Chain Reaction is a project that will be carried out by schools Grundzales pamatskola from Latvia, Scola Gimnazjala No. 7 Buzau from Romania, Republic Hrvatska Zupanija Splitsko Dalmatinska Osnovna Skola Sucidar from Croatia, Detska Gradina 79 from Bulgaria under the leadership of Primary School with Integration Units number 154 from Warsaw Poland. The project implementation is planned for the years 2018-2020. About 2,500 pupils aged between 7 and 14 and 150 teachers of various specializations will take part in it directly.
In these days, schools have great difficulty in overcoming the belief prevailing among students that learing is boring, and the acquired knowledge is out of every day usage. The reasons for this state are old teaching methods and the lack of activities raising students’ interest of knowledge. Innovation of this project involves the use of an element that attracts students’ interest , which is cycling and the use of it in teaching school subjects. In the first phase of the project, the participants will be equipped with the knowledge and skills needed for further activities. Teachers will learn how to organize lessons using bicycles in accordance with safety rules. Students will take part in workshops about first aid and preparation of a icycle for driving. In the further part of the project there will be an exchange of good ractices between teachers in the field of planning and conducting classes In the project a holistic approach to teaching will be used. The binder linking individual items will be a bicycle. During science lessons for example students will determine which muscles and joints work during cycling and how riding them affects their heart rate and blood pressure. History lessons will also be based on bikes. During such classes, students will learn about the onuments and famous people associated with the area where they live. During English lessons, students will expand their lexical knowledge of vocabulary connected with bicycles, as well as the grammatical structures such as the imperative mode based on traffic regulations. At the same time, the active use of English, which will be the language of the project, will cause students to break the language barrier and learn to use it in everyday life situations. Through project activities they will also gain the ability to write a letter and an email in English. Each school will also organise art lessons about the bicycle and its symbolism in the paintings and other works of famous artists. Then students will create their own works with the motif of a bicycle as a symbol of freedom, emancipation and progress of humanity that from the beginning of its history releases positive energy and emotions. Students will be inspired by cycling not in the context of sport, but in its social dimension, referring to such concepts and phenomena as diversity, gathering, spontaneous creativity, DIY designs, as well as urban landscape and ecological way of travelling.
The main purposes of the project are:
- raising the competence of teachers in the area of conducting attractive lessons for students
- promoting a bicycle as a healthy, ecological and attractive means for acquiring school knowledge among the group of teachers, pupils and their parents,
- motivating students to learn foreign languages
- getting acquainted with local customs, region and people living in partnership countries
- broadening cultural awareness, learning tolerance
- exchange of experiences and promotion of knowledge about other cultures, their similarities and differences
- developing students’ feeling of being a part of Europe
- developing students’ respect for others and fighting stereotypes, racism and xenophobia
