Participating Organizations
IDRIJA UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK
Slovenia
MAGMA UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK
Norway
NATURTEJO UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK
Portugal
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ČRNI VRH
Slovenia
AGRUPAMENTO DE ESCOLAS JOSÉ SILVESTRE RIBEIRO
Portugal
UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA
Slovenia
LOCATIFY EHF
Iceland
IDRIJA UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK (IDRIJA HERITAGE CENTRE)
Idrija Heritage Centre (IHC) is a public institute, which coordinates the system of managing, conservation and promotion of heritage in Idrija region and conditions for interpretation and sustainable touristic development of Idrija destination. IHC is also a major tourist organization in the Municipality of Idrija, which is responsible for designing and marketing of tourist attractions, informing about tourist supply and the promotion thereof, co-designing Slovenian tourist offer and promoting development of tourism activities. IHC is operator and coordinator of Geopark Idrija activities. IHC has 11 employees.
Geopark Idrija, which covers whole Idrija Municipality with 294 sq. kilometres and around 12000 inhabitants, is coordinated by the IHC. Three main fields of activities of Idrija Geopark are geoconservation, education and sustainable development of rural areas (with geotourism). In the field of education the Network of Schools in Idrija Geopark was established in 2012, which includes four primary schools in the area (namely Idrija Primary School, Spodnja Idrija Primary School, Črni Vrh Primary School and Cerkno Primary School). All Schools have a 9 grade programme in the Curricula of Republic Slovenia.
In the Idrija Geopark they have created 22 thematic trails (hiking or cycling) which connects natural and cultural heritage as well as tourist offer in different areas of geopark (accomodations, guest houses, sports activities, museums in rural areas, etc.). Some of this trails are especially appropriate for school groups, because of lengths and contents (natural and cultural heritage) in this paths. Some programmes have been already carried out and tested on this paths.
MAGMA UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK
Magma Geopark (MGP) is a company mainly owned by public institutions including municipalities, counties, museums and two outdoor organizations. MGP was established in 2006 as a regional development project. The area of MGP (2329 km2) covers the territory of 5 municipalities in South West Norway. MGP is located about one hour by car or train southeast of Stavanger. MGP aims to promote its unique geological and cultural heritage to help develop and sustain the Region. In 2009 an Non profit private company with the name Magma Geopark AS was established and in 2010 MGP became the second Scandinavian member of the European and Global Geopark Networks which are supported by UNESCO. The new strategic business development plan (2010-2021) for Dalane region (encompassing 4 of the 5 municipalities covered by MGP) envisions MGP as a major regional initiative in the field of tourism. The main areas of MGP activity are: developing and promoting 46 Geopark localities for tourism and educational purposes, developing new tour packages for tourists and school classes, supporting educational work with local schools and kindergartens and organizing events.
Since the beginning MGP has been strongly cooperating with the University of Stavanger and its International Hotel and Tourism Leadership members in order to improve the strategy in the tourism field and strengthen the partnership in several project applications.
NATURTEJO UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK
Naturtejo is a non-profit, public intermunicipal organization responsible for the management of UNESCO Naturtejo Global Geopark, under the UNESCO Programme. The organization was established in 2004 with the aim of organizing the regional tourism sector and to foster tourism development of partner municipalities and local enterprises for the socio-economic sustainable diversification of the area, based on natural (geological), cultural and historical heritage. This is managed through research and conservation of heritage planned with municipalities, educational activities for local schools and from abroad, consulting and support to private entrepreneurs. Currently the partners represent 7 municipalities that administrate the total area of Naturtejo Geopark (5050 km2, more than 5% of the national territory), involving 93 000 inhabitants, and 24 private enterprises as associate partners. The daily intervention of Naturtejo in land management and planning with local authorities is related with the protection, raising awareness and valuing of geological heritage. This is achieved in strict connection with other related natural and historical-cultural heritage, through the educational programmes and the organization of local tourism under a Nature Tourism strategy for the region. Naturtejo Geopark Educational Programmes are developed by the Educational Office and possess a strong social output, in direct collaboration with local schools throughout the school year and moving towards natural landscapes thousands of pupils every year. The Routes by the Geopark are already being promoted in several countries of Europe by international tourism operators, and examples of sustainable tourism best practices awarded several times by international organizations, such as Skal International Ecotourism Award.
Naturtejo Educational Office runs educational activities that involve about 3000 students and teachers every year, from local schools to other regions and abroad schools, and coming from kindergarten to senior universities.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ČRNI VRH
Črni Vrh Primary School is a small public school in rural area, which carries significant importance for the local community since it is geographically separated from any major economic centres.
