Start: 02-11-2020 – End: 01-03-2023
Project Reference: 2020-1-SE01-KA201-077955
The context of the ”Walking our Way through HIstory” project is to turn street names into interesting, interactive, history lessons. There is knowledge hidden in the humble street nameplates and the proposed project aims to create tools to encourage and inspire students as well as locals to discover it, e.g. as the project description says: Learn history from street names in a fun and digital way!
By making learning fun, the project answers back to the increasing problem of early school leaving. It also fights individualism by making students more aware of their European context and mutual points in history to see that they are a part of something bigger.
The project involves six partners from four countries. The students are from diverse backgrounds with different learning styles which will serve the project well. The coordinator is a primary-secondary school from Sweden and the partners a secondary school from Greece, a vocational school from Spain and a special needs school from Romania. The other two partners are an adult training organization and an organization with expertise in multimedia and mobile applications from Greece.
The main goal of the project is to stimulate students to gather information about historical persons and facts. This way, they will find their local environment much more interesting. The fact that the data collected will be available through an innovative mobile application will make not only the students that take part, but also their friends and families, and of course the local community, more interested in the historical facts and persons that are being mentioned in street names. The above methodology could be used in various lessons like history, literature and social science education.
The application will emphasize on representing historical facts and persons that showcase the common history and culture of EU member states. In that way, the users will be able to understand that the common identity, history, and culture of EU states, are true – depicted by the street names of their neighbour. The application’s usefulness is transnational and the multitude of perspectives enables and enriches the diversity of activities.
The target groups of this project are students aged 6-18, included the special needs students. However, the produced outcomes will be tested and used by adult students as well in order to maximize the benefit.
The main result of the project will be four Intellectual Outputs:
Output O1: The geospatial database to store the historical data by the students, in text and narration, translated in all partner languages. Moreover, it will include guides and tutorials on how to store and use the information in the database and a tutorial video with audio will be available to help students with disabilities.
Output O2: A mobile application for smartphones and tablets connected with the online database from O1 to identify the street name, access the database and inform the user about the historical figure or event that the street was named after in text or as narrative. The content will be available in English and all partner languages.
Output O3: An online platform containing educational activities helping students aged 6-18 from diverse backgrounds and learning styles to learn history via street names. It will also include a companion handbook supporting trainers in implementing and extending the activities successfully. Components for special needs students will be also included.
Output O4: A Train-the-Trainer Course which will help the partner organizations and organizations outside the partnerships to train their staff on how to use the produced material and it will increase the multiplier effect of the partnership.
