The main goal of this project is to study and promote countries´ own culture and traditions along with improving linguistic, digital and social competences of participants and their schools. We all understand the fear of individual countries - members of European Union - that due to uniting they might lose thier own cultural identity and thus lose their own value as an independent nation. All activities of this project are focused on strengthening the feeling of uniqness of each participating country and looking for the ways how their own identity can be preserved despite being a part of a bign new unit. By their own reasearch, creativity and involvement all participants will make the first step - to identify what traditions mean to them and then share them with others. The best way to learn something about their own indetity / or identify themeselves as Slovaks, Italians and Polish/ is to go back and deep to their roofs presented by local folk art and traditions - the oldest form of culture in their native country. These are the reasons we have chosen this path to follow. In our view, this is the way how to make our young generation aware of their own value, teach them to appreciate the values of other cultures and to work hard on their skills through cooperation as well as competition and to create something that will leave a long-term trace in their lives as well as lives of the communities they live in. The final products we expect to be published will be shared not only with the participating schools but will also be used to promote the region where they live. Although the mobilities do not allow more participants per country as estimated approximately 3 from each country, from our previous experience we can state that the whole school, community of parents and other local institution will benefit from the project results for a long time. All the work will gain international recognition to all participating schools and increase their value in their regions.

While creating our project we proceeded from finding out that today’s youth mostly have a patchy knowledge of their environment, they do not realise enough its value, and neither do they understand the idea of sustainable development. Further we based our project on the fact that the youth have less outdoor activities and fewer opportunities to learn how to orientate themselves in the field. Important was also the realisation that among the most important skills required at the labour market there are communication skills, foreign languages, solving problems and team work. We also realised the necessity of cross-curricular teaching and long-life professional development of teachers.Our goals:-to make the youth more sensitive to their environment and its problems, to support their responsible and respectful behaviour-to improve their lifestyle supporting their attitude to non-devastating outdoor activities, especially walking, and to improve their orientation skills-to improve their skills: communication, foreign languages, team work, problem solving, interconnecting knowledge from various fields and applying them in real-life situations-to broaden their cultural awareness-to support professional development of teachers by exchanging experience with colleagues, discovering different schools, participating in workshops and lectures aimed at teaching methods-to develop cross-curricular cooperation skills in teachersAll 3 partner organisations are upper-secondary schools finished by an external exam:-Grammar school Rájec-Jestřebí, coordinator, small school (about 140 students) with a family atmosphere and students aged 13-19 from varied social background, offers general education with emphasis on languages and natural sciences-Grammar school Tvrdošín, small school (about 200 students) offering general education with emphasis on languages and sports to students aged 13-19 from urban and rural social backgrounds-French MFR Les Fins, different from the 2 previous ones, vocational boarding school where in-class teaching and professional training in companies alternate, founded by association of families and professionals, subordinate to Ministry of agriculture, is also a small school with about 130 students aged 14-18 from rural social background, some of them with learning difficulties. It offers 2 study programmes: Management of nature areas, Services to people.We carried out these learning/teaching/training activities:-3 short-term exchanges of pupils with an accompanying person in the length of 6 days, each school organised one; programme: in-field activities, discovery of natural life, work with maps and GPS, observation of tourist marking, work in groups of mixed nationalities, lectures and excursions, in-class participation, etc.-5 short-term joint staff training events (2 in FR, 2 in CR, 1 in SK) aimed at students’ project work, realization of project outputs and dissemination activities (preparation, planning, monitoring...). Further activities included workshops, discussions with professionals, exchanges with colleagues, excursions aimed at professional development of teachers. 3 of them took place simultaneously with students’ meetings, 2 of them were independent. Those latter were 5 days long and aimed at launching and closing the project.We also carried out continuous activities at each partner school independently during the whole project. Their results were shared in the e-learning environment. They included weather monitoring, observation of changes in the environment during the year, biological and geographical characteristics of the three regions, examination of tourist marking systems, description of tourist trails, proposals of new trails, GPS and map work, sustainable development etc.Outputs of our project:-tangible results, such as e-learning environment with all the materials created within the project, brochure comparing our three regions, brochure promoting hiking in our regions, four-language dictionary, video of the project, proposals of new tourist paths, proposals for improvements of the existing ones, collection of tourist maps)-immaterial results, such as gained experience and skills of both students and teacher, broadening the cultural awareness, personal developmentImpact of the project is mainly in professional and personal development of all participants, there is also an informational and motivational impact on both school communities and public, improvement of tourist paths and creating materials for the in-class use.

