate more students to take part in mobility projects in the future.
Summary of project results
Mobility for Education about Energy and Ecology (M4E3) was a learning project for a short-term mobility of students and their teachers in secondary education. Altogether there were 48 students (aged between 16 to 19) who participated, and 10 teachers involved in a virtual mobility. It actually included two projects in one because Gymnazium Teplice in the Czech Republic cooperated with two schools - Mentaskólinn í Kópavogi in Iceland and Numedal Videregaende skole in Norway.
Originally, we had planned short-term mobilities, studying energy production and its consequences on nearby areas in participating countries. However, the COVID-19 introduced a list of unprecedented challenges that we were trying to overcome in our project. That''s why, we changed the real mobilities to virtual ones. It was necessary to find some new activities for the students. We implemented the main topic of the project – energy sources; we stuck to that, it was still far essential for us. Moreover, we included a lot of online communication among students about the life in each participating country using English as a project language. Working with students from other schools motivated students to do their best to fulfil set tasks.
We learned about very topical issues considering energy production. We compared fossil fuels and renewable sources of energy. We studied nuclear power and spoke about troubles connected with nuclear waste. We worked in international teams and operated together realizing that our society is getting more and more international. It is important to be a part of the changed globalized world, and not be on the side line and watch. It was a benefit for students, teachers and schools that we were a part of this project. It showed that we were willing to learn more about how and what other schools, teachers and students work with.
Summary of bilateral results
This project was a good opportunity for students and teachers to get to know each other, across European borders. We believe this project is sustainable and inventive. It contributed to minimizing a big step it might be for some students to study abroad later in their education, and also get a job in a foreign country some time during their working life.Furthermore, we believed that students taking part in international projects at an early stage in their education were hopefully more open-minded to other cultures and international working environments later in their lives. We also aimed at building strong relations between the participating schools, and motivating more students to take part in mobility projects in the future.