CONTEXT:

Lycee Charlie Chaplin is a very important secondary school with 1700 pupils in the east suburb of Lyon. There are 560 pupils for each level. Our pupils come from every kind of social area, advantaged and disadvantaged. They are totally mixed in the classes and it works well.

We have had a scientific workshop since 1996. We have done 20 different projects in this workshop. It is open every Wednesday afternoon to our pupils.

Through the Comenius project and the exchange with other European schools :

- our school can create a multicultural environment

- we can improve our way of working in our workshop

- our pupils can show, compare and improve their projects

- teachers can compare and improve their teaching methods and teach science, geography, technology, math, philosophy in different languages.

In particular, we want to involve in the project the European section of the school, where History and Geography lessons are in English, in order to make studentstake part in an European cultural exchange and to improve their language level.

Scuola Media Belli is situated in the centre of Rome. It is an important school with about 800 pupils aged 11-14, of all abilities. Our pupils come from every kind ofsocial area. Even if most of them live in the city and they have an advantaged background, about 50 students are immigrants from different countries and 15 students are with disabilities and special needs: they are integrated in normal classes, where specialised teachers are included in the staff. Their integration works well.

We are interested in a partnership concerning both scientific (particularly astronomical) and historical contents because for several years our school has had an Astronomical Terrace and Laboratory and we have developed astronomical courses and projects integrated with humanistic disciplines. Furthermore our school is located in the same district of the Astronomical Observatory, the Copernican Museum and the old Tower of the Prime Meridian of Rome and we have a partnership

with those Institutions. A special focus of the Astronomical courses is archeo-astronomy, the investigation of the influence of astronomy on the architectural structure of the city of Rome.

Our objective in an international collaborative community is both to contribute to the common scientific research with an integrated point of view and increase the level of the school curriculum.

We believe that a cooperation with European partners enriches the education system and provides opportunities both for the teachers and for the pupils: teachers can improve their pedagogical methods; students increase their knowledge and their understanding of the world by sharing ideas and experiences.

Colegiul Tehnic Mihai Viteazul is situated on the left bank of the Crisul Repede River, at about 10 minutes from the centre of the town. It is the largest technical college in Bihor county, with about 2000 students aged between 14-18, of all abilities. Part of them are high school students but we also have vocational school classes. Our pupils come from every kind of social area. Most of them live in the city, but some others come from the countryside. For them, the school is provided with a decent hostel. Their integration works well, many of the students are pretty enthusiastic about their life here.

The focus of the Astronomical courses in our school is archeo-astronomy in the fortress of Oradea and in other areas of the country: students are guided to investigate how the motions of the celestial bodies especially the moon, have had an influence on the architectural structure of the city.

We think that this cooperation with European partners will provide good opportunities both for students and teachers to discover more about other people and to share ideas and knowledge, to discuss recent finds, to improve their communication skills in an international context using a range of communication channels.

Open Schoolgemeenschap Bijlmer (OSB) is since 1971 situated in a multicultural suburb in the South East of Amsterdam. It is a secondary school with about 1600 students aged 12-18 years. The school offers all levels of education: from pre-vocational until pre-university. In the first two years students of all abilities are grouped in mixed classes. OSB is one of the very few schools in the Netherlands with those mixed classes. Our students are of all social levels and about 50 different nationalities. A consequence of the location in a suburb is that a great part of the students comes from disadvantaged families. However, the school attracts also a lot of students from advantaged families from the inner city of Amsterdam and from the rural surroundings because the special style of education the school offers. The integration of all those students works well; there is a very good social atmosphere in the school.

We are interested in the partnership because of science and technology, connected with history and culture, have always played an important role in the education in our school. Our practical way of learning science is very high valuated by our students. For two years we are working specially on a more close cooperation between the science and technology departments. For instance we have developed courses in Astronomy and Navigation, in which this cooperation is becoming fruitful.

Special interesting is that in Amsterdam still a lot is connected with navigation, because of the important role the city in the past had in the trade and discoveries of the world.

