1 Using the European heart materials in school
1.1 Description of the pilots
Greece: 3rd Laboratory Center of East Attica, Rafina
In Greece, three schools from the Directory of Secondary Education of East Attica participated in the pilot: a lower high school (12-14 years of age), a general high school and a technical vocational school (15-17 years of age).
The lower high school adopted a two-pronged approach: the project activities were introduced in the history course and in a project-based learning group that operated outside school hours and was dedicated to the EUROPEAN HEART Project. Pupils attending general high schools are focused on preparing for the Panhellenic examinations at the end of the third grade for admission to higher education. Therefore, there is absolutely no room for deviation from the curriculum which is clearly focused on preparing for the examinations. For this reason, pupils who showed interest in the project participated in the after-school workshops of the high school group. The technical vocational high school had a different approach: some pupils participated in the high school group and others worked in workshops organised at their school. They did not show much interest in the theoretical part and in dealing with the history course but showed a huge interest in the practical activities, especially those involving hands-on activities and construction. They worked very intensively and with admirable professionalism on puppet-making for the movies.
A group of pupils from different disciplines—beauticians, hairdressers, engineers—worked together to make the puppets and the results were amazing not only in terms of the products themselves but especially in terms of the way the pupils worked together.
The teachers put into practice the basic lesson of the project, i.e. they adapted the project to the basic needs of the pupils and not the pupils to the basic needs of the project.
Figure 8: Sarrigeorgiou, G. (2021). The puppets created by the 3rd Laboratory Center of East Attica. [Photograph]. Rafina. 3rd Laboratory Center of East Attica.
In the history lesson, the classes, following the national curriculum, focused on how different people in the past tried to meet their basic needs and whether they did so in a way that was good for everyone else. The analysis and exploration of the historical episodes developed by Greece entitled "September 3rd: The Night That Changed Modern Greece" and Austria entitled "Bread for Paris" were within the curriculum and analyzed during the lessons. The Austrian episode entitled “Step out of the Shadow” and the French episode entitled “The True Colour of Vanilla” which were not directly linked to the history curricula were analysed in the group.
Regarding the choice of the theme of the historical episode, the work done even for the choice of the theme was very important. The pupils wanted to choose a landmark event for the development of Greek democracy which, although it happened in 1843, was an inspiration for the struggle against the dictatorship through the theatre and the now historical performance "Our Great Circus", but also with references to the present time as the lack of democracy at various levels of personal, family and social life is affecting society and especially the youth.
And indeed the pupils managed to involve the school community in the activity of developing the script and the short movie (whole-school approach) with parents/guardians actively participating and supporting the children, with professionals from the local community who even provided them with materials for their activities, with decision and policy makers from the Directory of Secondary Education and finally the children's work attracted the interest of former prime ministers of the country, the UNICEF, the Ministry of Education, universities and researchers from all over the world.
At the technical vocational high school, pupils had the opportunity both to practice their professional specialty and to showcase their talents. The educational community was given the opportunity to see that in a project not only academic skills and talents are valuable, but also practical skills, imagination, ingenuity and creativity. Finally, the educational community came to understand experientially that together we can do better and more!
The benefits for the pupils far exceeded the objectives of the project. The pupils achieved to:
- strengthen their self-confidence and personality
Supporting observation: Very shy pupils whose presence was not even felt in the classroom, found their place and role in the activities of the project and shone in front of the cameras.
- improvement of social skills
Supporting observation: Pupils understood the value of non-violent communication and started to choose positive ways of verbal and non-verbal communication, such as speech, gesture, facial expression and body-language. This conscious choice of positive behaviour had the impact of significantly reducing bullying which appeared to be based more on recklessness and lack of awareness of consequences to others than sincere intent to harm someone else.
- development of critical thinking and critical questioning of facts and news
Supporting observation: Most of the project activities took place in the midst of the pandemic. The way in which the children began to think and analyse the historical episodes helped them to be critical of information circulated both on social media and through official state media channels.
- increased self-responsibility
Supporting observation: From the beginning of the project the teachers ensured that the pupils would develop ownership of the project. The teachers were always there to facilitate and support the pupils, but ultimately this was their project. The idea that they would create their own movie from start to finish and see it published made the children act like professionals. Everyone's contribution was valuable and they all had to play a responsible role in the success of the common cause. Even when someone failed to meet an obligation, e.g. not attending a workshop one day, they were aware of the situation and would make sure to reciprocate next time, for example by spending more time at the next workshop. The voluntary nature of the pupils' participation and the knowledge that they had the right to withdraw at any time, without explanation and without repercussions, also had a very positive impact. This fact made their moral commitment to the project and the group even more persistent. This is a lesson that policy makers should take into account when designing compulsory educational activities.
- strengthening cohesion and cooperation
Supporting observation: The educational community of our city from the lower secondary school to the upper secondary school with the participation of both the general high school and the technical school found themselves working together, and with them dozens of citizens of the city in the role of parent/guardian, neighborhood professional and others.
- internationalization
Supporting observation: The best way to avoid xenophobia, radicalisation and the like is a shift towards internationalisation. The project brought together schools from three European countries and gave the educational communities the opportunity to extend what they had learned in an international context.
A success story
The pupils of the 3rd Laboratory Center of East Attica participated in a schools competition on educational robotics within the framework of the Erasmus+ project RoboPisces (Project ID: 2019-1-IT02-KA201-063073). The aim of the competition was to develop a code to program a fish-robot to perform specific movements in the water. The judges measured the accuracy and speed of the fish-robot's movement in the water and ranked the contestants. The Greek pupil contestant, who is part of the EUROPEAN HEART Project, helped the Italian team who were having problems with their robot. In the end the Italian team got the third place and the Greek pupil got the fourth place. The judges noticed this behaviour and decided to award him the "Fair Play" prize. When the pupil was asked why he helped the Italian team get a better position than him, his answer was that his need for love and belonging was greater than his need for power and influence. He was fully aware that helping the Italian team would cost him the third place prize, but he was still happy with his choice.