Super Heroes - Local SDG Challenges under an international microscope

The partnership applied for this project because they wanted to address the lack of the coverage of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the current educational system. A needs analysis by all partners showed that both knowledge on sustainability and understanding of social issues were low and teachers lack knowledge in this field. Furthermore, students from the age 12 to 16 have an age period in which it is important to learn about new subject to have a greater understanding later in life. Teaching this age group gives them a lifelong profit. Through first teaching local challenges and later European challenges, the students will be able to recognise and relate to the issues, increasing their lack of English and intercultural skills. The partners work with a majority of students with lesser opportunities (such as limited financial resources or because they are from rural areas) which do not travel often, nor get to meet unfamiliar cultural aspects. Due to the lack of travel opportunities, these students are less aware than others of issues outside their own region and develop less skills. Travel offers them the opportunity to see how other cultures are influenced and experience the effects of environmental change.

To make sure that the needs of the target groups were addressed throughout the project, the partners set the following objectives: • Increase awareness on environmental and social issues in partners’ own regions • Increase awareness on environmental and social issues across Europe • Increase active citizenship among students between 12 - 16 years old • Develop/improve intercultural skills among students between 12 - 16 years old • Increase level of English speaking among students between 12 - 16 years old • Develop innovative learning approach towards challenge identification and problem solving in the field of the SDGs

During the project, the partnership implemented different activities to reach the set objectives and provide solutions to the needs of the teachers and students. The first activity was the development of the Superheroes Lesson Plan. This activity was divided in the following sub-activities: - Research on current methodological needs to set limits on the result. - Collect input on methodology from 8 teachers. - Develop the Superheroes methodology. - Test the SUPERHEROES methodology at the LTTA in Spain and in 4 schools during in-class implementation. The second activity of the development of the SUPERHEROES e-book has been divided in the following sub-activities: - Research on needs for e-books. - Collect input on e-book from 8 teachers. - Develop the e-book. - Test the e-book with 2 teachers per country. The development of the web application has been divided into the following sub-activities: - Collect input on web applications from 8 teachers. - Develop the web application. - Test the web application at the LTTA in Spain and in 4 schools during in-class implementation. For the last project result, the action plans, partners were involved in the following sub-activities: - Collect input on action plans from 8 teachers. - Develop the action plans. - Test the action plans with 2 teachers/schools per region. Furthermore, the partners organised a Learning teaching training activity (LTTA) in Spain where students and teachers from all countries have participated. In all partner countries multiplier events have been organised to present the project results to external stakeholders and contacted additional schools to create awareness and receive input.

The four main project results are the following: 1. SUPERHEROES methodology (coordinated by AERES & INQ) 2. SUPERHEROES e-book (coordinated by GRUND) 3. SUPERHEROES web application (coordinated by LAPTIFY) 4. SUPERHEROES action plans (coordinated by EOLAS) All results are produced in English and translated to the partner languages: Bulgarian, Dutch, Latvian, and Spanish. The only exception is the SUPERHEROES web app, which has been produced in English only. Since the students exchange information in English anyway, it made most sense to keep the web app in English only, as a tool to help students improve their English. The project results are freely available on the SUPERHEROES website. Experienced tangible results are: - Developed an innovative and interactive learning approach towards challenge identification and problem solving in the field of SDGs. Experienced intangible outcomes are: - Increased awareness on environmental issues in the partners regions and across Europe - Increased active citizenship among students aged 12 to 16. - Increased awareness of SDGs among students and teachers in school education - Improved the intercultural skills among students aged 12 to 16. - Improved the level of English speaking among students between 12 to 16 years old. - Expansion and strengthening of the networks of the partner organisations. - Broadened horizons and perspectives of the partner organisations and involved stakeholders.