Based on common history and responsibility a European nationality and Identity is our challenge for the futureAs a two years lasting cooperative project among schools we plan to bring students from the „Gymnazium Tvrodosin (Slovakia), the Gymnazium Lovassy Laszlo (Hungary), the Gymnazium Rajec-Jestrebi (Czech Republic) and our school, Gymnasium Ricarda-Huch-Schule Braunschweig (Germany) together, in order to reflect on the theme of the European process of integration and identity.The nations of Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Germany unifies a common but changeful history. Therefore one might judge their relationship as burdened. To clear this and to rehabilitate dependencies merging into a common European identity shall be the project’s aim. Through a close cooperation among these schools and their students should an exchange of experiences on certain project´s topics enlighten our mutual understanding. Especially an integration of extracurricular places and personal contacts within the participating countries with their different societies and systems should give the students the opportunity of regional researches in four different specific environments. Students from grade 9 on should work in project groups in their schools on common themes relating to culture, society, politics and/or economy, framed by the concept of „nationality and identity“ as a regional and European goal. Meanwhile the students will meet in different places to bring their work and ideas together, to exchange themselves in order to prepare some kind of documentation. This could be an exhibition, a movie or video or any other product that could be used afterwards to not only present the student´s experiences to each school but also within the regional participating societies. The elements of „history, presence and future“ should be the basis of these products and a forward-looking discussion. Different aspects for their research will develop out of the student´s interests, e.g. developments in society, art and music, regional traditions, sports and so on. We are convinced that such a broad project will enrich each school´s society and the involved students will profit from their experience and research work in order to push the idea of a European identity forward.

"We created a unique union of very different European countries, reaching from the very North to the very South of the EU, the participant countries being Finland, Latvia, Slovakia and Italy. All together we would like to contrast and compare our experience, cultures, ideas and most importantly our attitudes towards the environment, research the past roots of our national behaviour and discover its impact on our European future. Nowadays, it is almost impossible that someone would not know about the dangers of our consumer style of life for the nature. But, on the other hand, do we all behave responsibly? In our project ""Where the Past Meets the Future You Matter"" following objectives are set:- To sensibilise teenagers as individuals to environmental issues through direct contact to natural beauties - To evaluate the historical influence of the individual approach to environmental issues- To know national traditions, contrast the differences and similarities of the past and the present- To accept diverse opinions on moral dilemmas of future based on individual communication (via debating = resolutions of young people)- To teach students and teachers how to co-operate in projects and encourage all participants to carry out projects (via the results)- To awake individual responsibility towards our environment- To enforce EU citizenship In the project activities we hope to involve most of the students from our participant countries as well as their parents and members of the local communities and five most active and devoted students with two teachers from each country will also attend international meetings abroad, it means that 60 secondary students altogether will be offered the possibility to meet their peers from another countries, work and communicate with them in person. During the meetings the pupils are supposed to represent their country, introduce it, explore the city and the nature around, work on given tasks in international groups, discuss their ideas and conclude their debates about environmental issues in resolutions. They will also give practical examples of activities which everyone is able to do and which can make the difference, as for example cleaning the surrounding or plant trees, moreover, they will be prepared to give presentations about eco-friendly household to their schoolmates and other interested citizens. Secondly, we can learn a lot from our colleagues from other countries about teaching, different methods, curriculum and school systems as well. There is always something we can improve and the ideas from other parts of EU are precious for every participant school. We would like to implement everything we will experience and consider appropriate in particular conditions.After the end of our project, in April every year we would like to continue in more activities, which we will start during the project, f.e. we will clean or renovate some public places- playgrounds or parks in the neighbourhoods, or plant some trees to celebrate the Day of the Earth, to prepare activities for citizens of the city through which they would be more focused on the environment. We would like to prepare workshops based on sewing fabric bags and distributing them to local communities.Another tangible results of the project:1/ Public exhibition of photos taken in all National Parks/ energy resources- Our nature is worth our effortsNational Parks video- can be offered the Biology and Geography teachers for their lessons- All countries2/ Brochure with photos, articles and resolutions created during all meetings3/ E-twinning blog and students´ vlog4/ Web page with all materials created during the project5/ Leaflet with all Zero waste shops in the country distributed to tourist centers and city councils6/ Set of Zero waste products with our logo promoting the principles of our project- WE CARE (bottles, bags, T-shirts)7/ Workshops and presentations for parentsWe, all participant schools firmly hope, that the project activities will contribute to concrete shift towards sustainable and ecological behaviour. This projects should bring new methods and innovative ways how to make students and their families responsible for their individual choice.. Our experience of dealing with this problem is very different in the participant countries, that is why, we would like to learn from each other as well to know the roots of our present actions in favour or against the nature we unavoidably need for our lives. The opportunity to observe and experience the outdoor beauties of the country, opens new possibilities of modern teenagers who are often living in virtual world of digital technologies."

