Our continuous and accelerated anthropogenic climate change coupled with the rapidly ageing population in Europe and the world requires a response that encompasses most of the population. Such a response necessitates a drastic change in the way we have been living our lives so far, and it will require both older and younger generations to contribute with their own actions.

Currently, households maintain their position as significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, as a result of their energy consumption and other environmentally harmful practices. While efforts have been made to minimize households’ emissions, more actions are necessary.

Intergenerational Learning is crucial in promoting sustainable behavior and attitudes from a young age. Consequently, education on climate change, sustainability, and building sustainable habits in life are very much needed across the generational board, for all members of a household. Specifically, secondary education holds an extremely important role in properly equipping and preparing future citizens but also in developing students’ environmental literacy, sustainability consciousness, and ability to navigate the controversial and ideologically fraught topic of climate change.

These same students will require sustainability role models to support what is learned in school on this topic. Secondary education presents the unique opportunity to act as the facilitator for Intergenerational Learning namely, the “bidirectional learning of knowledge, skills, competencies, attitudes, and habits that happen between generations” (Spiteri 2020:62) specifically for sustainability education, i.e. on adopting environmentally sustainable and responsible practices, raising awareness on the importance of acting to reduce the ecological footprint, integrating green practices within the households, developing green skills, and encouraging healthy lifestyles.

The project aims to assist secondary schools in integrating a methodology for environmental and sustainability education, utilizing Intergenerational Learning activities and Citizen Science (defined as the collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world by members of the general public, typically as part of a collaborative project with professional scientists), targeting specifically personal and household practices. Our goal is for the secondary teachers at hand to become inspired and make use of the method in their classrooms to provide a more holistic, inclusive, and effective approach to teaching.

Our Goals

• Promote intergenerational collaboration and Citizen Science activities as a means to enhance the understanding and capacity of secondary school teachers in Environmental Sciences, enabling them to effectively teach topics related to Climate Change, Sustainability, Ecology, and more.
• Create a collaborative learning environment that brings together students, teachers, and adults from diverse backgrounds, fostering greater engagement and understanding of environmental issues.
• Provide students with an educational experience that is holistic and reciprocal by including adult family members in this process.

Website: https://il4sh-project.eu/

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Project Duration: 31/12/23 – 30/12/25

Project Number: KA2023-1-DE03-KA220-SCH-000151560