The participants from five different European schools contributed to the project through ICT knowleges and experiences.The main aim of the completed project was to make participants (both students and teachers) familiar with the use of technology in the classroom through exchanging good practice examples and explaining the methodology of ICT supported teaching and learning among the partner schools. Our second aim was to prevent students from dropping out of schools too early. Our opinion was that well-performing and up-to-date education and training systems can help to tackle the aforementioned challenges by providing people with the skills required by the labor market. Through teaching better ICT skills and introducing attractive modern tools into learning processes, we aim at improving the quality of education and training, which in return will lead to more engaging and enjoyable lessons and motivated individual-based learning processes that will lead to falling numbers of drop-outs.The technical equipment available in our schools were in the center of our project work. As the leadership, teamwork, reflection, management, presentation, communication and negotiation skills are very important in personal and professional life and are not sufficiently covered in school curriculas, the children and teachers in our project learned new technologies for learning, teaching and communicating so they can participate in the digital world.We tried to merge a wide range of schools with their individual assets, starting with primary and basic schools, pupils between 6 to 13 years old. The project “ From Europe 1010 BC to Europe 2020 PC” took place in five European countries (Estonia, Finland, Poland, Slovenia and Italy) in 2015 - 2018. The objectives were to improve ICT skills in general, but also taking into account intercultural differences. The main focus was on exercising and practicing skills in various situations that will develop the ICT knowledge, language skills, boost confidence, as well as leadership skills and raising the level of understanding and openness for people from other backgrounds.

<< Background >>The title of the project is GREEN CROSSROADS. It has to be seen in relation to the ROOTS project where we worked on cultural heritage and traditions. Now, with the information and knowledge gained from the past generations, we are looking ahead, in a crossroad, trying to figure out the right path to follow in the future. Our project aims to explore and choose the right green path and thus support actions of a sustainable future for our planet, also by transporting the knowledge we gained, as fluids, from the ROOTS project, to these actions. One common problem we all are facing is the danger of climate change which happens right in front of our eyes. Winter holidays mean no skiing; Spring without certain bugs and plants; Summer's heatwaves and indian summers are taking over the autumns; floods and tropical style of rains are occurring frequently. All this touches us deeply and it worries us a lot. The second very concrete problem is the huge production of waste at schools. Especially the use of plastics puts our environment at risk since we need precious resources for its production such as fossil feedstocks, water and energy. Even though most of our partner schools have very efficient tools and ways of recycling, we still have to dig deeper and start planning ways of preventing the waste not to even form in the first place.Another problem is the loss of biodiversity. Biodiversity is disappearing as a result of unsustainable human activities and slowing down biodiversity loss is one of humanity's great challenges. The alteration and destruction of habitats puts thousands of species in danger of extinction. An example is the decrease of the pollinator populations in Europe. After considering together all these facts we agreed that we as human beings are the ones to blame and so we are the ones that have to start cleaning up this horrible mess we have made. We as schools of the future have to dramatically change our way of living and adapt green habits. We can't just react to change but we also need to take a proactive role in building the future, since schools have an important role in defining what kind of future they should be involved in constructing.<< Objectives >>Based on the above and in accordance to the Green Deal priorities we want: 1. To transform our schools to zero-waste schools by reducing, reusing and recycling for a toxic free environment. 2. To adopt green habits that reduce disposable products and promote organic farming. 3. To reduce energy consumption and implement a wiser water management at our schools. 4. To test, evaluate, adopt or adapt methods of the past and present generations for a sustainable use of the land and of the physical materials (wood, metal etc.). 5. To adopt practices that preserve and restore biodiversity in urban and agricultural spaces (depending on the physical environment of each participant’s school).6. To find methods and means to motivate and inspire learners as well as teachers to begin the path towards a more sustainable way of life. The STEM approach and the ideas from outdoor learning and positive pedagogy are studied in more detail.7. To support the skills of teachers in active use and implementation of environmental topics into daily teaching.8. To produce a toolkit on climate change and environmental education including theoretical background, innovative teaching resources, worksheets and links to good practices.<< Implementation >>All the six partner schools are active and innovative primary schools with students aged from 3 to 15. The students take part in different activities according to their age and capability. Each participating school has a school coordinator and a project team consisting of teachers form different profiles, and in each school the team is responsible for carrying out the tasks. Most of the activities and products are defined by different keywords related to climate change. These are topics such as* reduce, reuse and recycle* energy consumption* water* paper* wood* land* animals* bees* waste * plastics* wool* herbs* fabricMany of the activities are carried out inside and outside, which means that new teaching approaches including positive pedagogy, outdoor learning and STEM approach e.g. project, inquiry, art base learning, experiment based learning are used as we will observe different ecosystems, build a garden, a beehouse, visit waste plants, apiary, libraries, take photos of nature in the hometown, counting and measuring the waste produced in the classroom, in the school canteen, comparing the results, making different presentations, organising displays about the work, photo display, making recycled products for the bazaar, clothes exchange etc. Through this digital competence is also developed. The mascot, project hedgehog travels from one school to another, investigates the ecological state and new ideas in each country and collects different objects made of different recycled materials for its town. In the last meeting in Poland all the schools' hedgehogs join in a town built out of recycled material at the children's meeting there. When the hedgehog visits the school, it writes a blog about its visit and looks for good and bad examples of treating the environment.Other activities such as buying products with less plastic packing, and using, creating and promoting multi-purpose products to the school and local community, support a green lifestyle. By using STEM as well as the combination of outdoor learning and positive pedagogy we bring new methods to lessons which inspires not only learners but also teachers to develop professionally. Using foreign language is another advantage.<< Results >>By taking part in the project children's awareness for taking care of the environment is raised. Furthermore, their actions are brought into the local communities and many of the goals are achieved with their cooperation. The pupils' relatives, the locals and the experts have a special role. They are the source of which the children learn from. And in this way, sustainability of actions is promoted, since altogether around 3,000 people participate in our project either directly or indirectly. The competences developed in this project are supported by European comission:languages, cultural awareness, multiliteracy, digital competences, civic, personal and social competences. We learn through green actions, use foreign languages, present the gained knowledge through digital media, meet new people, work in teams. All this contributes to personal growth of pupils, teachers, parents, locals and other experts.

