The whole economy of modern societies rotates directly or indirectly around the STEM disciplines, so it is impossible to find a part of society that somehow does not interact with them: in fact, in its broader definition STEM Education includes the fields of information technology, engineering, earth sciences, science, mathematics, physics, astronomy, chemistry, life sciences.According to EU estimates, employment in the STEM professions is expected to grow nearly twice as fast as the average for other jobs, and it is estimated that by 2025 there will be a shortage of more than half a million workers in the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).Furthermore, it should be noted that among the most frequent causes of school dropout there are the failures that students experience in learning mathematical and technological-scientific disciplines; students who leave school prematurely find themselves with low basic skills that affect their employability.In line with the specific objectives of the Erasmus + program, the proposal aims to- promote the acquisition of specific skills and the strengthening of the professional skills of the teachers of the schools directly and indirectly involved in the project- inducing the teachers involved in the attention of the ongoing changes in the STEM sector by promoting the culture of lifelong learning and supporting them in learning through self-empowerment, both content and methodological, which allows them to face the growing diversity of learners and pedagogical innovations- support the development of the basic and transversal skills of the learners of their vocational training, i.e. oriented towards the labour market- support dissemination and systematic actions of open and innovative teaching methods- to stimulate the permeability between different sectors of education and training- improve the quality, innovation and internationalization of school education and training through transnational cooperationThe students who will take part in the 5 LTTA will be a total of 160, 32 for each school, in the age group 15-17.During the 5 joint training events (Learning/Training/Teaching Activities) the hosting organizations will prepare each one a program on a different activity that involves the use of STEM education, using teaching techniques and methodologies such as flipped classroom, use of ICT and OER, useful for integration purposes also in other school disciplines.This training will have an even wider impact than on direct beneficiaries: to benefit from it will be all the staff and the student body of the institutions involved which, hosting the training events, will open the whole institute to the exchange of good practices and a positive contamination among the participants. Furthermore, the parents of the students will also be directly involved in some of the proposed activities.Thanks to the exchanges students will have the opportunity to interact with people and peers of different language and culture, to compare their respective contexts of life in person, in order to:· Take a cue for the subsequent planning activities and be aware of the conditions of planning and urban life· Develop the language skills related to the Italian and French languages, and of the other vehicular language, English, which will be used by students and teachers to communicate· Develop transversal skills, such as the ability to relate and compare in a different cultural and social context, the capacity for dynamism, entrepreneurship and adaptation to various situations, intercultural awareness and European citizenship.

The LORESU Project, Lets study local and regional subjects at school, is an idea that comes contextualized in the reality of schools in two aspects, the first one related to the studies of regional and local contents in several disciplines (Natural Sciences, History, Geography, Music Education , Biology, Arts, etc.), a situation that is not protected in the official programs coming from the institutional organisms related to education, and the second the current possibility of flexible school curricula being given to the regional organizations and even the schools themselves. is already practical in some of the partners, but that is one of the next challenges for schools in other cases. Among all the possibilities that schools face with curriculum flexibilization, the study, promotion and appreciation of regional and local content can act as a motivation and attraction factor for students and for teachers themselves. a student studying in the Natural Sciences course the fauna and flora of his region; in History, to study and to know events of its region, locality or even of its street, and sometimes having as elements in historical and social events remarkable elements with connection to its reality and even ancestors; in Linguistic Studies, and in literature to recognize the reality of his region portrayed in literary works and authors who name their school, a street, a library, ...; in Music Education, to learn the discipline with the aid of regional instruments and local authors. All this dynamics should extend to many more disciplines, such as Geology, Geography, Biology and the Arts. This project will be developed by students aged between 12 and 16 years, and it is estimated that it can reach approximately 4000 students from all five educational communities. Among the main activities will be study visits and partnerships with institutions and organizations that already work with regional content themes from different school disciplines; thematic websites, thematic video documentaries, exhibitions, dissemination and promotion of the theme and the project) and various activities included in the mobilities. The methodologies used will mainly include a constant sharing of strategies among all partners, using digital platforms, definition of work plans, analysis and evaluation of results and constant exchange of ideas and methodologies, always between students and teachers. Regarding the results, we hope that LORESU will be a project that will promote the study and promotion of regional and local content, in the classroom and in school dynamics, and that it will also be a curriculum flexibilization tool, with impact not only on schools involved, but of all those who contact and have knowledge of the project. We also want to leave a memorandum on this project, its objectives and practices, for entities and organizations with responsibilities in the area of ​​educational policies. In addition to the products resulting from the project (innovative educational practices, curriculum flexibilization, thematic web pages of regional content and work done, work in video and digital support), the memorandum and the possible adoption of its recommendations and practices will be the most important results and all together will make the longevity of this project.

