Protect Nature, Nature is my future

<< Background >>Early childhood is the period in which the foundations of adult personality, attitudes and behaviors are laid. In order to raise individuals who are respectful, sensitive and environmentally conscious towards their environment, gaining behaviors and attitudes in early childhood is important in terms of fighting against environment and climate change. In our project, it was aimed to achieve lasting results in environmental awareness by starting environmental awareness in early childhood (36-84 months, 3-8 years). Children needed learning methods such as fairy tales and gamification, in which they were able to learn by doing, observing, exchanging experience, embodying abstract concepts, as per their developmental period. In our project, it was aimed to create opportunities for students to spend time with nature, to recognize, love, protect and create sensitivity towards nature, and to develop permanent knowledge, skills and attitudes by creating educational environments where they were able to experience the productivity of nature. It was aimed to make nature and environmental activities in the school curriculum functional.<< Objectives >>Students' achievements:- Students developed a positive attitude about environmental awareness, permanent results were obtained in environmental awareness;- Students facilitated the learning process by doing and experiencing;- Development in psychomotor, cognitive, language and social-emotional areas was provided;- Students established the need to protect nature and living creatures in nature;- Students are now fulfilling their responsibilities towards nature;- Students have learnt to value the beauties around them;- Students now have knowledge about climate differences, environmental problems, correct use of natural resources and sustainability concepts;- Children now can explain the characteristics of symbols specific to different cultures brought by climatic differences.Outcomes for teachers:- Teachers now apply nature related activities with integrated educational methods;- Teachers had the possibility to experience how nature is used in preschool education models in different countries and cultures;- Teachers now use enriched educational environment;- Teachers developed enriched visual materials.<< Implementation >>In our project we implemented everything that was planned. Lithuanian school, as the coordinator of the project, was responsible for the management of the project, including these activities - project deployment and implementation, financial and budget control, project monitoring and quality control, preparation of dissemination and exploitation strategy and plan. Since the partnering countries had same obligations in regard to leading their own modules, their activities included: online meetings and preparation, teacher mobility (education); informing the partners about how to implement each module, preparation of student rating scales (pretest and post-test), preparation of learning scenarios, creation of lesson plans and implementing them; issuing the certificates. After the mobility was over, teachers who participated in the mobility events provided their school's teachers with the new information and started working on implementing the lesson plans; finally there were online meetings for evaluation of the implemented activities.<< Results >>While implementing the project we created the final outcomes – lesson plans that were implemented in the participating schools. Lesson plans are included to schools’ curriculum and implemented with a higher number of students. Innovative methods are used in the lesson plans, such as “Plickers” reflection system, KAHOOT platform, learningapps.org online games. Written lesson plans are added into the final product of the project – a book. The book is available to download on each school’s websites. The tangible results are also gardens that the partners have either created in their school areas if they didn't have them before, or improved the already existing ones. Children were encouraged to learn about the cycles of plants' growing process. Aside from having tangible gardens and tending them, schools with less outdoor space or due to seasonal changes, found ways to create and incorporate herbariums.