Life on the Črni Vrh plateau has been evolving under the influence of its geographical isolation from bigger economic centres, its poor public transport structure and other geographical features (undulating terrain at the altitude between 650 and 1100 metres, karst surface, water shortage, high altitude and severe climate). All these features have left a mark in cultural heritage, which is also preserved by Črni Vrh Primary School.
The school is professionally connected to The National Education Institute of the Republic of Slovenia through different development projects. Through this connection they enrich the professional work of their employees who seek for modern paths in education.
Their active involvement in the European project PROFILES, led by The Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, proves that they are qualified to teach science and carry out with it connected research work.
In spite of the school's small size or maybe because of it, the school is very active when it comes to public education programmes and other extracurricular activities, which broaden our syllabus and connect the school with parents, villagers, societies and other public institutions that are active in the Municipality of Idrija. The activities and sources that they have collected so far are a very good basis for developing teaching modules, which are structured upon the knowledge of the local characteristics placed in the global space. Črni Vrh Primary School can and knows how to connect all social groups within the local community.
The school has also created a forest educational trail, which is now a working part of Geopark Idrija. In a very small space it appealingly presents a tight connection between nature and human and it is an excellent example of a good educational practice of Črni Vrh Primary School. The educational trail is a model of our quality work and gives visitors an opportunity to learn from it. The trail has been developed as a didactic tool and it emerged from the needs of modern teaching practice and the necessity of field teaching.
AGRUPAMENTO DE ESCOLAS JOSE SILVESTRE RIBEIRO
The group of schools is located in inland with a population of 7 inhabitants/Km2 and an aging population. The school population is composed of 840 students, distributed as follows: Pre school education 127 children, Primary school 282 pupils, 5th and 6th year 133 students, 7th, 8th and 9th years including CEF 173 students, Secondary education, including vocational and professional courses 125 students. These students are from all parishes of the county.
The school is the right place to test in practice any educational project. It is the bond between the experts developing the pedagogical strategies under then current Erasmus+ project and the implementation of them in the classroom, adapting to local circunstances and many problems that are typical of rural areas in Portugal. This concerns also with the large geographic dispersion of students and schools that is a great interest for the project. The teachers engaged in the project are from the Science and Technology Department of the school, with several years of experience organizing classes in Natural Sciences (Biology and Geology).
The application of new technologies in the classroom is fundamental for a region that still have some difficulties to reach access to internet and where many young people are still not really aware about the opportunities they can get in their home land if they use new technologies of communication to increase their knowledge about the world and to get the right benefits.
UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA
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University of Ljubljana is a public autonomous educational, scientific research and artistic institution of HE with a very rich tradition. It is the oldest and the biggest university in Slovenia. It was established in 1919 and it encompasses 26 full members (3 art academies and 23 faculties) and 3 associated members (National University Library, University of Ljubljana Central Technical Library, University of Ljubljana Innovation-Development Institute).
UL is very active in international educational and research. It has 286 research groups with over 3000 registered researchers (548 ESR). UL has 175 research programs, 228 basic and 88 applied research projects, 27 post doc projects and 39 targeted research projects (CRP) and 7 technological platforms. In the period 2007-2013 it was involved as partnering or coordinating institution in 160 FP7. In 2013 UL cooperates in 421 running international projects, including 108 running FP7 projects and more than 310 other educational and research projects financed by EU Community programs (TEMPUS, ERASMUS; Leonardo da Vinci, DAPHNE, SafeInternet, eLearning, eTEN, Lifelong Learning Programme and many more).
University of Ljubljana (UL) is involved in a majority of foreseen activities of ESTEAM project. Based upon previous research and expertise (national and EU, research and applicative projects) UL is providing an important knowledge framework necessary for development of ESTEAM project.
LOCATIFY EHF
Locatify Ltd. is a privately held Icelandic SME company established in 2009. Locatify specialises in innovative technologies for delivering location based content to smartphones and tablets utilizing the technologies available on the device and making them available and easy to use for the customers.
Locatify’s customers are in the fields of tourism, education, and entertainment. They use the Locatify Creator CMS (Content Management System) for managing the content and publish to apps branded for the customer. Locatify continuously maintains and extends the Creator CMS platform with new technical innovations for delivering location-based content.
With this system users can easily create tours and games for indoor or outdoor use, such as guides, walking trails and treasure hunts. With the treasure hunt game elements, players get challenges on their smartphone at the right location.
Locatify’s team consists of 5 employees; web-designer, programmers and marketing manager, all committed to deliver the solutions for publishing interactive content and games for mobile devices.
The Company is the main leader for the developing of the ICT instruments: Database, Web Page, E-learning platform and educational games apps.