This is a project dedicated to developing an innovative methodology of teaching through experience - an edu - experiments for students, created through a series of trainings with teachers, will lead to a permanent change in the attitudes of recipients in respect for environment and shrinking natural resources. The education part is complemented by the investment element - green school yards, create with students to teach the value of cooperation and shared responsibility for surroundings.
Local
Poland
City of Łódź
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): City of Łódź Office Type of organisation: Public authority (European/national/regional/local) First name of representative: Magdalena Last name of representative: Martin Gender: Female Nationality: Poland Function: an employee of the environmental department Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: 104 Piotrkowska Street Town: Łódź Postal code: 90-926 Country: Poland Direct Tel:+48 42 272 66 76 E-mail:magdamartin84@gmail.com Website:https://uml.lodz.pl/ekoportal/eko-wiedza/edukacja/lodzkie-szkoly-dla-klimatu/
Climate change lead to the problem of scarcity and disparity in global resources. Developed countries are characterized by excessive consumerism, and the other - suffer from poverty. The key to a better future is change of mentality, willingness to give up current comforts and respect for values. Such content is indispensable in the modern teaching process, as a part of school preventive and educational programs, subject lessons and everyday school activities. Effectiveness in shaping the desired system of values depends on the methods of transferring knowledge and empirical experience of students.
Łódź Schools for Climate meets both conditions. 1. Two-stage education part: a) trainings for teachers: the aim is to increase the level of ecological awareness of teachers through active education and participation in workshops. The acquired knowledge and experience will then, in a cascade manner, be transferred by teachers to the next groups of teachers; b) the school experiment: the aim is experiencing discomfort, the lack of something available so far without limitations, stimulation to reflect on the value of goods (I have = I appreciate). The concept of the experiment, developed during workshops with teachers and a psychologist, assumes limiting access to resources, e.g. electricity, water, transport, and will apply to students, their families and teachers.
2. Investment part: creating school gardens: the possibility of daily contact with ecological solutions and nature. Joint planting of greenery and creating herbal and vegetable gardens by students will build a sense of community and responsibility for created place.
innovative education
sustainability
involvement
shaping values
model solution for others
The project is going beyond the standard teaching scheme. Learning takes place in it through experience, which deepens the educational effect. First step is to expand teachers' competences on global education, dependencies and human impact on ongoing climate change. During workshops they learn how to live more sustainably and how to encourage students to do the same. Lack of natural resources is key element during experiment - experiencing a deficit in this matter will help build sense of respect for the resources at our disposal and it will reduce bad habits of wasting goods and consumerism. Moreover, the investment part has huge role in whole project. Development of previously concreted or unused spaces in schools is the best way to teach about sustainability. Introduction of many species of plants, including melliferous plants and bird-friendly spaces show the importance of biodiversity, dedicated solutions for collecting rainwater teach how to care about natural resources and creating urban crops is a good way to involve young people in taking care of the common space. Gardens are also an example of "re-use" rule, by using an architectural detail from Łódź in them - for ex. cast-iron window grilles of historic tenement houses will serve as a frame for climbing plants.
Education plays a major role in building responsibility for the world we live in. Through education, students should understand the consequences of their actions. School has to teach values, and the teacher, as a moderator of this process, must be equipped with the competences how to instill these values. The aim of the project is to shape values, build bonds and high social competences for the future, the ability to deal with limited natural resources and the effects of climate change in the future. Through experience, the theoretical knowledge of students is strengthened and allows them to prepare for life in an irreversibly changing environment. Thanks to workshop teachers learn how to organize their lessons to personalize the teaching process, how to foster the social, intellectual, emotional, spiritual and personal development of students, how to awaken cognitive interests and support the intellectual development of students, by skillful selection of activating methods and teaching techniques. Properly directed and educated children will build their own permanent value system, becoming conscious, wise and active citizens who care about the natural environment, able to build a better future for themselves and next generations. Moreover, co-creation schools gardens give students a sense of belonging, shaping cultural and social values - they are learning about local identity through elements of detail, also have a chance to connect with nature and learn how to be responsibile for its good shape.
Łódź Schools for Climate is a pilot-project, currently implemented in 6 municipal schools (3 primary and 3 high schools). It is dedicated to teachers (at least 3 teachers from each school trained by the local partner, then those teachers have to train the other teachers in each school - cascade method), students (at least 20 children from each school are taking part in experiment) and their parents.
Education part is conducted by an experienced local partner - the Center for Educational Activities „Source” - a Public Benefit Organization operating for over 20 years in the field of education. It is 5 days of training workshops for teachers, 36 workshops for students and 6 summary picnics for families, friends and local communities.
Moreover, investment part has also got dedicated partner - Echo Investment. The firm is the largest Polish developer with extensive experience in the main sectors of the real estate market. As a company co-responsible for the development of cities, it is involved in projects that fit into the urban fabric and complement it. Each of them is a responsibly designed part of the city. The partner prepared, in cooperation with architects, concepts of school gardens, which will be built in each school participating in the project. The assumption is that the patron of each garden is a different business representative, who will also be a co-founder of each place.
In this way the project includes the involvement of entities at various levels - teachers, students and their parents, local communities and business representatives.
The project will be extended to other municipal schools in the coming years.
Thanks to the green spaces created in schools participating in the Łódź Schools for Climate initiative, there will be places to organize not only school lessons, but also picnics, concerts and other activities. In this way, not only the direct beneficiaries of the project will be able to experience ecological solutions. It will certainly be an inspiration for the local community to create more such places around them, especially since municipal subsidy programs supporting the creation of new green areas, as well as community gardens and areas of small retention are successfully operating.
