Creative, Active, Responsible Students in the Digital World
This project is for students 10 to 14 and aims at developing awareness about the importance of responsible attitudes in a world where self-awareness and social responsibility is often second sided.
All goals and points to be worked with students aim at getting better and more conscious people, involving the community, parents and friends
So….
Romania leads the way as coordinator, follows Portugal, Czech Republic, Greek, Turkey and therefor students and teachers are exchanging ideas and working to the guidelight of CARS in digital world.
1. Promoting the use of ICT in the learning environment to increase the quality of education and strengthening the profile of teaching profession through exchanging of good practices, adopting new teaching methods and tools, collaboration among teachers:
Digital skills are already an essential requirement for young people to succeed in an increasingly digitized society. With technology and Internet accessible everywhere, it is time that there are changes made to our teaching methods. We, teachers, have to keep in mind that we do not prepare students only for the present, but mostly for the future. The ability to confidently use technology in the 21st century is a necessary skill in most workplaces. Using digital tools in schools will further develop the student’s ability to use the technology they are likely to encounter in their future careers.
In the EU there are many initiatives and policy reforms in the area of innovative use of technology in education, but mainstreaming remains a challenge. International Computer and Information Literacy Study shows that dynamic and interactive pedagogical practices are not widespread in most countries and many teachers lack confidence and are skeptical about the potential of ICT to support student collaboration on task. There is the need the to communicate good examples and upscale good practices on active teaching practices and the collaborative use of ICT. In order for experience, knowledge and ideas about the pedagogical use of ICT to multiply, it is important that teachers are given the opportunity to collaborate and learn from each other.
The Education and Training Monitor from 2014, states that many schools are not attuned to the benefits of digital learning and the new pedagogies they enable. Combining innovative pedagogics with an effective use of digital tools and content will boost education in terms of quality, equity and equality. The most effective teaching methods place students at the centre of the active learning. Digital tools are often involved in such active teaching practices, yet only 1 out of 3 teachers in the EU reports are frequent users of ICT in teaching.
2. Addressing underachievement in the basic skills of maths, science and literacy through more effective, innovative teaching methods:
Education and Training 2020 establishes as priorities the increase of basic skills’ levels among students and the assurance of high quality teaching in the EU. In Europe, approximately 20% of the young generation is not equipped with the necessary basic skills in literacy, mathematics, science and technology. The PISA results (2012) show that 22.1% of European students were low achievers in maths, 17.8% in reading, and 16.6% in science. Therefore, educators need innovative educational resources that are engaging, reliable and of high quality.Education and training systems are expected to help learners to develop creatively and emotionally, to acquire the knowledge, skills and competences necessary for responsible, active and productive citizenship. In this project teachers will develop, test, share innovative teaching materials and tools, pedagogical approaches that will increase basic skills of students, active teaching methods focusing on the use of ICT, problem-based active learning methods using multidisciplinarity and inter-disciplinarity approaches, will exchange experiences and good practice, carry out peer learning activities and workshops, joint research, surveys, studies and analyses. To have a higher impact on students’ skills development, we will improve the collaboration with parents, as researchers have evidence for the positive effects of parent involvement on children, families, and school when schools and parents continuously support and encourage the children’s learning and development. Children whose parents are actively involved in their school life, tend to achieve better grades, attendance, complete their homework, have better self-esteem, are more self-disciplined, have higher aspiration and motivation toward school, make better transitions and are less likely to drop out of school. (Home-School Relations: Working Successfully with Parents and Families, by G. Olsen, M.L. Fuller, 2008 edition, p. 129-130)
We also encourage active citizenship, volunteering, sustainability, social and environmental responsibility, which gives our students a sense of achievement and pride. Students will learn about the importance of recycling and how easily it can be done even at their home. We will use old and waste materials/products and convert them into new, useful products. Our schools will collaborate to organize creative recycling workshops and fairs for the local community, thus students will feel empowered by their participation at European level, being active and responsible citizens since early age. Students will develop their ability to think creatively, work in teams, solve problems and turn their ideas into action.