We believe we can contribute to the international educational community with our experience and that we can enrich the curriculum for our students with experiences from our partners abroad. We believe also that cooperation with European partners enriches both teachers and students.

King Edwards VI High School For Girls is an all girls' school in which a significant number have financial assistance to attend only small numbers of girls in the UK go on to do Advanced level physics. This project will assist in promoting the subject in ways that appeal to girls. Girls value both student-centred approaches to learning and the opportunities of collaborative work with other students. The European context of this project also appeals to their interest in languages and culture. At the moment our girls have very few opportunities to enjoy links with other European institutions or to visit students in other European countries. We are particularly keen to increase the school's involvement in these areas in order to raise the girls' awareness of European issues.

Lycee Francohellenique d'Agia Paraskevi, Eugene Delacroix comprises two sections, the French section which is a public French primary and secondary school, and the Greek section which is a non-profitable private secondary school.

LFH is an urban school situated in the northern suburbs of Athens with 1600 students of a multicultural environment (about 15 different nationalities) and different social backgrounds. There is an Astronomy club and well-equipped laboratories, an English theatre club as well as a number of other activities and exchanges organized by the school community so as to enhance knowledge, communication, tolerance and understanding of the world. We believe that both our teachers and students will benefit from this project since they will practise their collaboration skills, they will be able to compare their work with that of their European partners exchange ideas and of course explore their subject through different disciplines.

THE OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT:

• To promote European cooperation between pupils (ages 11 to 18) of different schools in an integrated project, both in the scientific area and the humanities
• To understand how the Greek philosophers more than 2000 years ago could define the shape and the dimensions of the Earth
• To understand the path of humanity from the measurement of the Earth to the Earth as the unit of measure (the definition of meter)
• To emphasize the educational value of Physics, Astronomy and Philosophy concerning the development of basic concepts like Space and Time
• To undertake experimental work that can be used and shared by pupils in the participating schools to enrich their knowledge about the Earth and their understanding
• of the role of measurements - meter and Metric System - in their daily lives
• To enhance awareness of the role of a common system of measures in our culture and the comparison with different systems
• To reinforce the motivation of students, even those ones disadvantaged and with difficulties, giving them responsibility in project works and involving them in peer
• learning activities
• To develop transversal competences as an inquiring attitude and the abilities to implement methods of research, to debate, to communicate in different languages.
• To develop linguistic and communication skills of the participating pupils through a variety of means, including the use of ICT
• To promote pedagogical innovation and experimental projects in the participating schools

SUBJECTS:

The programme includes 4 modules of experimental activities and project work:

MODULE 1 - THE MEASUREMENT OF THE EARTH: MERIDIANS AND LONGITUDE

The shape and the dimension of the Earth

The Eratosthenes method for measuring a meridian

Methods for the determination of a meridian

Meridians and Prime meridians (the 0° meridian used as a reference line from which longitude east and west is measured)

Prime Meridians still in use in the early 1880s for land maps and coastal charts in the countries participating in this project:

- the prime meridian of Paris (France)

- the prime meridian of Rome (Italy)

- the meridian zero of Oradea (Romania)

- the meridian of Amsterdam

- the Greenwich Meridian (UK) adopted as the common zero for longitude in 1871 in the first International Geographical Congress (IGC)

The measurement of the meridian of Paris by Delambre and Mechain

The methods of measurement: triangulation, parallax

Meridians and Meridiane in the cities: monumental sundials in Rome and in Paris

The determination of local coordinates - latitude and longitude - from the ancient methods and instruments to the GPS

Navigation

MODULE 2 - THE METER AS A COMMON SYSTEM OF MEASURE (Decimal Metric System) AND A COMMON LANGUAGE

Ancient unit of measures in use in the countries of the partnership

The meter and the Decimal Metric System

Comparison between different systems of measure

Ancient and modern instruments of measure

From the meter to the humans: anthropometric measures

Proportions and size : isometric or geometric similarity

MODULE 3 MICRO AND MACROCOSMO

Powers of ten

How to measure very small and very great distances

Distances in universe

MODULE 4 SPACE AND TIME

Horizon calendars

Meridians (space) and Midday (time)

Ratio space/time: the speed

The speed of light: determination by Roemer

The pendulum

Waves

THE APPROACH:

The priority approach will be experimental, from the replication of the historical methods, to the achievement of innovative experiments.

