"""EuroProjects: integrating transnational student research projects into the upper-secondary curriculum.""EuroProjects revolves around an educational practice common in many European secondary schools: upper secondary (baccalaureate) students are encouraged to elaborate a personal research project as an optional and complementary activity to their regular two-year upper secondary curriculum. Interested students choose a research topic at the beginning of the school year, develop their research during the course mentored by a teacher and submit their finished project at the end of the year. Projects are evaluated by a jury and the best works are awarded prizes, honorable mentions or academic advantages.All schools participating in EuroProjects are familiar with this practice albeit to a varying degree. The coordinating school (IES Pedro Salinas) has a long and successful experience of seven years. In addition, Trabzon Sosyal Bilimler Lisesi also has a very similar experience with student research projects and Bisschoppelijk College Broekhin has joined Global Perspectives, an international program aimed at teaching research skills to young researchers. Finally, Privatna varazdinska gimnazija is interested in widening its educational practice and it is willing to implement student research projects during EuroProjects lifespan.There is a firm consensus among all participants that an Erasmus+ collaborative project will greatly help improve their schools as well as provide for their needs. The project will strengthen their current educational practice, increase the participation among students and also among mentoring teachers. Furthermore, it will increase the awareness and appreciation of research projects among students and families and open schools to cooperation among themselves and with any other European school involved in similar educational practices. Finally, the project will reinforce the knowledge of the European Union and the common European cultural heritage, both among students and teachers. Those ambitious goals will be reached by means of a coordinated and collaborative effort among all participants. Five transnational mobilities have been scheduled in a two-year timeframe following the development cycle of student research projects. The first and the third mobilities will serve to launch new projects at the beginning of each academic year, the second and the fourth mobilities will be mainly devoted to teach and practice research skills and so they will take place in the middle of the school year. Finally, the third and the fifth mobilities are designed to cover presentation and oral skills and to present the projects at the end of each academic year. It should be noted that workshops, seminars and practical demonstrations will be the core of the teaching activities in every mobility.The participants in all mobilities are upper-secondary students interested in doing a research project and teachers interested in performing mentoring tasks. A significant number of students will take part in the mobilities. Around half of the total number of interested students will be actively involved in each mobilities, hence guaranteeing the immediate impact over the participant schools.Working methodologies include detailed work-plans with clearly defined goals, intermediate and final results, division of labor and roles among partners and agreed deadlines. Detailed agendas will be defined for student and teacher transnational mobilities, for the elaboration of documents (guidelines, best practices, teaching materials) and for the celebration of common events. A project coordinating team formed by the contact persons from every participant school and chaired by the project coordinator will apply quality project management practices.The main results of EuroProjects include increased participation and quality in the student research projects. Well-defined procedures, clear and concise guidelines, detailed best practices and templates and dissemination and diffusion materials are other tangible results. Less tangible results include the creation of strong bonds between schools, teachers and students. The development of research, collaboration and communication skills on students and mentors, general knowledge and appreciation of the European Union and European cultures are other intangible results. These outcomes will be employed by the participant schools well beyond the temporal scope of the project. The materials developed (adapted to the specificities of each school educational context and language) may be put into use by other schools interested in implementing or improving similar educational practices."

Over the past 50 years much has changed in our society, technologically and in the way that we live and work. As a result of this development, it has been verified that young people have less and less healthy life habits and are more sedentary. Putting these concerns in a European framework and adding a perspective of knowledge of the cultural heritage of each country involved, seeking to share the specificities of each, was one of the concerns we seek to address. A need of analysis was done to identify the specificities of each partner, which, being unique in the European context, allowed us to meet our concerns.One of the mains aims of this project is to share knowledge, skills, and experiences with teachers and students from the countries involved. This project is organized in three complementary vectors: sports, outdoor activities and cultural heritage. We want each partner to contribute an approach that is “unique” and “complementary”. “Unique”, because it will take into account the specifics of each country: be related to the geographical position, or with the specific skills and expertise. “Complementary” because the work of the partners will contribute to the construction of a European frameork of reference in the areas where we intend to act.It will be important, therefore, to dissect each of these components that served as motivation for the elaboration of this project:-Practice a sport One of our motivations was to know different sports, specific to each country and to have the opportunity to practice them. In this way, and in a dialogue with all partners, we seek within the specificity of each country to find the sports that are most rooted the specific skills of the school (Croatia - Badminton, Turkey - Arch, Northern Macedonia - handball) or even with the geographical situation of the country/school (France – Ski; Greece – sailing; Portugal- surf)-Engaging in a outdoor activityWe know that outdoor recreation brings health, well-being, social cohesion, inclusivity and educative benefits. - Knowing a traditional GameTraditional Sports and Games are they are part of Europe’s intangible heritage and are a very interesting appoach to know the country culture. Therefore, we intend to increase the spirit of European citizenship allowed by a greater knowledge of the countries involved and raise awareness and respect for cultural diversity.We will have one Short-term joint staff training activity that aims to provide participants with skills connecting to manage all the sports and outdoor activities that will be worked along the project. We have planned to have 6 blended mobility of school learners envolving all partners, so that all can participate with their own expertise on a specifc sport, a outdoor activity and a traditional game.These different locations will provide a rich fields of work. In a broader perspective, all the partners can benefit from the European cooperation (developing also some of the key competences described in a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training). We are planning to involve in the project activities 2000 students from14 to 18 years old. In the LTA will participate 120 students and 50 teachers as accompanying persons from foreign countries. On the Short-term joint staff training will participate 10 teachers.We can identify a tangible set of results that we will have at the end of the project:- 6 brochures built collaboratively with the historical framework of each sport, rules and good practices, and traditional games. At the end of the project, these brochures will be compiled into a single document that will also be a benchmark of good practices- Road map for outdoor activities with support for inclusion in the currilum;- 6 questionnaires for each of the selected sports- Teacher training course, with production of documents with replicable practices;- Photobook and videos- press releases- Europasse certifications- Project evaluation reportsAlso we can identify intangible results such as growth of team spirit, development of intercultural and linguistic competences, development of practical, artistic and motor skills, increment of schools visibility, language skills, etc.Finally we highlight that the outputs will become public and of free access in the different platforms that will sustain the project.The project is clearly defined with objectives and expected results. Hopefully, it will help students to raise the awareness of the importance of sports, traditions and outdoor actives, and teachers to gain experience which can strengthen their teaching skills.In addition, teachers are expected to improve their teaching skills developing new strategies,methodologies, tools and to share their experiences with the other European partners. We all expect improvement r

"Living in a society that is continually changing, we are in the position of facing difficult situations when it comes to mixing different people and different cultures. Nowadays society has to adapt and learn how to live in harmony.Unfortunately, most people lack empathy and understanding towards different cultures/people/beliefs. Six countries will be involved in this partnership namely: Romania, Spain, FYROM, Croatia, Italy and Cyprus. They are from that part of Europe where the migration phenomenon is present. G.O. - to promote the cultural values that encourage the cooperation between the students from different countries in order to improve the general attitude in what concerns social inclusion, diversity, gender equality and non-discrimination in order to lower the level of non-tolerant attitude by 15%. C.O. O1.to develop a strategy to reinforce the mutual respect and understanding for the less privileged, tolerance towards disadvantaged groups and people with special needs; O2.to reinforce the self confidence in female students to pursue their professional goals to attain gender quality in all professional fields; O3.for students, teachers, emigrants, immigrants to acquire, share knowledge about and accept the difference between cultures; O4.for teachers to learn how to adapt the teaching materials and work with individuals, and not only groups of students, according to their needs; O5.to increase our students' motivation to learn and use foreign languages and ICT; Our objectives derive from the horizontal priorities of the ERASMUS+ Programme Guide which refer to inclusion, diversity, equality, gender equality, nondiscrimination in the field of education and not only. The participants worked on the following activities and obtained the next results: •spreading 1200 flyers •making 6 Interviews - with migrants about their difficulties •creating a video to promote tolerance as a general attitude •making a documentary about the migration process illustrating real cases • writing a magazine ""My LIFE experience"" with 2 numbers (in English) containing articles on traditions, great personalities from each partner country, a traditional recipe from each country, charity events organized in the benefit of the needy people (activities with the special needed children), ""Our students, our pride"", Interviews, Crossword puzzle with specific vocabulary, jokes. •organise a Virtual Classroom for English classes •creating and interpreting of questionnaires ""How tolerant are you"" •cooking workshops-traditional recipes from each partner country •making a photo album •creating and managing a website •taking part in a literary circle ""Women - the power of gentleness"" to inspire the girl students, to motivate them to aim high and then try to achieve their goals and not settle for the role housewives •writing a CD with lesson plans, handouts, evaluation questionnaires, tests etc (for English and sciences classes) specially tailored for the needs of each student in the classroom •present a school play""Love Is For Everyone"" •set up an eTwinning project that twins this project •""Big Brother-Big Sister"" activity where older students embark on fun activities with the youngest ones •setting an Erasmus+ corner •ERASMUS+ Club The tasks and responsibilities were assigned according to the possibilities and experience of each school.The tasks were equally distributed.There was set a