The unit directly involved in the implementation of the project is the Education and Ecological Promotion Unit of the Department of Ecology and Climate of the City of Łódź Office. The initiative has 2 partners:
The Center for Ecological Activities “Sources” - a local Public Benefit Organization that has been operating for over 20 years in the field of ecological education. It operates as a permanent educational center located in Łódź. It also has a branch in Warsaw. Activities aimed at increasing the level of ecological awareness of the society through active education are carried out mainly through workshops for young people, training for teachers, field trips and educational projects, dedicated to broadly understood ecology. This is the main creator of the educational part of the project.
Echo Investment - the largest Polish developer with extensive experience in the main sectors of the real estate market. As a company co-responsible for the development of cities, it is involved in projects that fit into the urban fabric and complement it. Each of them is a responsibly designed part of the city. This is the founder of school garden designs, that were made by architects cooperating with the company.
Łódź Schools for Climate. Skills of the Future is a project dedicated to developing an innovative methodology of teaching through experience - an education experiment, developed jointly by the project partner, teachers and a psychologist, whitch is dedicated to raising awareness of respect the natural resources and goods at our disposal, will lead to a permanent change in the attitudes of recipients (students) in respect for the natural environment, oneself and other people. The education part is complemented by an investment element - creating green school yards, thanks to which students will gain the ability to cooperate, strengthen the sense of shared responsibility for the surroundings.
The innovative approach is the basic feature of the project. Professional assistance of Center for Educational Activities “Source” will enable the teaching staff in selected schools to effectively transfer knowledge, use unconventional teaching methods and techniques, cascade training will involve teachers directly, making them leaders of change, green lighthouse keepers. Participation in the experiment will strengthen and consolidate the ecological knowledge acquired during training courses and workshops. The school experiment carried out among students and teachers is also going beyond the standard teaching scheme. Learning takes place in it through experience, which deepens the educational effect. The help of a psychologist during the experiment and during its subsequent summary will help to better understand the purpose of the experiment.
The currently implemented initiative is a pilot-project which, after evaluation, we want to implement in other schools in the city. The formula of the project is universal, it can be easily implemented in all educational institutions, adapting the educational part and investment elements to the age of the recipients. Issues related to the deficit of resources, implemented in the current edition, rather concern young people, for whom it is easier to consciously take up the challenge of giving up goods. The psychologist, who should supervise the correct course of the task in each edition, is able to indicate tasks for other age groups, so that educational effect is fully achived. Also, the experienced partner of the project is able to provide teachers with teaching techniques adapted to each age group.
The aim of the project is to shape values, build bonds and high social competences for the future, the ability to deal with limited natural resources and the effects of climate change in the future. The teaching process goes through experience. Thanks to this method, the theoretical knowledge of students is strengthened and allows them to prepare for life in an irreversibly changing environment. Also, presence of a psychologist during the experiment and during its subsequent summary will help to better understand the purpose of the education experiment. Moreover, the investment part has a similar approach - daily contact with nature, joint planting of greenery and creating herbal and vegetable gardens by students builds a sense of community and responsibility for the created place.
Big challenges start with small steps. Thanks to the implementation of the project and the gradual extension of its scope to other educational institutions, public awareness of the need for ecological behavior will increase. Green spaces created in schools, made available during picnics and other events also to people from outside the school, will indicate the direction of change and motivate residents to create green enclaves on their own, also with the help of existing municipal subsidies. The modern development of cities is associated with the phenomenon known as the urban heat island. The most reliable indicator of the intensity of this unfavorable phenomenon is the temperature difference between the city and suburban areas. One of the priority activities of Łódź in the context of building urban resilience and sustainable development is the creation of green infrastructure. In an intensively built-up urban tissue, it is necessary to saturate it with solutions that will alleviate thermal conditions and reduce the heat stress of residents. Covering easily heating materials with vegetation protects them from excessive absorption of sunlight, and as a result reduces the intensity of the harmful phenomenon of the heat island. The preservation of open and wooded areas in the vicinity of cities is conducive to air exchange and regeneration.
Activities September - December 2022:
In September, the assumptions of the project and the work schedule were prepared and six schools were recruited. An information meeting was held - the aim was to present the schedule and to select teachers willing to participate. Another activity was a series of trainings for teachers, carried out from October to December. During the first training, an integration workshop was conducted along with a discussion of expectations regarding participation in the project. Also, there were discussed problems of global education, causes and effects of climate change, access to water and excessive consumption The second training concerned the goals of sustainable development, the subject of food waste and the impact of diet on the climate, personal responsibility for the state of the environment. Also, variants of an educational experiment were invented. In addition, a psychological block devoted to the development of the teenager's brain, as well as values and attitudes in education was carried out. Teachers and organizers tested chosen experiments on themselves for 2 weeks to better understand the challenge. The third training was about summarizing the experiments and verifying their assumptions in order to prepare the final versions of the script with experiment proposals. At the same time, a scenario of introductory classes for young people was prepared. The students were familiarized with the conditions of joining the experiment. 34 recruitment workshops were held. The selected students decided to participate in the experiment, parents' consent was obtained. In addition, information materials for parents were prepared, including a 30-minute webinar.
The aim of the project is fully in line with the EU indicators of the green transformation. It has to shape values and high social competences, the ability to deal with limited natural resources and the effects of climate change in the future. For the teachers the results of the project are high competences in the field of environmental education, the ability to adapt the method and form of teaching to develop certain student skills. Teachers will also learn how to support the intellectual development of students, by skillful selection of activating methods, teaching techniques and didactic aids. The students will be able to build their own permanent value system, become conscious, wise and active citizens who care about the natural environment, able to build a better future for themselves and next generations.