"Better Teaching and Learning (BTL) is a Project to be carried out under Key action 2, Ka229, School Exchange Partnerships of erasmus+ programme with the cooperation of 6 partners from 6 different countries (Slovenia, Romania, Italy, Turkey, Greece and Spain).The world is developing and Life is changing rapidly. New generations need new Teaching/Learning Methods because the interests, needs, priorities, environements, expectations of parents, pupils and the societies are also changing rapidly. The current quality of education is not enough if it is not renewed. Educational institutions are responsible for children’s comprehensive, innovative, progressive education which help the child to know himself, the World and life better. However, the mere theoretical background for a small child is much less affective than some correlation, feeling and personal experience. Most children are naturally interested and motivated to do something when they can associate certain information with certain of their experiences and real situations. Then it wakes up the inner scientist and researcher. According to the statistics of the questionnaires and researchs in partner schools, 74% of the children feels bored and unmotivated to learning during lessons or activities not allowing them to act, think, perform, enjoy and create. Also 81% of the children feel more motivated, happy, self-confident, self-esteemed and ready to share their experiences with parents and peers when they can move, perform, create and enjoy. One thing is clear for the educators of early childhood that The best learning is when you feel and experience everything by yourself. The question is: How to teach a child better by meeting his/her expectations in a rapidly changing situation? There are a lot of theory in every country but the educators are still lack of practical experience and knowledge, the organizations are lack information of how to adapt new things in the lowest educational level - kindergarden and pre-primary school classes. The favoured approaches like Learning by doing, Experiential learning, STEAM and Task Based Learnings allow students to absorb knowledge through real life experiences. Thanks to BTL, we will excange of good practices in partner schools about combining the favoured ""Teaching/Learning Approaches and Elements"" in school environment through the activities of the project covering six main areas: ""Entrepreneurship"", ""Media literacy"", ""STEM"", ""Nature and the Environment"" , ""Healthy lifestyle"" and ""Personal Affairs"". Selected areas of the project will help to provide for experiential education guidelines, adapt existing indoor and outdoor spaces for better teaching/learning, and create new methodologies to encourage children's curiosity, creativity, responsibility, entrepreneurial skill and personal developement.The main idea of this Project is to improve the education level in each partner school by improving the participants' , especially teachers, Professional knowledge and capacity. While reaching this aim, BTL is aiming to combine the favoured elements of Early Childhood (3-8 age) such as "" Experiments"", ""Research"", ""Games"", ""STEAM"" and ""Real life experience practices"" with recently favoured topics, such as ""Entrepreneurship"", ""Media literacy"", ""STEM"", ""Nature and the Environment"" , ""Healthy lifestyle"" and ""Personal Affairs"" that are very critical for the true developement of child's personal, cognitive, mental, physcal feautures. Thanks to BTL;We will - integrate the favoured and needed elements into curriculum and school practices.- improve the teaching capacity of teachers by making them meet with different good Exchange of practices- improve the education level in schools by making the pupils and staff meet with different applications - help pupils to have positive feautures such as ""having self-confidence, being creative, being cooperative, social, easygoing and responsible by allowing them to express themselves and use their creativity through different favoured applications during the classesWe will adjust the school environments in a new way by learning what should be done to let the pupils express themselves and use creative activities thanks to the gains of this Project.There will be decrease in the number of students having problems of isolation, lack of self-confidence, aggression, loneliness, irresponsibility, lack of motivation etc. thanks to the Exchange of good practices to be observed during the Project.As it may be seen, Our first priority is ""Developing High Quality Early Childhood Education and Care Systems"" and we will reach this aim by ""Strenghtening the profiles of teaching professions"" and while making this, We will make them meet ""New Practices in a Digital Era"".EU Comission reports state that, Although the percentage of children having Early Child Education is 95%, Problems still exists because of the differency in practices and BTL will be a solution to this problem."