As the project involves students of different ages, levels and abilities (also students with special needs), the experiments can be approached from different levels of difficulties, using sometimes simple materials or very high technology.

Some activities will be done collaboratively by more than one school; some will be done independently. Each partner can choose, develop and implement some specific subjects of the general programme but all the partners will share each other their activities and results by website, mails and during the periodic meetings.

In these meetings the students of each school will guide workshops for their partners in order to communicate their knowledge and the results of their own research.

Peer learning will be in fact a specific goal of the project in order to involve and motivate all students, even those ones disadvantaged and with difficulties.

The approach to the project will be interdisciplinary, focused not only on scientific disciplines (physics, astronomy, maths, biology, geology) but also humanities

(history, geography, literature, languages, philosophy, arts) with the goal that students build an integrated knowledge. The topic of the project is specially adapted to reach this goal.

In such a way students will develop a wide view of the problem of measurements and transversal competences: an inquiring attitude and the abilities to implement methods of research, to debate, to communicate in different languages to their peer and to the public, to use ITC.

The project will be open to the territory in order both to profit of its resources and to spread over the pedagogical innovation and the results of students' research.

Museums and scientific Institutions will be associate partners; historical places and monuments of the cities will become theatre and laboratories for integrated lessons. In particular, we name the Palais de la Découverte in Paris, CERN, the Copernican astronomical Museum in Rome, City Hall administrations, astronomical Clubs. It will be an active partnership: we'll plan together some experimental activities, stages, conferences with an integrated approach, both scientific and historical.

The documentation of the activities and of the results will be central in the project: some schools involved in the project have a Documentation Centre where to organize the meetings (contacts, reservations, programmes), to provide bibliographies, to buy books, to collect students' texts, photos, materials and research documents, to prepare folders and booklets for the divulgation of the project.

Active involvement.

Practical activities performed by individual pupils and groups of pupils will be a feature of this project. The practical nature of the project will encourage pupils with a wide range of abilities to participate.

Pupils will be required to plan what they do and to discuss their ideas with their supervising teachers. The evaluation of the completed work will be a feature of the reports displayed on the dedicated web site and presented at the periodic conference/ workshop.

In the meetings a team of pupils of each school will guide workshops for their partners in order to communicate their knowledge and the results of their own research (peer learning)

The project work would encourage the involvement of pupils who have difficulties with:

- foreign language education. They can practice the language with the help of a common project in an international team of pupils.

- the scientific curriculum. They can use a different and practical approach of science and free their hidden skills.

Working in a team will allow the particular strengths of both girls and boys to be demonstrated and intercultural integration and the involvement of pupils from minority groups will be encouraged.

Integration into learning activities.

The project focuses on pupils involvement and the methods to increase pupils motivation, to reinforce their interest in science and their choice of career.

As its interdisciplinary approach, the research will be carried out in all the participant schools both in the scientific disciplines (physics, astronomy, maths, biology, geology) and the humanities (history, geography, literature, languages, philosophy, arts).

Several astronomical activities are already included in the curriculum /learning activities of the participating schools. In fact all of them have developed courses in Astronomy both inside the normal Science and Physics curriculum and in workshops and astronomical Clubs.

The practical nature of the project will encourage pupils with a wide range of abilities to participate. Also peer learning activities will involve and motivate all students, even those ones disadvantaged and with difficulties. It will happen in the meetings where the students of each school will guide workshops for their partners in order to communicate their knowledge and the results of their own research. In particular:

Lycée Charlie Chaplin- Décines- France the following applies.

