SEED

Period: 2018 – 2019

Reopened in 2021

Coordinating Teachers: Enache Mihaela, Principal, Cirstea Silvia, Enache Silvia, Galis Mihaela and 38 students from the 9th and 10th grades

Objective:

The main objective of the SEED project is a direct consequence of a need: to relate school to real life, promoting inclusiveness and motivating teachers and students to work collaboratively in order to find problems and solutions affecting sustainability in their local areas. The activities to be carried out are all connected to the core idea of sustainability, but from different perspectives: economical, environmental, spatial, social and cultural. We will work using the PBL methodology by designing student-centered tasks that will enable students to make decisions and take responsibility for them. The expected result – a SEED Day – will serve for the dissemination of the ideas and solutions of the project so that in the long run its fundamental principle shall carry on and stand as a guiding beacon. In the long term we expect both teachers and students to value the potential of lifelong learning, collaboration and problem-solving, their own potential as generators of change.

• The major goal of the project is TO PROMOTE AND CARRY OUT EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, SO THAT OUR STUDENTS BECOME ACTIVE AND RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS IN THEIR COMMUNITIES.
  Specific objectives:
  For students: – To acquire key competences (and certifications);
  – To become European citizens, knowing and applying values of education, respect and tolerance in a multicultural world;
  – To get essential skills for the labor market (identify problems, make decisions, take initiative and risks, work in teams).
  For teachers: – To shift focus from general to specific, by the implementation of PBL methodology to the sustainable development dimension;
  – To innovate teaching by new strategies, trans-disciplinary and cross-curricular activities.
  For schools: – To be crucial partners in the local communities

Activities:

We have designed various types of activities.
For students:

1. To acquire 21 century key competences

• use of computer applications to design the project’s logo, an interactive log, printouts (leaflet, brochures, newsletters), do photographic trails, interviews – take part in interactive lessons on different subjects
• communicate on Twinspace

1. To acquire skills for the labor market (communication in a foreign language, critical thinking, problem solving and creativity, team work):

• elaborate presentations and reports;
• make products from waste materials.
  For teachers: teaching and training activities
• create new courses that could be included in the curricular.
• use ICT in order to make teaching and learning process more attractive
• use the implementation of PBL methodology in the research activities of the project and school lessons

Expected Result:

The SEED Day is a result expected to become a permanent occasion, to be celebrated every year even after the project ends. It could have several components, such as a fair displaying all the products mentioned above, artifacts made from recyclable materials, decorative and useful objects,
round tables, cultural events, contests on sustainability, etc.

 We presented a document about sustainability, written by my principal and partner in this SEED project, Mrs. Mihaela Enache. This document is a brief introspection into sustainability and the need for education for sustainability in today’s schools.

„Think globally, act locally!”

Enache Mihaela, „Dimitrie Bolintineanu” Technological High School, Bolintin Vale, judetul Giurgiu

Enache Onisei, „Dimitrie Bolintineanu” Technological High School, Bolintin Vale, judetul Giurgiu

Humankind is becoming aware, on an increasingly higher scale, of the fact that the balance of the global systems depends on the balance of the regional subsystems. Any imbalance occurring at the level of a regional subsystem entails a state of imbalance at the level of the global system, with signs of a critical state, unless the impact of an uncontrolled economic growth on the environment is counteracted. Once in a critical state, the global system can suffer an irreversible “evolution” towards self-destruction.

The assessment of economic growth exclusively from a quantitative point of view, without considering qualitative aspects that concern the preservation of the natural capital, the improvement of distribution and the reduction of vulnerability to economic crises, fails to offer a realistic image of the global system. As a result, the dimensions of sustainable development are prefigured, having as their core the future of humankind.  

Below we shall illustrate the dimensions of sustainable development in an attempt to highlight the interdependence existing between them.

Figure 1. The dimensions of sustainable development

We believe that it is of utmost importance at this time to establish the role that education for sustainable development has in changing mentality. Humankind must be aware that the supreme goal is not development at any cost but rather “survival for all”.  A constant action is necessary in order to make current generations more responsible about the future, more precisely about the chances of survival of the generations to come.

Education for sustainable development begins in the family, continues in school and throughout an individual’s life, as an element of ongoing education.

Therefore, education for sustainable development can be done by following two courses of action:

1. 1. . Informing on the dimensions of sustainable development and related concepts;
   2. . Integrating the subject matter of sustainable development in the school curricular.

In this second instance, several steps should be undertaken:

We shall evidence some actual possibilities of approaching education for sustainable development at the pre-university (secondary) level. Thus, in pre-school, educators can include elements of environmental education in the form of: games, practical activities (a mini-greenhouse where children take care of plants) and a large range of other activities aimed at forming the proper conduct towards the environment.

In primary school, the environmental dimension of sustainable development can be approached by inserting it in the Natural Science subject (introducing topics such as “Let’s protect nature”) or in Geography (“Natural Reservations and their importance in the preservation of nature”). Such activities that are part of formal education may be supplemented with activities from the field of informal education, i.e. a field trip to a natural reservation.

In lower and upper secondary school these approaches may be expanded, reaching other dimensions of sustainable development as the level of knowledge and understanding increases. Because we are dealing with children and teenagers prone to asking questions, the manners in which we can approach the issues related to sustainable development are much more varied.

(…)

There are multiple inserting possibilities and we believe that most teachers know and can deal with at least one aspect of the ensemble that represents the dimensions of sustainable development.

(…)

School may become an important factor in collecting, organizing and disseminating information on sustainable development, but also in forming the young generation in the spirit of respect for man and for the environment.

The problem that needs to be raised at this time in a stringent manner is how to train teachers so that they may acquire the skills required for organizing activities in the field of education for sustainable development.

By having extensive fundamental knowledge about the issues that appear in the complex relation between man and nature, the teacher must be capable of relating global concepts to local realities. Using this as a starting point the teacher must be able to pass from a traditional way of teaching subjects to a holistic one. He must establish connections between various subjects and approach problems from a trans-disciplinary standpoint.

The activities of the project are presented on our Twinspace: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/31233/home