In the last years there is distrust in Europe towards people from other religions. In one Europe with a variety of nations and different beliefs it is very important to be able to put yourself in the shoes of the other for mutual understanding.What we want to achieve with the project is that our students overcome their prejudices, misbeliefs, exclusions through personal encounters, hospitality and personal actions. “What is similar, what is different?”. The aim of that main question is open-mindedness beyond religious beliefs. The students will develop various products, in order to bring closer their own world and everyday life to the students from the partner schools. They have the possibility to look into the world of the “other”. Understanding the “alien”, the different perspectives is possible only through immediate, intercultural contact with other nations.Project objectives:- to strengthen the language and intercultural competences- to create empathy and understanding for religions of the other one- to experience deeper practical insights and contact with other religions- mutual exchange of experience- to create contacts between Europeans of the same age- to develop awareness for the different- to broaden personal competences- to contribute to peaceful coexistence- to develop and strengthen the ability for empathy in order for Europe to grow together- to develop further the intercultural competences of the teachers- to develop methodical and didactic competences of teachersThe project will be running for two school years, and will include 15 students per school, in total 60 students. The planned exchanges are: one teachers’ preparatory meeting, and one exchange trip with students in each partner-country (Bulgaria, Hungary, Turkey). Establishing the contacts and the organizational planning meetings are top priority. The students will develop products such as a video diary, a cooking recipe book after visiting institutions such as a church, a mosque, a synagogue, a museum and through cooperation with the partner schools in e-Twinning.During the exchange in the partner countries the students present the results of their initial research. So the whole group can work on the gathered information and compare it with the institutions that will be visited. After the visit in the exchange country the students present at their own schools and before their parents the results of the project work. Focus of the project are the students – they research, interview, develop presentations.The students realize the need to learn foreign languages because during the project they work constantly in mixed groups with students from the partner school and thus they need to apply their knowledge. The project aims at a long-term cooperation between the three schools. The developed partnerships will continue after the project and will be part from the school development. Thus further projects through eTwinning, Erasmus+ and further student exchanges will be possible.Furthermore the personal experiences of the students who take part in the exchange will be shared with their peers - through school presentations, working groups in class.From the project and its results benefit also further students which will be enabled to develop further partnerships. The whole project will be documented and published, local media will be involved in the dissemination of the results. All project results will be also available on the eTwinning platform.Each school will present the project on their school web page and will make sure that a wider public audience will have access to the project activities and results. The teachers taking part in the project will compose a Best-practice-booklet where they gather their experience, ideas and methods about international work, team work, dealing with topics such as tolerance. Learning plans will be also available, allowing to share and apply the exchange experience in class, the classes will be given the possibility to talk about those topics, regardless of their country. The know-how and the results of the project will be shared on regional school level - through teachers' training and gatherings.

"Taking for granted the celebration of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 we decided to plan the MEDE project. Our main goal was to increase cultural awareness of our students and support it by innovative practices in the digital era. Cultural Heritage and Museum World consist an important learning tool for schools because it can motivate teachers and students to broaden their view of the world and lead to cultural awareness. Thus, approaches of digital and artistic content that have been designed for this project are innovative. The project is based upon a previous Comenius ""Museums Education & Modern Society"" which was successfully accomplished in 2009-2011. The experience & material produced was supportive to the implementation of this project. The partnership was consisted of five schools, most of them vocational, with students aged 15-18 years old with similar characteristics, coming from low social and economic background, immigrants and Roma. Three of them had extensive experience in EU projects while two of them less. We had a range of objectives which were achieved through various activities mainly of digital and artistic content which made the procedure more appealing and creative. We started with a seminar in Greece, achieving the diffusion of our experience. Teachers were asked to plan educational museum visits with an artistic character leading to the awareness of cultural heritage. Two museum visits were proposed and a couple of activities, but the partners were so enthusiastic that they made more than 2 visits and various activities. It is very interesting the variety of the museums that every partner has visited – big museums in Budapest and Bucharest, small local museums in Greece and Portugal.Then the students were asked to create: 1) a museum corner within their school about the History of Education, 2) an old photo's revival, 3) a digital museum in order to establish a common space of projecting their cultures, 4) a museum kit about the History of Education which brings intercultural pedagogical benefits. They also created a virtual museum where someone can “walk” inside the digital museum, a photo gallery and many artistic pieces.With all these activities, the cross border cooperation and intercultural dialogue, the development of digital competence and communication along with comparative and critical thinking were achieved. All the activities have enhanced communication and linguistic competence and have fostered a partnership with a European dimension including elements of respect, tolerance and cultural awareness. Evaluation questionnaires, interviews and stories assessed the activities separately and on the whole at the end of the project. The feedback of the evaluation was positive. Dissemination tools among which are the digital museum, the website where all material are published, the eTwinning, the poster, the dissemination walls and museum kit (with the boardgame etc) will certainly integrate our objectives into school's regular activities. Also the museum kit is going to be lend to other schools. The teachers may use the material in any way they consider best, suited to the particular group and should encourage pupils to participate actively in the presentations.The methodology used here was team discussions, teamwork, presentations, assigning roles to students, interviews, painting and photography. The material produced by this project remains for integration in school-subjects.Teaching staff was influenced because they were informed by partner colleagues – students and they can take on similar projects in the future and become multipliers. Parents supported their children, contributed to the successful outcome of the project. Hosting foreign friends is an example of how society should function and accept differences. Local authorities were also involved as museum educators supported the design of activities, the digital museum and the museum kit and opened new channels of communication. Museums owners were very supportive too.The project attempted to create active citizens with knowledge and critical thinking, well-historically and culturally aware, competent in digital and other skills. The project hoped to be for the benefit of the community.."