UBT, EA and NUCLIO are the founding members of the European School Innovation Academy (ESIA) which is already offering a platform for teachers to participate in professional development activities, webinars or share guidelines and material on innovative school practices. SYNAPSES will use ESIA to promote its activities and good practices, also in the field of environmental awareness or addressing climate change. The project will take advantage of a network exceeding 10.000 teachers that ESIA is able to reach out to and invite them to summer schools and online webinars to create their own projects and initiatives based on the concepts and principles of the SYNAPSES Standard-Based Training Framework. The SYNAPSES Academy training programme will capitalise on the results of numerous initiatives that have been designed to facilitate the development of sustainability citizenship. These initiatives will be adopted and enriched to form the SYNAPSES training ecosystem. An indicative list of such initiatives is following:
HORIZON 2020: OPEN SCHOOLS FOR OPEN SOCIETIES
The project introduced a change culture in schools; families are becoming real partners in school life and activities; professionals from enterprises and civil and wider society are actively be involved in bringing real-life projects to the classroom. Open Schools for Open Societies project will provide exemplary cases that will inform the SYNAPSES Best Practices (WP2) while the SYNAPSES consortium aims involve the Open Schools for Open Societies school network and teachers to the large-scale implementation of the SYNAPSES Academy (WP4).
HORIZON 2020: SCHOOLS AS LIVING LABS
The project engages in dialogue school communities, research institutions, science museums and centres and spaces of open-learning. The Living Lab approach highlights the co-design and co-development of valuable learning experiences. In the framework of SYNAPSES, pilot activities following the living lab approach will be designed and implemented in the participating institutions.
ERASMUS+: InNature – Innovation in Schools Inspired by Nature Solutions
InNature is designed to develop students’ competences in STEM subjects, namely science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Additionally, it will enhance teachers’ competences and create new teaching resources and methodologies. InNature educational materials will act as exemplary cases that will inform the SYNAPSES Best Practices (WP2).
HORIZON 2020: GAIA
This project aims to promote positive behavioural changes within school communities regarding energy consumption and sustainability awareness. Based on a large IoT infrastructure in pilot schools located in Italy, Greece and Sweden, In the framework of SYNAPSES, the GAIA educational materials will act as exemplary cases that will inform the SYNAPSES Best Practices (WP2).
HORIZON 2020: FOODSIFT2030
EA hosts the Athens FoodSHIFT Accelerator Lad which focuses on social innovation by engaging schools in (re-) connecting young people with land and nature as well as using summer courses to promote healthy eating and plant-based foods. In the framework of SYNAPSES, EA will act as Hub to promote scenarios related to sustainable food systems.
HORIZON 2020: NUTRISHIELD
NUTRISHIELD aims at creating a personalized platform for the young. The platform will consist of novel methods & techniques, which analyse a wide range of biomarkers related to nutrition and health disorders. In the framework of SYNAPSES, the platform will be used for educational activities related to nutrition and health issues.
HORIZON 2020: PROTEIN
PROTEIN project aims to develop an end-to-end ecosystem that will engage people to a healthy, pleasurable, nutritional and sustainable diet by offering a daily program adapted to their needs and driven by their personal preferences, physical and physiological characteristics as well as their health status. In the framework of SYNAPSES, the platform will be used for educational activities related to nutrition.
Better awareness of the opportunities, benefits and limitations of nature-based solutions has been identified by citizens and experts as one of the main factors that could facilitate the transition to more sustainable cities and territories. Nature-based Solutions (NBS) use nature and ecosystems to deliver social, ecological and economic benefits, increasing biodiversity and contributing to climate change adaptation and mitigation. However, the educational potential of NBS remains largely unexplored, whilst innovative programmes and resources around NBS are currently missing from formal and informal education programmes for children and families. In the framework of SYNAPSES, the platform will be used for educational activities around exemplars in schools and sustainability citizenship (WP4).
BioMeBioYou uncovers, explores, questions and celebrates all aspects of Biodiversity from the perspective of teachers and students of all abilities from every strata of society, and their whole-school communities. Moreover, it challenges us to look beyond biodiversity and STEAM in their traditional meaning, towards a more inter-connected and creatively holistic, 21 Century definition of environmental citizenship and Climate Action. Simply put, biodiversity cannot exist in isolation if we are to consider that everything we are and everything we do as citizens of planet earth, are inextricably entwined in the fabric of planet Earth. In the framework of SYNAPSES, the platform will be used for educational activities around exemplars in schools and sustainability citizenship (WP3 & WP4).