ERASMUS SEMINAR IN ROME ON OUTDOOR EDUCATION,24-28 JUNE 2024

The Member of the Pedagogical Team of the Environmental Education Center of Vamos (Environmental Education Center for Sustainability),Adriana Basiou ,participated in a seminar on Outdoor Education in Rome, Italy, from June 24 to 28, 2024. This mobility took place within of the Erasmus+ KA1 program (Erasmus+ Accreditation), which has been approved by the State Scholarship Foundation (Approval No. 2023-1-EL01-KA121-ADU-000125830) with the co-financing of the European Union.

 

Within the framework of the Erasmus+ Accreditation project, the members of the Pedagogical Team of EEC of Vamos participate in Seminars (Structured Courses) in European countries.

In Rome, Italy, the seminar was organized by the organization "INFOL EDUCATION ROME" and  the theme was "Outdoor Education". Teachers from Greece, France, Romania and Slovenia participated in the course.

Infol is a provider of Erasmus courses approved by the European Commission. It organizes courses for teachers and training professionals, internships for vocational schools in Rome and Greece with Erasmus+ funding.

During the seminar:

The participants introduced themselves and their schools and talked about the concept of Outdoor Education from many perspectives (Definition of outdoor education and its benefits, historical perspectives, the role of outdoor education in modern pedagogy, building a foundation for outdoor teaching)

The seminar was then held outdoors in the green park of Villa Borghese, where participants discussed and reflected on curriculum design for outdoor learning and aligning outdoor activities with educational goals by integrating core themes into outdoor lessons. They then split into groups and designed an outdoor lesson plan and a new game.

Moving outdoors, participants were taken to the Museum of Zoology and worked on the theme of fostering environmental awareness and sustainability by connecting students to the natural world. The participants worked with Ultima Generazione ecological activist Chloe Bertini, on a variety of activities that can be done outdoors with students and how to introduce concepts such as "Green Washing" and "Fair Trade", while also visiting cooperative shops and fair trade businesses that do not experiment on animals but have an ecological and sustainable consciousness and practice. In addition, there was extensive discussion on problems such as the change of logo and campaign in companies that continue to damage the environment and how we can be informed about such practices.

In addition, a cultural visit was held on the theme of "Water Management", during which participants were guided to historical underground reservoirs and a discussion was held on the ancient compared to the modern use and management of water resources.

The objectives achieved with the seminar are:

-Better and wider understanding of the principles and benefits of outdoor education.

-Improvement in outdoor curriculum design aligned with educational goals.

-Development of additional outdoor teaching skills and environmental awareness.

-Learning how to cultivate a sense of environmental stewardship in students.

The huge and green park of Villa Borghese, which includes an artificial lake, a theater, bicycles, a clock that works with the movement of water (1 of 2 in the world), a zoological museum and much more, is a one of many evergreen parks in Rome that provide free recreational space for residents and visitors.

The participants received as a gift, flower seeds that attract bees, in order to facilitate these important pollinators of nature.

Participating in Erasmus+ programs is a unique educational and cultural experience that promotes peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding and helps to improve our educational practice, while opening new horizons.