"Public discussion almost exclusively focuses on the refugee crisis. Here, our project ""Migration in Europe"" started. It placed the refugee wave into a wider context and examined the different sorts of migration which have taken place in the last seventy years, since World War II. The students learnt that migrations took place for various reasons and that they happened in Europe in all epochs. We tried to avoid treating the subject only in an abstract way, but wanted to give the phenomenon ""migration"" or ""refugees"" a personal face. Therefore, we contacted migrants and refugees in each country to learn something about their personal fate. To complement these very personal life experiences, the legal circumstances in the different countries and the measures taken to solve the current refugee issues were examined. This gave our students a more sophisticated view on the current situation. By analysing former migration waves our students also learnt details about the various effects of migration in the different countries and that positive effects may result thereof, as history shows us. Due to the implementation of an Internet-based project room the students gained experiences in Internet-based cooperation and they promoted their ITC-skills. And so they gained experiences for their future professional lives. The work with this project room also provided the participating teachers an insight into a different teaching method. In the project five European schools worked together: Gymnasium Wertingen, Germany, Liceo Scientifico „R.Nuzzi“ Andria, Italy, Celldömölki Berzsenyi Dániel Gimnázium, Hungary, Osg Willemblaeu, Netherlands, and Garbi Pere Vergés Badalona, Spain. When choosing the project partners we paid attention to the fact that the countries had had different experiences with migration in the last seventy years and that they had experienced different sorts of migration. In some countries immigration prevailed, in others emigration. And in the current refugee situation the countries of the participating schools have had different experiences and shown different strategies. By comparing these manifold aspects we expected to achieve a more sophisticated picture of the current situation. Another aspect was the readiness to work with an Internet-based learning platform. All five schools have already had experiences with learning platforms and with European cooperation projects and they were ready to improve them.To support the project work a virtual project room on the Twinspace-platform was set up. This room served for communication and cooperation among the participants as well as for the collection of materials developed during the project. During the period of the project four topics were discussed:- Different kinds of migration in the students' own countries, their reasons and their effects- Regulations about immigration and treatment of refugees in Europe and in the respective countries- The current refugee wave- Efforts to integrate migrants. The students made research in all subject areas in their own countries and they fixed down their results. During the common learning activities those results were revised in transnational work groups and a final version was developed. In the course of the project a collection of materials resulted from that work. To complement the issues a meeting with refugees or representatives of local support organisations took place at each transnational meeting. Besides, a documentation of personal fates of migrants or refugees was produced. At the end, all the results were put together in an e-book and in various expositions, which were presented to the public. Posters of the transnational meetings and the results of the work have got a permanent place inside the school buildings.The online teaching unit, which the participating teachers created from the materials of the project room, was another final product. The different results are available via the Internet, even after the end of the project and they are published as OER. In the long term, by using the materials during the lessons the students got a more sophisticated view of the phenomenon of migration. Apart from that, they have learned that personal research is absolutely necessary for an informed opinion and that the results may well differ from the presentations in the media. As to teachers the experiences with the project may help them to initiate and supervise such projects in the future and - hopefully - they will use their knowledge to develop new online teaching units on their own."

"Those who have no memory of the past cannot build the future. When European identity and the very reasons for the birth of the European Union are challenged by anti-Europe populism, reaching back to the common roots of our history can only increase the awareness of our shared values. We expect that our students, studying Roman findings in Badalona, as well as near Andria and Wertingen, can reflect on how ""small Europe is"" and how surprisingly coherent its history is. We trust that seeing the Danube flow near Wertingen and through Hungary, students will find out how important that ""limes"" was and what it has meant, for so many peoples of ""barbaric"" origin, to overcome it.In the project, four European grammar schools will work together: Gymnasium Wertingen, Germany, Liceo Scientifico „R.Nuzzi“ Andria, Italy, Celldömölki Berzsenyi Dániel Gimnázium, Hungary, and Garbi Pere Vergés Badalona, Spain. When choosing the project partners we paid attention to the fact that the countries have different traditions as well as to the origin of their mother tongues: Roman, in the case of the Spanish and Italian students, Germanic, for German students and Finno-Ugric, for Hungarians. This shall ensure a comprehensive picture of our European roots. We settled on choosing 14 to 16 year old students as they will be old enough to grasp this kaleidoscopic subject area and its importance for our modern times. Besides sharpening their historic-cultural awareness, this project will also increase students’ intercultural communicative competence and language skills since they have to work together with peers from three different European countries online and offline during our learning activities while using a language foreign to them all. In order to promote students’ ITC skills, an Internet-based project room on the eTwinning platform will be set up which will be of great use during our project weeks where students have to collaborate via the internet. This room will serve for communication and cooperation purposes among the participants as well as for the collection of materials developed during the project. That way, our students can gain important experiences for their future professional lives. The work with this project room will also provide the