We are suffering an increasing number of diseases like overweight or diabetes, mainly related to bad alimentary habits and with the gut flora imbalance which produces malfunction of the immune system.
This leads our students to absences from school due to illness and then to academic failure and sometimes to early dropouts.
All this worries us as educators in the medium and long term since we must prepare our students for life.
Nowadays people are more aware of the immune system (IS) due to the COVID pandemic, but the main problem is how aware they are of the prebiotic and probiotic (P/PBio) in their diets, but P/PBio foods are the most effectual type of nutrition that enhances the IS, improve emotional
equilibrium and balance weight gain.
With this project, all the partners will gain knowledge about immunity, P/PBios and healthy nutrition. We’d like to do it internationally as it’s a global problem and by sharing knowledge (ayran, wiili,…) we will enrich each other.
We will carry it out with STEM methodology because most of the employees will need STEM skills: problem-solving, creativity, analysis, teamwork, critical thinking, info processing,…
This project will involve a large number of teachers and students (aged 13-18) since some activities must be integrated into the ordinary lessons.
There will be 3 different levels of involvement:
- being integrated into the Erasmus + group
- participating in the activities in their classroom or workshops
- or just in collective activities: conferences, exhibitions, …
Students’ parents will play a fundamental role, and also external stakeholders as food producers or groceries.
Objectives:
Minimize students’ missed days due to illness
Increase competence in healthy nutrition and well-being and reduce fast foods
Deepen knowledge in gastrointestinal and immunity systems
Raise awareness about P/PBios and their impacts on the gut microbiome
Increase training in critically interpreting labels of foods
Develop participants’ STEM knowledge and skills
Develop teachers’ skills in running and management of a project
To provide opportunities to the participants with fewer opportunities
Get the entire educational community in the Erasmus +
Promote school as a provider of practical knowledge and close to the reality
Activities:
- Elaborate panels with stages of the digestive system: mouth, stomach, small and large intestine. Anatomy, biology, chemistry, mathematics,… will
add info - Presentations: food and immune system + “rainbow of nutrients”.
- Incorporate P/PBio into our daily diet: taste meals at home, elaborate your own P/PBio, order P/PBios at groceries.
- Ask parents for traditional recipes that include products with P/PBio
- Promote healthy food in the school cafeteria/canteen
- Workshops on: fermentation processes and products, bacteria and fungus, interpreting labels, healthy diets, bacteria in the food, cooking sessions
on dishes rich in P/PBios - Introducing local healthy food in each LTT meeting
- Make brochures and posters, a book of recipes, magazines.
- Seminars, conferences and symposiums
Products: Brochures, posters and panels, final booklet, magazine and recipe book, recorded workshops and exhibitions, multilanguage vocabulary,
Erasmus places and banners.
Methodology:
We choose STEM “Learning by doing” method, with practical workshops and creation of own materials.
This let us get involved in a wide range of students and teachers because it´s easy to work with full classrooms and share activities among different
subjects
Results: - Acquisition of healthier eating habits
- A decrease in student absences and dropouts
- An increasing number of P/PBio products on disposal at home, school canteen and supermarkets
- To acquire the habit of approaching an unknown subject through scientific procedures
- A sense of community and joint work for the school, through a common theme
- A greater presence of Erasmus+ in schools and of schools in their cities
Long term:
The improvement of well-being through a better alimentation would be new healthy habits for participants´ lifetime; this will improve the quality of life
of the entire community
Teachers´ developed skills will remain and contribute to improving the school.
Students will raise up their self-regard, key competencies, multiculturalism,… as well as STEM skills: deal with challenges, problem-solving and
critical thinking
The decrease in students´ absences will have lasting effect overtime on them and on the school.
STEM methodology will help school development which will remain as an improvement in education. This experience will also serve as a basis for
future projects within or outside the Erasmus+ framework.
Some products will be available online for academical subjects as well as healthy recipes.
Poster and booklets will remain for long at schools.
Changes made at the school cafeteria/canteen and weekly minimarket could easily last for long too