Cooperation among schools Part four – Best practises from schools (at international level) Realized by Anita Auwers Kogeka - Belgium

SPLASH (2003) 3rd European Youth Congress for Water March 2003, Geel (Belgium) KOGEKA, City of Geel, GREEN Belgium and 5 students of the Youth Water Representatives (YWR), partners from different countries (Belgium, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Greece, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, USA, Japan, South Africa)

Search for partners Through the KOGEKA and GREEN Belgium networks The communication –By , mail, phone –No web based communicationplatforms like Moodle (not common or not known at these days)

In Service Training Background Participants –Primarily aimed at students in the 15 – 19 years age group accompanied by at least one teacher Teachers who accompanied –with an interest in water related issues and the motivation to infect their colleagues with enthusiasm –no significant participation was expected –the majority were accompanying their students and left the main programme to attend the parallel course recruited separately through an application to the European Commission to run a Comenius 2.2 course to coincide with the course – these individuals came without a student group but were encouraged to join the main SPLASH programme when appropriate some were attending another parallel European Week programme at the Sint-Dimpnacollege, one of the KOGEKA schools all teachers were required to complete a profile of their school (including any current projects) before the course. These profiles were made available to everyone.

Most important objectives Environmental awareness Sustainable development To promote democratic values among European young people For young people to work with their contemporaries, making new contacts and friends with similar interests from schools and youth groups in other countries

Grants The help of a lot of people –friendly host families, pupils and teachers A lot of subsidies were donated by –the city of Geel –the province of Antwerp –the Flemish Community –the Belgian Office at the European Parliament –the European Commission –some large companies (BP, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Grohe, KBC) and other companies and service clubs

Workshops Parliamentary workshops (see later this week) –Solidarity –Consumption –Urbanisation –Human rights

Workshops Water workshops –Students of the different countries were divided over the workshops according to their age and interesses –They had a chance to take part on different workshops and activities –Activities last +/ hours (advance-system) took place at the different KOGEKA schools (PEP, SDC, SAG, SJG, SMG and SMK) were prepared by KOGEKA-collegues together with their students others were prepared by the delegations of the different countries some outdoor activities took place on location (e.g. visit of a company) and lasted half a day

Waterworkshops Water & food –Students of the KOGEKA school ‘t Peperstraatje (PEP) –A session of making snacks –Aged 12-14

Waterworkshops Water & music –Students of the KOGEKA school Sint- Aloysiusinstituut (SAG) –A session of making music and singing ‘water songs’ –Aged 12-14

Waterworkshops Water & agriculture –Students of the agricultural department of SAG –Examples of the importance of water in agriculture at the experimental farm Hooibeekhoeve –Aged 14-18

Waterworkshops Water experiments –Students of the scientific department of the KOGEKA school Sint-Dimpnacollege (SDC) –A series of experiments with water playing the leading part –Aged 17-18

Waterworkshops Water & dance –Social sciences students of SDC –A modern ‘water dance’ for which they composed the choreography themselves –Aged 17-18

Waterworkshops Water & technique –Students of the chemistry department of the KOGEKA technical school Sint Jozef-Instituut (SJG) –A session of microscopic research, determination of the level of dissolved oxygen and of the nitrate and phosphate content of the water –Aged 16-18

Waterworkshops Rain dance –Students of the KOGEKA Sint Maria-Instituut (SMG) –A lesson on the history and the music of rain dances –Learning a rain dance –Aged 14-18

Waterworkshops Water sculptures –Students of the KOGEKA school Sancta Maria Instituut (SMK) –Making permanent sculptures with several kinds of material, thus creating fountains, waterfalls etc… –Aged 12-18

Waterworkshops Water, source of life –Students of SMK –Session on water pollution, water purification and water in the circle of life, including simple experiments –Aged 16-18

Waterworkshops Water, religion, myths & sagas –Students of the social department of the polytechnic KHK –Water as a symbol in the world’s most important religions –Water related myths and sagas from different countries –The final goal was to make a SPLASH myth

Waterworkshops Water & energy –The Norvegian delegation –Presentation of their project on water as an energy resource and the ecological importance of pure water –Aged 16-18

Waterworkshops The Romanian delegation –Presentation of their project on the integration of water patterns into teen-fashion to draw people’s attention to the importance of water in life –Interactive workshop –Aged 14-18

Waterworkshops Water quality assessment –Determination of the biological and chemical water quality of a local river –Aged 14-16

Waterworkshops Water & art –The Belgian visual artist Ben Cloots, one of the creators of the ‘Aqua’ exhibition leads this workshop –The participants of this workshop take the challenge to create a piece of ‘water art’

Waterworkshops Water & health –Visit to the production plant of the pharmaceutical company Janssen Pharmaceutica in Geel –The use of water in the production process and water treatment –Presentation of the efforts of the company in the field of sustainable development

Poetic water walk Water poems were presented along a walk in the city of Geel

Mokatlon A triathlon fully dedicated to ‘water’: kayak, biking and running a relay race with water in containers –not to win or to be the fastest –to complete the circuit on time, to bring al the water safe to the other side and to work together as a team For charity! –Each team signed up a list of people who gave small donations to each participating team. –The profit of this activity was awarded to DRD, the township in Johannesburg

Evaluation The questionnaire approach The quick evaluation exercise Daily interviews with teachers, students and organisers Personal observations of events, workshops and procedures