- We can integrate the study of measurement into the curriculum at every level of our high school. Teachers of different subject areas such as English and geography have the opportunity of participating.

- A workshop for interested pupils also takes place on a Wednesday afternoon. Project work is undertaken and pupils can participate in different contests such as Olympiads of physic (French), European young scientist contest (European) and Science on stage (European).

- In their curriculum pupils can also use their project work for their baccalaureate in the Travaux Personnels Encadrés

Scuola Media Statale G.G.Belli - Rome - Italy the following applies:

For several years our school has developed special Projects and Courses in Astronomy for students aged 12-14, of all abilities, also with disabilities and special needs. The special focus of our Astronomical courses is archeo-astronomy in the city of Rome with an interdisciplinary approach: students are guided to investigate how the motions of the celestial bodies have had an influence on the architectural structure of the city and do research about the way ancient architects organized place and time by observing astronomical phenomena.

In this way history, art and science are growing intertwined, with the goals:

- to see connections between the scientific disciplines and the humanities

- to search about the astronomical roots at the basis of our culture.

On the top of our school an Astronomical laboratory and an Astronomical Terrace are provided with instruments and telescopes, in order to make diurnal and nocturnal astronomical observations. We have partnerships with local and national astronomical Institutions.

For all these reasons the integration of the Comenius project into the curriculum/learning activities of our school can succeed very well.

Colegiul Tehnic Mihai Viteazul -Oradea - Romania the following applies:

We have an astronomical course and an astronomical Club in our school. The focus of the course is measurement of time ( sundials) and archeo-astronomy in the fortress of Oradea (and in other areas of the country). Students research is also on the historical and astronomical aspects of the ancient activities in the fortress and how the motions of the celestial bodies , especially the moon, have had an influence on the architectural structure of the city. The astronomical instruments and partnerships with local and national astronomical institutions (Astroclub Meridian0 and others astroclubs , Astronomical Observatory from Cluj-Napoca), enable us to do astronomical observations.

We can integrate very well the Comenius project both in the scientific disciplines (physics, maths) and the humanities (history, geography, literature, languages, philosophy, arts) learning activities of our high school.

Open Schoolgemeenschap Bijlmer (OSB) Amsterdam - Holland the following applies:

Science and technology, connected with history and culture, have always played an important role in the education in our school. For two years we are working specially on a more close cooperation between the science and technology departments. For instance we have developed courses in Astronomy and Navigation, in which this cooperation is becoming fruitful. Special interesting is that in Amsterdam still a lot is connected with navigation, because of the important role the city in the past had in the trade and discoveries of the world.

King Edward VI High School For Girls - England

For the last two years we have been running a popular astronomy club in which a range of activities take place that include studying for a GCSE in Astronomy, building telescopes and sundials, observing the day and night sky and hosting visiting speakers. Girls from the age of 13 to 17 participate in the club. We are particularly interested in the astronomical aspects of the proposed study that promote collaborative project work with our European partners. At the moment our girls have few opportunities to enjoy links with other European institutions or to visit students in other European countries. We are particularly keen to increase the school's involvement in these areas in order to raise the girls' awareness of European issues.

Only small numbers of girls in the UK go on to do Advanced level physics. This project will assist in promoting the subject in ways that appeal to girls. Girls value both student-centred approaches to learning and the opportunities of collaborative work with other students. The European context of this project also appeals to their interest in languages and culture.

Lycee Francohellenique d'Agia Paraskevi, Eugene Delacroix

The project will be integrated into the school curriculum through work in the classroom with exercises, research in the library and the web and on site activities (visits to museums, monuments and observatories) on the following subjects:

History and Language, study of ancient philosophers (from translation and in ancient greek)

Geometry, study of theorems

Physics, laws, measures (speed, pendulum, etc)

Astronomy, ( the Antikythera mechanism)

IT, use of modern technology in the process of the project

English, study of terminology, active use of the language, writing skills