OŠ dr. Aleš Bebler - Primoţ HRVATINI

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AT PRIMARY SCHOOL DR. ALEŠ BEBLER - PRIMOŢ HRVATINI

Our school endeavors to include in teaching and learning process activities which could have an impact on pupils’ perception that preservation of natural and cultural heritage is necessary as well as they could have an impact on pupils’ behavior towards sustainability. We have initi- ated projects on themes like “Global climate changes and our behavior” or “Living and work- ing in the sustainable town − what can we do”. We try to change pupil's behavior and to aware pupils and their parents that we can positively impact on our environment in the future by changing our way of living and acting (i.e. efficient use of energy, separate collection of waste, etc.). This year we are going to start the project “School garden – environmentally friendly care”. We are going to try to cultivate plants without chemical fertilizing and to water them by collecting rainwater.

We are trying hard to increase the quality of our work by introducing constant improvements regarding on learning and teaching process. In order to achieve this goal we are taking part in several national and international projects.

We are glad that we can collaborate with youth and teachers from five European countries in the International project »In Green and Blue« which has been financially supported by the Eu- ropean Community.

It is going to be our pleasure to present our country and our natural and cultural heritage to our guests. We are deeply grateful to all the individuals that are going to help us to make their staying as pleasant as possible.

We are looking forward to discover some new ideas and to develop our project.

Branka Likon, The principal

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IN GREEN AND BLUE: ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

In green and Blue is a two-year Comenius project which is carried out at our school under the supervision of a national agency Cmepius. In the project we co-operate with schools from Spain, Italy, Finland and Bolgaria. During students' and teachers' exchanges the most important Slo- venian natural beauties and parts of cultural heritage are presented. The themes of our correspondence are environmental preservation in each country and preservation of its natural resources. We study the major envi- ronmental problems and look for possible solutions for these as well as those connected with preservation of natural beauties. Based on these rese- arch activities, interviews and reports are prepared.

In the first year the starting point is the study about environmental characteristic of each country, its resources and sources of energy. In the second year we are going to study about envi- ronmental problems of each region and their pos- sible solution. At all schools involved in this project we have common activities and also some specific tasks for each school. Before the meeting all students and teachers will have the same activities

The activity we are planning are directed to develop the key competences of students of our schools and are integrated with the school curricula and National Syllabus; in fact, indicates that students should be able “to use knowledge to understand environmental problems, inter- cultural and education to civic society”. The project is trying to experiment also the European dimension of the curricula; we are caring it out with the approval of families and the support of the School Council. The choice gives each School a specific identity that is clearly explained in the School Educa- tional Syllabus; it comprises all the curricular and extracurricular activities and project of the school. Different school subjects are involved in these project; Mother Tongue, English Lan- guage, Science, Geography, and Active citizenship,, so many activities will be inter/multi- disciplinary in order to promote skills and competences. The project theme and project objec- tives are already integrated in school curriculum an each country and they enable teacher of

Koordinatorica projekta Aleksandra Pobega 3

FIRST MEETING IN FINLAND

During our meeting attended by our teachers, we learned about the Finnish school system which is said to be the best in Europe. We visi- ted the school in Samppalinnankoulu and plan- ned the activities for our next meeting in Mad- rid in March 2011.

TURKU

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SLOVENIAN WATERS AND WATER CYCLE

Water is our common good and natural resource of the highest value. The quality of our life and health is inseparably connected to it. Therefore, water and water eco-systems should be protected against such human behavior which could have a negative influence on it.

Slovenia is connected with the Mediterranean by only 46.6 km of coast in Trieste Bay. This stretch of the coast is scattered with old towns, such as Koper, Izola and Piran, which for centuries were the only local urban centres.

We visited the Marine Biology Station in Piran and prepared a report.

MBS is more and more focusing on nature protection projects. Today we have four protected areas on the Slove- nian Sea - natural monuments: Madona Cape at Piran, Debeli rtič, the growing site of posidonia sea weed (Posidonia oceanica) at Ţusterna and natural reservation Strunjan.

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OUR SPANISH ADVENTURES 7th - 11th March 2011

Armed with knowledge about our rivers, lakes and sea we went to Spain to Mostoles. We spent five unforgettable days there. We became immediately fond of our Spanish peers, who took very good care. of us.

MOSTOLES

After the guided tours all the participants to the project met togheter with the parents of the Spanish children. We listened carefully to the presentation about the preservation of the

seas, lakes and rivers.

Our presentation included also an illustration of the water cycle.

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FROM OUR PRESENTATION IN SPAIN

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ANKARAN and HRVATINI 16th - 20th May 2011

Our school was visited by pupils and teachers from Italy, Spain, Bolgaria and Finland. We took our guests on trips so that they could see one small part of Slovenia and we presented them our natural and environmental resources. We also showed them our home town.

Hrvatini is surrounded by vineyards and olive tre- es in the south, and fields in the north. From here we can see Koper, Trieste and far to the sea's hori- zon.

HRVATINI and ANKARAN

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ANKARAN is one of the most beautiful towns by these a which is completely pro- tected from the north wind – burja. Becau- se of its position the area of Ankaran was already inhabited by the Romans. Its antique name was Ultra, which in Italian means »across the sea«.

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We had great fun spending time with our foreign friends. We presented our energetic and natural resources and we made a salt-pans worker (solinarka). We visited Škocjan caves, salt pan- sand Koper.

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FROM OUR PRESENTATION IN SLOVENIA

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Published by OŠ dr. Aleš Bebler - Primoţ Hrvatini Editor: Aleksandra Pobega Translation: Nataša Jerman and Joţica Kalšek

Designed by Aleksandra Pobega, Mateja Tomaţič and Vučko Daničič

Photography: school photo archive

Participants to the project: teachers and pupils of the school

Year of publishing: 2011