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Description
The project will bring new innovative teaching programmes and methods in the field of the sciences and geology. Above all, we will integrate an interdisciplinary approach and methods of locally-based teaching into the educational framework, thus promoting active citizenship and environmental responsibility. We respond to the very current challenge of equipping future educators not only with specific knowledge of biology and geology, but also with the ability to explain current phenomena such as climate change or drought in their entire environmental context. Only in this way can the teachers prepare their pupils for the challenges of the future and support their competence to take personal responsibility and act in the interests of environmental protection.
Summary of project results
The project was aimed at promoting active citizenship through environmental education in the field of geology. Geology and its links to geography, biology, history and the current state of the environment is a somewhat neglected chapter in primary and secondary school education. In our project, we have tried to share good experiences from different types and forms of geological education in the Czech Republic and Iceland and translate them into outputs that will improve this situation. Inanimate nature deserves the same care and protection as living nature, and only people who are aware of its value will protect it.
The project was based on the idea that first two blocks of field education (one in the Czech Republic and one in Iceland) will be implemented, during which partners will present their good experiences with geological education. Based on the joint reflection, mutual enrichment was then achieved with various inspiring ideas, which were then incorporated into the final outputs of the project. The jointly shared experiences have given rise to three intellectual outputs that are the result of the collaboration in the project.
The project produced three main intellectual outputs, namely curriculum innovations at the Technical University of Liberec, a summer school "GeoCamp", which aimed to transfer the experience gained to teachers from primary and secondary schools, and an Activity Book, which transforms the above-mentioned experience into a form of support material for field education in the Ralsko Geopark and its surroundings. The Activity Book is freely available for download on the project website and can serve as an inspiration for the implementation of similarly focused field education in other regions.
The project was successfully completed and the partners (except Keilir Academy, which withdrew from the project during the project) plan to cooperate on other similarly focused environmental education projects in the coming years. The Activity Book can then serve for many years as inspiration for field education in science and geography in primary and secondary schools, or as a basis for after-school education.
Summary of bilateral results
Iceland and the Czech Republic are countries that have a number of unique geotopes on their territory that need to be protected and cared for. Inanimate nature, however, is somewhat of an afterthought in environmental education, although it is no less important. By bringing together different partners (a university, an academy of higher education, a geopark and a company specialising in training courses) from two relatively different countries, the project was able to create a comprehensive and innovative approach to this type of education. The importance of the involvement of partners from Iceland lies in the fact that due to its harsh climate, geology is very visible on the island and is one of the main local attractions. The partnership established within the project has great potential for future cooperation, as we have identified a number of other common themes.