yahoogroup as a private tool for teachers to organize the activities and a Facebook group for all the participants to communicate and upload pictures. All the partner schools carried on all the activities mentioned above and the results were uploaded on the website and/ or the Facebook page. At the end of each work meeting, the teachers discussed about the progress of activities and meeting the deadlines. The impact of the project was be measured by questionnaires, which showed the influence of the project activities on the students who were identified as non-tolerant and our expection that the level of non-tolerant attitude to decrease by at least 15% was met. The participants: improved their language proficiency, developed a sense of European citizenship education in respect and tolerance for others, how much they have in common with the rest of Europe, Improved ICT skills, team work skills and attitudes, had great interest in promoting the process of building a Europe of the young, improved their inter cultural competence. The eTwinning projects gave the project an European dimension and will continue the topic of LIFE project to other countries for a better awareness of students in what concerns the change of nowadays society and the need to adapt to a new Europe with it social challenges after the completion of this project. For the future, immigrants will find a better place to live in and will meet more welcoming people and will also learn how to respect the people"

There is a growing concern among policy makers that the transformation of the media landscape by social media has contributed to increased political polarization, undermined the legitimacy of traditional media and amplified existing prejudice among parts of Western societies. In his 2017 policy paper ‘Social networks and populism in the EU: comparative study’, Paul-Jasper Dittrich acknowledges this point and goes on to conclude that, ‘there remains the danger that institutionalized forms of democratic debate, decision-making processes and supervision of governments may be seriously undermined should the success of populists in using social networks as political communication platforms stabilize’ (p. 18).Almost a century ago, the philosopher and educational reformer John Dewey already described how the isolation of viewpoints within a society could jeopardise democracy. He stated that: ’everything which bars freedom and fullness of communication sets up barriers that divide human beings into sets and cliques, into antagonistic sects and factions, and thereby undermines the democratic way of life’ (John Dewey, The Later Works 1925-1953, vol. 14, 1998, p. 227).This project, with the title 'A Debate And Philosophy Typology' (ADAPT) aims at strengthening a new generation’s critical skills, mental openness, argumentative capacity and democratic values with debate and philosophy education. In ‘Philosophy: A School of Freedom’ (2007), UNESCO endorses teaching philosophy to promote the development of critical reasoning and the exercise of freedom, placing emphasis on ‘putting concepts and ideas into perspective’ through reflection and developing ‘each person’s skills to question, compare [and] conceptualise’, which are requisite for ‘an open, inclusive and pluralistic, knowledge-oriented society’ (p. ix). As such, philosophy and debate form a remedy against polarization.In the days of the Athenian polis (5th century BC), public speaking, debate and philosophy were the cornerstones of democratic life. Philosophy had the form of a dialogue between people with contrasting points of view, while philosophers taught the art of persuasion to citizens attending the ‘Ekklèsia’, the principal assembly of the democracy of ancient Athens. In contemporary secondary schools however, debate clubs and philosophy classes have become separate worlds that, regrettably, seldom interfere. This results in knowledge and skill waste and lowers the potential impact debating skills and philosophical thinking could have on strengthening democracy and fighting populism.Therefore, the objectives of the ADAPT project are fourfold:1) To adapt the key ideas, principles and thought experiments of philosophy to the needs of debate coaches2) To adapt the training methods in competitive debate to the needs of philosophy teachers3) To develop a joint methodology for debate coaches and philosophy teachers that results in innovative educational materials and teaching methods4) To implement the Debate & Philosophy methodology in philosophy classrooms and research its effectivityWith four schools (Wolfert Bilingual School, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Gimnazija Ledina, ljubljana, Slovenia; Privatna klasicna gimnazija, Zagreb, Croatia; ITE Enrico Tosi, Busto Arsizio, Italy), two universities (Tilburg University, The Netherlands; Erasmus School of Philosophy, The Netherlands), and three associations (Za in Proti, Slovenia; Hrvatsko Debatno Drustvo, Croatia; The Noisy Classroom Ltd, UK), we are planning to develop the following Intellectual Outputs:1) A teacher's manual with the title: 'Debate & Philosophy - A joint methodology for debate coaches and philosophy teachers'2) A collection of classroom worksheets (available for download in PDF format, A3 size), that showcase the Debate & Philosophy methodology at a glance3) A set of 3D-printed icons that depict the various argumentative elements that occur in debates. The 3D models can be downloaded and 3D-printed in order to experience the Debate & Philosophy methodology in a visual and tactile way4) A dedicated website at the URL http://debateandphilosophy.com, which offers an overview of the ADAPT project and the option to download both the classroom worksheets and the 3D-models5) Two peer-reviewed papers that research the effectivity of the Debate & Philosophy methodology6) A Debate & Philosophy YouTube channel, containing a collection of interviews with top-ranked philosophy teachers and debate coachesBy linking the development of the Debate & Philosophy teacher's manual with digital innovation and didactic research, we are aiming for an end product that is both appealing to teachers and scientifically sound. The wide range of expertise within the ADAPT consortium guarantees that the Debate & Philosophy teacher's manual, along with its digital supplements, will be both practical and of high quality, and will benefit a new generation of European citizens.