Following the adoption of the Circular Economy Action Plan in 2015, the EU has promoted measures to stimulate the transition towards a circular economy. The adoption of the circular model may be an effective strategy to break the spiral of inefficiencies that seriously damages the natural, economic and social equilibrium of today’s world.
In order to overcome the linear economy model in Europe (and beyond), it is necessary to adopt a re-education strategy in the context of a new economic model, where the axis buy-use-dispose-buy-again is disrupted. The new model needs to be transmitted to children and young people and, most importantly, should be included in European school plans.
The LOOP project intends to transfer knowledge and competences concerning sustainable development and to involve European students in the scientific debate regarding Circular Economy and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The project aims to provide students with the scientific knowledge and the skills to understand current global issues related to sustainable development. On the other hand, it intends to also stimulate students in learning, developing and sharing conscious behaviors.
The project will involve the participation of teachers, students and tutors in the project activities. In particular, the project will involve around 160 students from 5 schools in 3 EU countries and their teachers. Moreover, specialized personnel of FEEM and the University of Zagreb will be dedicated to the tutoring operations and will be selected by the same organizations according to the functions they will have to perform.
To reach its goals, the project will support and guide students in the development of several activities and outputs under the guidance of appropriately trained teachers and tutors and through
the special “Meet&Learn” Platform. The activities will be based on innovative digital technologies specifically designed to stimulate the inclusion of participants and encourage the learning of the relevant project topics and their basic values.
The LOOP project intends to adopt a highly innovative didactic approach based on digital and ICT pedagogy.
In particular, the project will be based on an original methodology, developed by the partner CivicaMente and called “Open Mind” which uses multimedia tools to guarantee a high degree of learners’ involvement, and which promotes the strengthening of soft skills through activities mediated by digital technology.
The project will produce the following results:
- this online platform: a virtual learning environment, structured in different levels that will be used as mean of communication, online repository, interactive training provider and a dissemination channel;
- teachers’ training materials: virtual classrooms including learning units for the teachers;
- elevator pitch videos: short video messages presenting the students involved in the project;
- report on flipped classroom: a methodological and content report in concerning the main results of the performances conducted by the students in the classroom, on the assigned research topic;
- research essays (e-books): resulting from the national field research of the students investigating the four “R’s” of the circular economy;
- transnational thematic projects based on the e-books already produced during the national research activities;
- a report explaining the overall methodology adopted for each phase of the project: from the online platform structure, through the training methodology for students and teachers, to the flipped classroom and national and international working groups.
It is expected that the LOOP project will have an impact on all the individuals involved; in particular, the students will improve their linguistic, technological and scientific knowledge on circular economy, and the teachers will dispose of innovative teaching methodologies and key competences on the themes addressed.
Starting from the local level, the desirable impact would be the creation of a virtuous cycle that could expand to the regional, national and European levels.
A further impact concerns raising the awareness, at different levels, about the importance of heading towards a circular economy model based on the 4 principles “Redesign, Reduction, Recycling and Reuse”, to finally promote the achievement of the SDGs of the Agenda 2030.