participating teachers with an insight into a different teaching method. During the period of the project four major topics encompassing history, languages, the fine arts and literature as well as impacts on present day and future developments will be discussed and their importance for our times evaluated. The students will research in all subject areas in their own countries and together during learning activities. They will formulate their results in English. During the learning activities, these results will be revised in transnational work groups and a final version will be developed. In the course of the project, a collection of materials will result from that work. As nationalist tendencies trigger movements to cut off individual countries, it is all the more important to focus on our common European roots and to get to know and visit our neighbours to generate a unifying force among our young people.At the end, the results will be available online even after the end of the project as OER. Here, the information of our findings and analyses in the various research fields will be included together with tutorials and stop-motion-videos presenting the most important facts and findings in a modern format which the younger generation finds easy to relate to. In order to include many points of view concerning our Erasmus+ project, we also intend to generate a web-based diary which will also be made available on twinspace. Here, we want to start e-friendships between the hosting and participating families to strengthen pan-European ties. In the long term, the project will help our students to understand that personal research is absolutely necessary for an informed opinion and that the results may well differ from presentations in the media. Due to the project, contacts among the schools will be intensified. As to the teachers: The experiences with the project help them to initiate and supervise such projects in the future. They will use their knowledge to develop new online teaching units on their own and continue to promote the European idea at their schools."

"The project ""Spirit of Europe"" focusses on the history and the development of the European Union and its image in public. If you observe the current discussion in the media, you can see that the membership in the EU seems to be only reduced to financial affairs at the moment. To continue, a lot of EU-critical parties use the European Union as scapegoat for a lot of problems and ills. They propagate the withdrawal from the EU as a solution to all the problems. Here our project comes in.The last two years we tried to convey our pupils a detailed picture of the EU with its advantages and disadvantages. We also showed them the consequences of a EU membership in their personal lives. All this should encourage them to take a more active part in democratic processes. With the use of an Internet-based project room the pupils gained experiences in Internet-based cooperation and so strengthen their ICT-competences. Thus we provided them an important experience for their future professional lives. The work with this project room also provided the participating teachers an insight into a different teaching method. Therefore, at the end, the project room was tranformed into an online teaching unit. Since that teaching unit was elaborated by the participating teachers in cooperation, they got to know the different didactic and methodological approaches of the participating schools and so, they were able to extend their knowledge of methods. In the project four European schools worked together: Gymnasium Wertingen, Wertingen, Germany; Liceo Scientifico ""R.Nuzzi"", Andria, Italy; Celldomolki Berzsenyi Daniel Gimnazium es Szakkepzo Iskola, Celldömölk, Hungary and Osg Willemblaeu, Alkmaar, Netherlands. When choosing the project partners we paid attention to the fact that the countries of those schools had a different history as far as the entry into the EU and the integration into the common currency, the euro, are concerned. Apart from that the different countries have got different experiences with the current European crisis and therefore different ideas about the European Union. So we got a differentiated and diverse picture of the EU. Another point was the readiness to work with an Internet-based learning platform. All four schools are already experienced in the use of learning platforms and in European cooperation projects and they were very ready to expand their experiences. To support the project work a virtual project room was installed on a learning platform. This room served for communication and cooperation among the participants and for the collection of materials worked out.During the time of the project four major subjects were treated:° Original intention of the European Union° Introducion of the common currency° The influence of the European Union on daily life° Europe – a land of peaceIn all four subjects the pupils made research in their own countries and to formulated their results. During the learning activities, when they were together, their results were presented to the other schools, were revised in transnational work groups and a final version was put up. In the course of the project a collection of materials resulted thereof. During each learning activity a discussion with a local representative from administration or politics about the effects of the European Union on the respective region was done. This served to complete the picture of the EU and to strengthen the desired effects on the young people. Two times a cooperation concerning one subject was carried out only with Internet tools like Chat, Forum and Wiki.The results were finally collected in a multilingual booklet which was presented to the public via the European Platfom for the results of the projects.Another final product is an online teaching unit which the participating teachers have designed from the materials of the project room. This teaching unit is now available for other schools. The results, the booklet and the teaching unit are available via the Internet even after the end of the project. All these materials were put under Creative Commons License, so that other schools can use and modify them. With the use of these materials in lessons we expect a more differentiated view on the European Union from the young people in the long term. Apart from that they recognize that their own research is most important in order to form a well-founded opinion and we expect that they will then get more involved into democratic processes.As far as teachers are concerned the experiences with this project should make them want to initiate and run more projects in the future. And they will have the opportunity to use their newly-gained experiences in the development of their own online teaching units."