The project Fit4Thought focuses on the exchange of good practice in teaching and learning in order improve key competences such as multilingual, digital and learning competences. Within the project we would like to emphasise the relation between effective learning and mental and physical health.The project concentrates on four issues:innovative ways of teaching and learning, mental health, physical health as well as stress management and burnout prevention.Firstly, we want to encourage young people to invest time in learning effectively, teach them how to present their arguments in discussions and improve the language skills of young people and teachers. In addition, the purpose of the project is to skilfully use the Internet and ICT tools in formal and non-formal education.We also want to emphasize the possibilities of shaping the professional future and working in the European Union. Students will improve their skills and motivation by participating in innovative classes from Science and Humanities and career counselling sessions. A part of this project will be devoted to methods and tools used while working with people with learning disabilities (dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia). Secondly, we will concentrate on working with people with diagnosed depression and on boosting low self-esteem. We will organise workshops dealing with the issues of team support as well as encouraging the values of friendship and reliance. During the projects are going to work on enhancing student-parent-teacher communication through organising workshops and conferences. In order to enhance the school production and rise the students’ self-esteem we are going to we will fight against bullying and cyberbullying through meetings and workshops organised in partner schools as well as we are going to celebrate the Safe Internet Day to raise awareness of the safety issues among students, teachers and parents as well as to celebrate the World Mental Health Day in order to underline the importance of mental health issues at school.The third issue of the project is the physical health of students and teachers. We are going to encourage students and teachers to do sport activities through organising workshops and sport meetings. We will present a new approach to teaching Physical Education in order to prevent skipping of PE classes. It will focus on traditional sports and pastimes as well as traditional food across Europe. Moreover, the project is going to be focused on healthy and balanced diet and their influence on students' and teachers’ production at school.Attention will be drawn also to prevention of eating disorders. Furthermore, we are going to raise awareness of modern-age diseases and their prevention. Last but not least, the fourth issue covered by the project will be stress management and burnout prevention. During the project we will work on building teachers’ working plan effectively. We will concentrate on Teacher Job Stress prevention.The project will direcly involve 107 students but it can reach approximately 5000 students in all six educational communities.The methodologies used will mainly include a constant sharing of strategies among all partners, using digital platforms, definition of work plans, analysis and evaluation of results and constant exchange of ideas and methodologies, always between students and teachers.Our project will result in producing three e-books: a publication containing six lesson plans of Physical Education classes, an e-book containing six articles on how to work with dyslexic students as well as an e- publication containing 6 lesson plans with the use of ICT and useful activities to be used in formal and non-formal education. Moreover, students will prepare films about their hobbies and pastimes and presentations of typical dishes of their regions as well as a set of recipes for healthy school snacks.The partners will organise an interdisciplinary conference on physical and mental health issues at school. Students, teachers and parents will take part in workshops and conferences devoted to innovative ways of teaching and learning as well as physical and mental health in the school context. Furthermore, the results of the mobilities will include the improvemement of key competences of participants and the cooperation with local and foreign institutions. The project will have an impact primarily on the school communites engaged, therefore students, their parents and teachers will benefit from the activities. It will have an impact on other schools on regional, national and international level through dissemination and training conferences organised by the project schools as well as other educational and governmental institutions. The long-term benefits will be the use on latest methods and techinques in formal and non-formal education through the publications disseminated. The health programmes introduced in schools will promote healthy living and efficient learning and teaching.

Project Title: Exploring Different Methods of Science Teaching to Increase Student Motivation and Promote Scientific LiteracyThrough this project we hope to motivate students by presenting science as being relevant to their everyday life experiences. This project will help to encourage students to view science as being useful to all citizens and thus enhance scientific literacy.Using these innovative teaching strategies will help to increase the number of students who take up science subjects at tertiary level.This project aims to develop, test and implement innovative approaches and practices in teaching science.Through research and observation of different syllabi from the different participating countries, one can gain experience in designing better curricula for our country. This could also be done through networking with educational specialists from universities in Malta and other European countries. Motivating students by presenting science as being relevant to their everyday life experiences is one of the main objectives of this projects.We aim to encourage students to view science as being useful to all citizens and thus enhance scientific literacy through innovative methodology.Through the new methodologies in science teaching we aim to increase the number of students who take up science subjects at tertiary level The number of participants is approximately 40, most of which most are teachers, head of schools and a University lecturer specializing in Science EducationOur intention is to research and study different European curricula in order to find common teaching areas. Once the topics are established, specific lesson plans will be set up through collaboration and networking with different schools in European countries. The innovative methodologies to be used in these lessons will be discussed between the participating countries and through networking with educational specialists from universities in Malta and the other European countries involved in this project.Each participating school will devise a lesson plan which later will be conducted in each participating school, this willl be video taped, and afterwards analysed by the teachers and educational specialists involved in this project. Feedback is given and the lesson plan is amended according to the feedback given. Then this lesson is repeated with a different class and it will then be analysed once again. These lessons will be uploaded in a website and any resources used will be available online for dissemination with other teachers.The long term impact and benefits envisaged after finishing this project is that through innovative teaching methodologies tackled in this project, teachers will start to use these methodologies and students will show increase in motivation, uptake of science options at a higher level and an increase in scientific literacy.