"Rapid development of science and technology addresses the main educational systems' challenge - The progress and prosperity of country needs to rely on innovative talents of science and technology. Kids are important talents for future progress and development of society, it’s necessary to update early childhood curricula in order to keep up with this international trend and address the growing need for STEAM Classroom programs in early childhood education. EU is faced with a challenge and a successfully implemented STE(A)M-focused classroom as an education approach, very soon can been easily recognised as a key force in the progress toward high quality preschool education for all kids.Main project aim is to promote the synergy among the experience of different socio-economical organisations and Kindergartens, with aim to include best expertise in everyday learning process. Concept of STEAM classroom is consisted of two main parts : - Appropriate working space (kindergartens will ensure a working space /classroom/) where specially designed equipment and tools appropriate for kindergartens kids age will be installed- Educational part (a ""learning by doing"" based methodology appropriate for kindergartens' kids age will be developed by experts and adopted with kindergarten teachers in the frame of the training events). Main project objectives are: to improve quality and attractiveness of early childhood education process in regions of four municipalities from Croatia, North Macedonia, Turkey and Bulgaria; enhance pre-schools teachers’ competences and skills by increasing of their theoretical background and introducing learning by doing method for STEAM related topics ; establish strategic partnership among different socio-economic types of organisations (public body; educational institutions; National, Regional and Local NGOs) for increasing of quality level of education process.Specific objectives of the planned activities in the frame of the project are to: develop own and innovative STEAM classroom - based educational approach with large transfer-ability potential; design and implement a special (appropriate for kids age) equipment and tools for practical work with kids in the STEAM field that will cover four main topics: Basic Science; Renewable Energies; Energy efficiency & Ecology; and Art; improve kids' skills through the alternative forms of teaching especially encouraging experiential learning and team work /in the frame of long-term teaching assignment/; establish transnational kindergartens' teachers network by using of eTwinning networking platform and to create of a long-term strategic partnership for transnational cooperation in the field of education.The project have two main target groups:• Teachers from kindergartens from Town Ludbreg-Croatia, Town Kochani-North Macedonia, Town Kushadasi-Turkey and Town Velingrad-Bulgaria.• Children who attend educational programs in the above mentioned kindergartens (with note that final beneficiaries of the project activities will be also all next generations of children that will attend the kindergartens' programs in the future).The long term expected results from the project realisation are:- New innovative educational approach for implementation of STE(A)M related topics in kindergartens that can be used in education of the current and future generations of kids that are attending their educational program;- Implementation of STE(A)M classroom as educational environment as well as attractive and efficient learning methodology in the pre-school teaching process;- Established teacher's network by using of eTwinning module as the main pre-request for further partnership and cooperation in increasing of teacher's skills and competences by exchanging of good practices;- Created strategic action plan for transnational cooperation among different socio-economic organisations from regions of Kochani, Velingrad, Kushadasy and Ludbreg, in the field of pre-education with aim to stimulate its development by using of best practices and innovative education methods;- Increased attractiveness of the education process for kids in kindergartens with implementation of learning by doing educational methods;- Increased awareness on regional, national and international level about the importance of STE(A)M classroom and benefits that this education method is offering for more attractive and efficient education process in pre-schools (through dissemination material, project multiplier events, ect.)- Consequently increasing the interest of larger number of the kids to choose a technology oriented career/educational path which will ensure the European labour market with increased number of engineers and technologists and with this to contribute to the competitiveness of the Union’s economy."

