About project

Project Leaflet

General data

Project start date: 1.11.2021
Project duration: 18 months
Project end date: 1.5.2023
Key Action: KA2 - Small Scale Projects
National Agency of the Applicant Organisation: SI01 - CMEPIUS "Center Republike Slovenije za mobilnost in evropske programe izobraževanja in usposabljanja"

Why this project

Plastics have entered almost every part of our lives. As individuals in the general public, we may not even be aware of all plastics and other chemical substances we come into contact with on a daily basis. Microplastics have first been recognized as a possible health and environmental issue only a few years ago and have since been studied by many scientists all over the world and the threat they pose to nature and us is evident. Sadly, our lives have in recent years become bombarded with many other environmental issues and ecological disasters, meanwhile plastics surrounding us have been accumulating in the shape of microplastics in the deepest parts of our world and the deep impact it has already and may have in the future has barely made it into the news. This project would try to fill that knowledge gap at least in our youth and their teachers and later spread on to the public in the countries of participating partners.

Aim of the project

With the help of this project, we would like to increase awareness about microplastics among young people, teachers, and educational institutions. Second, we would like to offer the teachers some quality teaching material that may be used in schools as curricular or extracurricular teaching resources. Thirdly, we would also like to foster discussion on the topic in the general public, possibly leading to reflection about possible solutions to the problem.

The project focuses on four main objectives: understanding what microplastics are, ways of them entering our environments, what risks they pose to our environment and health & what are the ways of preventing future mass contamination with microplastics.

Target groups

The main target groups of the project are secondary vocational school students, high school students, secondary vocational and high school teachers.

Expected results of the project

Development of 5 online courses on microplastics serving as an awareness-raising media;
Development of high-quality didactic materials and digital learning media;
Activation of young future experts to identify innovative ideas on how to tackle the problem of microplastics;
Promotion of the microplastics problems and problem-solving solutions in the context of education and training;
Introduction of new learning approaches with a transfer of knowledge and good practices to education and training.

Project activities

Webinars

Development and execution of webinars dedicated to spreading theoretical knowledge and general understanding of microplastic pollution and prevention.

The webinars will be aimed at youth enrolled in vocational secondary schools, their teachers and any other possible parties interested in the project. They will be offered access to knowledge and understanding of the vast problem and threat microplastics are posing. They will get to learn firsthand from scientists who are deeply involved in the issue and represent the key factor in spreading facts and possible solutions to the problem.

Topics of the webinars:

Microplastics basics, focusing on how to recognize, describe, and pose the role of microplastics in society, and understand its fate in the environment;
Microplastics from household products and their use (e.g. personal care products, cosmetics, textile products, etc.);
Microplastics from the commercial sector (production, maintenance, recycling activities…);
Global plastic waste problems;
Environmental fate and impacts of microplastics in different ecosystems.

Online courses

Developing and availability of online courses on the topic of microplastics and pollution with many shareable digital media learning materials.

The online courses will be useful for everybody – students of secondary and high schools from Slovenia and Italy, secondary and high school teachers, as well as the general public. The digital forms of media will include videos, audios (podcasts), reading text, graphs, and infographics as well as questions and quizzes.

Delivery of dissemination events to spread ideas and raise awareness of the problematics among youngsters and teachers.

Dissemination events

The dissemination events will play a key role in recruiting new participants and spreading the anti-microplastics pollution ideas to any newcomers. They will also function as milestones in the progress of the project, each one focusing on the current work and widening the idea and reports with each dissemination event held. They will be organized in:

‘For a future free of microplastics’ contest

Encouragement of reflection among students and teachers by organising the contest ‘For a future free of microplastics’

The contest will act as a proactive way of encouraging young people to care for the planet and understand the vast problem microplastics pose to our future and our health. The contest will be entirely held online, with groups of up to 3 students from each participating school.

Secondary and high school students will be the main target groups of this activity. They will be given an opportunity to explore the topic on their own as well as show and present their own work on the topic to the wider public. This will encourage them to dedicate their time to exploring the topic which will then be beneficial to them, their schoolmates, and their mentors.