"- Context/background: The development of cloud computing has made easier the incorporation of Geographic Information Technologies (GIT) into secondary education, as it has been demonstrated by three of the partners of this project in a previous project (""Use of a SIGWeb for the design of routes through European protected natural areas""). On this occasion we work on the methodology ""Digital map Storytelling"" or Digital Cartographic Narrative, as well as on collaborative digital cartography (storymaps developed jointly by students and teachers).- Activities: Students were trained in the use of the tool (ArcGIS Online) in the first mobility in which they did a specific session in the computer classroom. Each center designed at least one ArcGIS Online Story Map, in which stories about the water-related cultural heritage of its environment, enriched with images, text, video, and graphics were collected. Students from all the centers, together with some teachers, travelled to each of the other schools and visited the heritage elements selected, mapped and explained in the different story maps to check, in situ, the explanations received in the digital maps that tell these stories. The development of collaborative intercenter maps through other tools such as Survey123 was also promoted. The visit to the Quinta das Palmeiras Secondary School in Covilhã (Portugal), was cancelled due to the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was transformed into virtual mobility.- Objectives: (a) Raising awareness of the social value of Europe's cultural heritage, especially water-related heritage (bridges, dams, aqueducts, spas, mills, etc.). This objective relates to the horizontal priority: the social and educational value of Europe's cultural heritage.b) Promoting the use of innovative work methodologies and digital technologies in the analysis of heritage: Promotion of the working methodology ""Digital Map Storytelling"" and Web GIS technologies. This obfecha definitiva de finalización del proyecto es 31/08/2021.jective refers to the horizontal priority: open education and innovative practices in the digital age.c) Promoting the development of students' competence: in language communication skills, when working on digital storytelling with maps; awareness-raising and cultural expressions, when analysing the hydraulic heritage; digital competence through the use of geographic information technologies; and especially spatial competence (within the mathematical and basic competences in science and technology) for the work with digital cartography; in addition to the rest of the key competences they will be worked as in any educational project. This objective is related to the priority of the school sector: To promote the acquisition of skills and key competences.-Profile of the participants: Students of secondary education between 14 and 18 years old. Among the participants in each mobility there was at least one student and one teacher/caregiver of the specific autism spectrum classroom of the IES (Secondary School) San Roque, which made the mobilities very inclusive:IES San Roque de Badajoz (Spain). Coordinating institutionKispesti Károlyi Mihály Magyar - Spanyol Tannyelvü Gimnázium of Budapest (Hungary)Escola Secundária Quinta das Palmeiras de Covilhã (Portugal).Gymnázium ""Park Mládeze"" in Kosice- Methodology used: The design phase of the Storyy Map on Hydraulic Heritage with ArcGIS Online in each center was carried out applying the ""Digital Map Storytelling"" methodology, by which each center investigated and documented the selected hydraulic heritage, explaining its elements on a map with texts, graphics, images or videos. During the mobilities, the elements analyzed by the receiving center and explained in the story maps were visited in order to assess the importance of the ArcGIS Online tool and its explanatory potential.- Long-term exposed results and benefits:a) Internationalization of teaching activities encouraging the participation of teachers in future European programmes.b) Permanent benefit in the learning of foreign languages and in other subjects such as geography due to the introduction of new teaching methodologies that can be used beyond the completion of the projectc) As material results of the project, a series of web maps and story maps were created with information on the heritage elements selected by each country that will be displayed on the web and in the mobile application that is created for this purpose for the project. In addition, in each mobility the participants took part in the elaboration of a collaborative digital map with geolocated images of the visits made."