"High school students are immediate – “tomorrow’s” democratic force of our society who should actively participate in all aspects of economical, environment and social life in local communities. Unfortunately, performed surveys show they have scarce knowledge and are not interested in getting involved in any aspect of local community existence. The project aimed to contribute in increasing the present and future generations of high schools students’ skills and competences to face different challenges in everyday social life from different perspectives and to become active members of their local communities. To achieve this, the project focused on increased skills and competences of the teachers, for teamwork and cooperation that leads to development and implementation of common education approach for their students. The project aimed to present advantages of using of ""learning by doing"" students-based approach in topics of high community interest. This project also supported teachers in adopting cooperative and innovative practices with their training to apply some of the existing web 2.0 tools (OER) and eTwinning platform to increase their skills in application of ICT-based techniques, which leads to development of more attractive learning approaches towards students. The project was implemented by 9 PP, 3 partners form each country (Bulgaria, Slovenia and North Macedonia) involved, those were: 3 high schools (HS of Economics and Management (BG), HS ""Ljupco Santov"" (MK) and School Centre Velenje (SLO)), 3 local public bodies (Pazardzhik Municipality (BG), Public utility “Vodovod” Kochani (MK) and Ljudska univerza Velenje (SLO)) and 3 NGOs (CSEG (BG), MAGA (MK) and KSSENA (SLO)). High schools participated with teachers (3x3) trained on implementation of OER in school subjects and learning-by-doing methods, and they became part of teachers’ network, and were guiding students during the project; also 45 students (15x3) increased competences and skills in creation of Virtual Cities through team work. CSEG, MAGA and KSSENA had responsibility to deal with coordination and organization of the project activities; preparation of education handbook; training for ICT-based tools, using of RES and implementation of EE measures; dissemination of project’s results; organization of national dissemination events. Local public bodies were engaged in teachers' training for community managements topics, for human rights and anti-discrimination, preparation of Document for strategic transnational partnership and increasing of public awareness. The activities carried out in the frame of the project were the following: project management, coordination and implementation; preparation of materials and necessary IT equipment for transnational meetings and short-term trainings; short-term trainings to increase teachers’ skills and competences; mentors and students’ teams work on development of “Virtual City”; development and printing of the intellectual outputs; development and maintenance of project web-site; preparation of brochures and leaflets; organization of media publications and press releases; preparation of presentations for final dissemination events. Foreseen methodology that was used within the short-term joint staff training events and long-term teaching assignment was a mix of theoretical and practical participatory approaches, accompanied by using of ICT based methodologies. The most suitable is so called “learning-by-doing” method. The results achieved with the project activities were: Handbook for teachers; Document for strategic transnational partnership; 9 HS teachers with increased skills for practical use of OER (web 2.0 tools); Established teachers’ network through eTwinning module; 9 teachers - mentors with increased competences and skills for team work to develop common theoretical and practical teaching approach on the topics related with community issues; 45 students with increased teamwork skills in developing own educational approach for facing the challenges of active citizenship in local community; 9 students with increased skills and competences in transnational cooperation; 190 stakeholders became familiar with new students based ""learning-by-doing"" educational approach and the 2 intellectual outputs; project Web site, which is presenting all project activities and will be active a minimum of 3 years beyond the project end. Joint team work led to establishment of good partnership among project partners, increase their overall competences and skills for the implementation of new joint projects in the future. Secondary schools benefited from students’ satisfaction with the quality of learning methods, new methodologies and opportunities for research and learning, networking opportunities with other educational institutions, enhanced capacity for transnational cooperation."

"<< Background >>The main project aims is to support awareness-raising about environmental and climate-change challenges. The planned activities will support the testing of innovative practices (educational approach based on Virtual Reality software) to prepare students and school teachers to become true factors of change. New educational approach will meet the needs of school students (12th to 14th years age) to increase their overall acknowledgement about tackling of the Climate change phenomenon and to inspire them to take a real actions in „real life“ (e.g. saving resources, reduce energy use and waste, compensate carbon footprint emissions, increasing use of renewable energy sources, environment friendly transportation, etc. Teachers will accomplish skills and competencies about environment protection and together with pupils will become true factors of change.Climate Change phenomenon is the biggest reason why /for the first time in the human history/ the Doomsday clock is set on 100 seconds to midnight /a moment when the nonrecoverable process of destroying of our only planet will be reached/.Performed Surveys, for rang of introduction of Climate Change in education process, shows that besides this issue is addressed in formal education, traditional educational methods which are used for teaching of this topic offers mainly basic theoretical acknowledgement, usually with old facts.Using of VR in education process is advanced education approach, which multiple times is overcoming the potential of traditional educational methods, and education systems must accept and accommodate on this fact. Recent decreasing of the prices of necessary Virtual Reality equipment (for example a high quality VR headset that is using mobile phones for presenting of VR contents are with prices of around 50-60 Euros) makes this innovative educational approach acceptable to many educational institution on primary as well as on secondary level. With stimulation of teachers to accept the new methodology and with appropriated training programs in increasing of their skills and competences in using VR equipment and VR education software, all necessary pre-requests will be met.