1 Using the European heart materials in school

1.1        Description of the pilots

Austria: The Kolibri School

The Kolibri School in Welten is a parent-run private school with public rights. Preferably Montessori materials are used in the lessons. Pupils attend this school for the first 8 years and obtain a secondary level 1 certificate. The lessons are conducted in three school levels:

• Primaria: First to third school year (6 – 9/10 years of age)
• Secundaria 1: Fourth to sixth school year (9/10 – 12 years of age)
• Secundaria 2 Seventh to eighth school year 12 – 14/15 years of age)

The school subjects are grouped into 3 major subject blocks:

• Language teaching: German and English
• Mathematics lessons
• World  -Knowledge: History, Geography, Biology, Physics, Chemistry

In addition to these subjects, every Friday is reserved for workshops. This is the time when parents come to the school and offer different activities for the pupils. Creative design, music, handicrafts, 3d printing, cooking, etc.

The pupils of Sekundaria 2 were involved in the project development. The project work took place in parallel in several teaching subjects.

In the language lessons, the two brochures "Basic Human Needs" and "Strategies to fulfil Basic Human Needs" were used as a basis to introduce these concepts to the pupils. The teacher conveyed large parts of the theory contained in the booklets through their own words and used the exercises in the booklets in class to consolidate the theory. Key concepts from the two books were also pinned to the wall as flipchart posters so that they could be referred to again and again.

In parallel in the World Knowledge lessons, the French Revolution was studied in preparation. Based on this, the pupils continued to work with the brochure "Bread for Paris".

The phase when the children started to work on the film script together with the language teacher was started by setting up rules. Based on the Five Basic Needs, the children first formulated wishes for working together. Furthermore, they also discussed those things that should not happen under any circumstances. The collected wishes and fears then led to a set of rules that should at least apply to the entire cooperation for writing the script and for the preparatory work for the film shoot.

In language lessons, the pupils developed various ideas with the teacher for the film script. In addition, the school was able to recruit a professional female puppet player for the project. She continued to work with the children on the script and supported the school team during rehearsals with the children.

Figure 1: Linde, S. (2022). Preparation of the script and development of the puppet-play for the short movies. [Photograph]. Welten. Kolibri Schule.

The children first learned the finished script in their mother tongue, German. In English lessons, they translated the script and started learning the text in that language as well.

On several Fridays, the pupils built the stage decorations together with a school father. Other Fridays were spent making the puppets and the clothes for the puppets together with a school mother.

Figure 2: Linde, S. (2022). Preparation of the background-scenario for the short movies. [Photograph]. Welten. Kolibri Schule.