The “Play and Learn… in Nature” Project aims to stimulate the development of children's potential with games and outdoor activities, allowing children to explore their full potential, acquire healthy lifestyle habits and respect Nature. In the official documents issued by the European Union and the UN, recommendations have been made for the child to have the right to a quality education, which guarantees the possibility of developing in all its domains and which promotes the child's respect for the environment, as mentioned in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. These premises are reinforced in the Curricular Guidelines for Pre-School Education (2016), which recommend to educators the importance of a diversified quality learning, centered in different educational contexts, not just based on the activity room, due to the possibility develop various forms of social interaction and contact and exploration of natural materials ”, valuing contact with living beings and other elements of nature, resulting in very stimulating experiences for children, developing“ awareness of the importance of each one's role in preservation of the environment and natural resources. ” In order to further strengthen the importance of nature in the lives of children, we have been sustained by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which we have disseminated in our educational communities, and which, together, we intend to make our contribution. Although we have children who are interested in nature, like to explore, learn about plants and animals, and have, in our schools, the experience of playing outdoors, we realize that there is a need to put in place an action plan that develop environmental awareness in children and their families, As additional objectives we intend: To have more informed, trained and attentive professionals to environmental issues; involve families and local associations in a common focus, valuing learning with environmental practices; encourage staff to improve their English language communication and professional skills; share new methodologies with European partners and create own resources. For that, we brought together schools from Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Poland and Portugal to join forces and complete the project.

"As the title of the project (ROOTS – Return Our Origins Through Sharing) already suggests, we want to return our children to basics, to their origin and to share their knowledge about the past with other children from the European Union. As the Philosopher George Santayana said, ""To know your future you must know your past"". This goes hand in hand with the announcement that the year 2018 is the year of cultural heritage. In the past few years, we observed that children don't care where they came from due to their constant use of modern gadgets, social media. They sometimes live in an imaginary world which has nothing to do with the reality and therefore they lack the knowledge how to cope with different situations, how to communicate with the eldery as if they would lack respect of what their forefathers were, and even some might feel ashamed of its origin as they are new at school, come from another country and are different from the majority in several ways. We want children to respect others because of their roots. In this way social inclusion is encouraged. By knowing their past you are able to set goals for the future.All the students visit primary schools (age of 6 – 14). They take part in different activities according to and adapting their age. Each participating school has a school coordinator and a project team consisting of teachers of different profiles (history teacher, science teacher, technology teacher, art teacher, class teacher, teacher for special needs). At each school such team is responsible for carrying out the tasks.Through both project years, children go outdoors, visit elderly generations and learn about the past, culture (traditional dishes, dances, songs, customs, games, tales) and observe their natural environment. The presentations and learning about one's culture will be carried out on children's meeting ""Sharing the Origins"" in Spain. The exchange of tutorials and carrying out the tasks not only teaches children some new dances or songs etc. about the customs their forefathers had but they also practise a foreign language, develop their digital competence as the tutorials and presentations would be made in films and posted on blogs.The mascot torch travels from one country to another and carries a message with a task related to Olympic games. At the end of the project it reaches Greece where the last meeting with the children is planned. The activities and the results are put on the website and children write a blog reporting about the events at their school. The exchange of tutorials is on the blog. Before the first meeting with children T-shirts, lanyards and posters are printed for all the children taking part at the meeting.One could sumarize the activities and the results in a short way as in our project the topic is returning one's cultural heritage and is extended to:•tangible – monuments, books, clothes, traditional dishes•intangible – dance, song, old games, folk traditions, chants, handmade crafts•natural – observing flora and fauna, water•digital – recordings of tutorials, presentations of dance, cookery books, website, blog.Through the project the cultural heritage is enliven. Furthermore, the Europe 2020 Strategy emphasizes social inclusion. By taking part in the project children learn to respect their origin and the origin of others. The less priviliged children feel more self-confident and it will be easier for them to make friends. They are respected as all are made aware that we are all special, unique and we share common history in the past. Furthermore, we all are one, we belong to one unity - the EU.In addition, through the project work teachers learn about other kinds of didactics, methods that were not carried out at present. Children go on a field work and then pass their knowledge to the others by showing and still developing digital competence.As not only teachers and pupils are involved, the number of people involved in the project is greater. The pupils' relatives, local people with special knowledge, experts have a special role, since they are the source to whom children go and learn. About 3,000 people directly and indirectly participate.The competences developed in this project are also supported by the European comission: languages, cultural awerness, digital competence, civic competence, personal and social competence, learning competence since children learn about their heritage, use different language, present their gained knowledge through digital media, meet new people. All this contributes to the personal growth of students, teachers, parents, local people and other experts involved."