<< Objectives >>The project's main objectives are focused on: developing Climate Change tackling strategies and educational methodologies based on VR orientated education curricula that better meet the needs of schools' teachers and students; improving quality and attractiveness of the education process in regions of Velenje (Slovenia), Syros (Greece), Ludbreg (Croatia) and Kocani (North Macedonia) by development and implementation of innovative VR based learning methodology; increasing of teachers’ and students' competences and skills in using of online available VR educational contents in everyday classes and establishing of transnational strategic partnership among different types of organizations (Local public bodies, NGOs, SMEs, Education institutions) for increasing of quality level of education by development of innovative education methodsProject have a Specific objectives: to develop own innovative Climate Change orientated VR - based educational software with utilisation of ""state of the art"" VR technology; to improve students' interest and achievements in STEM school subjects with help of VR educational technology; to improve students skills in ""learning by doing"" educational approaches through transnational competitive event in the frame of long-term teaching assignment; to improve students presentation skills (for the best students from four schools); to establish transnational teacher's network by using of eTwinning networking module and to create of a strategic Document that will include an Action plan with developed realistic actions/projects for the future transnational cooperation in the field of education;In the frame of project we will strengthen skills and capacities of teachers and students in primary schools to take problem of climate changes seriously and to foreseen some concrete actions to prevent it and mitigate effectively. Through the project we will promote environmental education and motivate teachers and students to behave in sustainable manner. Also, the project will support project partners schools' teachers in developing innovative teaching and assessment methodology. The school teachers will be trained in using of the Virtual Reality equipment and Virtual Reality-based educational software in their everyday lessons. In addition to this, project partners would like to emphasis that in the frame of joint staff training events teachers will work with Trainers/experts to develop own educational approach to implement Open Educational Resources (web 2.0 tools), as well as a free online available Virtual Reality based educational software in their everyday school lessons, and not just to be passive observers on training events. This will significantly increase teachers skills and competences in implementation of ICT based educational methods in their future teaching process. Planned teachers' training in using of eTwinning networking module will allow future cooperation with their colleagues abroad and exchange of good practices. that will lead to increased capacity for development of new and more efficient educational approaches.<< Implementation >>- Development of an innovative ICT-based educational approach to increase student interest using Virtual Reality (free online virtual reality software and completely newly designed and created educational software related to climate change challenge and developed in Virtual Reality) that will enable students to understand adaptation strategies and climate change mitigation with a significant increase in their digital competencies.- Short-term training events for school teachers on how to use virtual reality equipment and educational software based on virtual reality in their daily lessons.- Long term teaching/learning assignment for students in primary school in using OER and VR-based educational software- Organization of transnational project meetings for project management and monitoring and evaluation of the realized project activities. - Organization of multiplier events<< Results >>Following Concrete project results are expected: Development and adoption of three Project Results; 16 school teachers with increased skills and competencies for using VR technology; Established transnational teachers network (min 56 teachers) by using of eTwinning networking module; min 400 children from four schools with increased competences and skills for using VR technology in the learning process; as well as with increased acknowledgment for tackling of Climate Change phenomenon; created Project web site with best practices from project activities and with included (free for downloading) materials and created IOs that will be at disposal for teachers from other schools aS well as for any other interested stakeholders on local, regional, national level.In addition, to above mentioned, a minimum of 160 local relevant stakeholders will become familiar with advantages that new developed educational approach is offering versus traditional teaching methods /participants on each of the National multiplier events in Greece, Croatia, and North Macedonia as well as on the Final Project Conference / National multiplier event / in Slovenia). The project will not have an impact only on present schools' students, but with trained teachers, and developed VR-based education approach, will ensure that also thousands of students in the next generations will have the opportunity to be educated by using the innovative approach based on VR, for better understanding of Climate Change related topics in school subjects."