LEAF- Learn biodiversity through Environmental Action for the Community is a KA2 Erasmus+ project whose main aim is to leverage the “service learning” and “citizen science” methodologies and apply them to secondary schools, with the goal of engaging students in the monitoring of local plant biodiversity. “Service learning” and “citizen science” can be pooled to create a link between students’ learning objectives and the actual needs of the community they are living in, therefore literally taking learning out of the classrooms and into real life.
With this innovative project, students will experience a new style of learning by performing authentic measurements and contributing to science, while at the same time providing an actual service to the community they live in.
The project will also target secondary school teachers by supporting their learning on how to combine service learning and citizen science to engage students in a real-life project, providing data collection and analysis of local plant biodiversity.
LEAF in fact will actively contribute to Environmental and climate goals for the sake of the communities involved as well as to supporting teachers, school leaders and other teaching professions in their development of key competences.
The idea behind the project, this said, is to create an innovative service-learning methodology for secondary schools focused on the regular monitoring and protection of local plant biodiversity.
Plants are a fundamental part of the European ecosystem, forming their physical structure, and are of essential importance to the functioning of the whole environmental system. Plant species provide habitat, enable the life of animal species and are primary producers of human nutrition.
LEAF is implemented by a great European Consortium made up of the following organisations:
- “Mihai Eminescu” National College Suceava, Romania (COORDINATOR) http://cn-eminescu.ro
- PLATON M.E.P.E, Greece platon.edu.gr
- LINK GROUP, Serbia, https://www.link-group.eu/serbia
- European Digital Learning Network ETS, Italy dlearn.eu
- Parents’ Association “Step by Step”, Croatia udrugaroditeljakpk.hr
- ENERGIES 2050, France
The partnership will work continuously for 30 months in order to develop a training path for secondary schools’ teachers and leaders on the application of service learning to the monitoring and protection of plant biodiversity; to create a methodological framework and generate a community of practice linking students and school with stakeholders to preserve biodiversity and environmental treasures within EU territories.
Stay up to date on the project online:
Visit the website: https://leafbiodiversity.eu/
Follow the project activities on
- Facebook: @leafbiodiversity