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Project CELL –

COOPERATIVE EUROPE LOOKING FOR LEARNING

The current context of the consumer society does not favor the values of cooperation, nor the altruistic and prosocial attitudes, therefore the school must and can potentiate a positive development around it. The conviction that education must prepare for life and must be linked to the democratic ideals exist; therefore it must integrate, also the recreation of the meaning of things, cooperation, discussion, negotiation and problem solving. In a multicultural context, it is necessary to talk about education in solidarity, cooperation and collaboration among students, who will be full citizens and can develop these behaviors in their communities and among the peoples of Europe. The educational system, as a generator of socialization factors, should not only incorporate the learning of social relations skills within the curriculum, but it must cooperatively organize the schools and specially their classrooms in order to get that the individual could learn to cooperate effectively. In the last decades there have been a series of social changes that have forced human beings to live closer and closer to each other, forming a complex social structure where interpersonal relationships acquire greater importance day by day.
 

The school must train young people to be creative, critical, competent in ICT, autonomous, with high social skills, able to adapt himself easily to different work environments, able to work with anyone, anywhere and at any time, who take in value the collective effort, the diversity as enrichment, and that could celebrate the success of their colleagues as their own.
 

One of the most effective procedures to learn all these values revolves around cooperative learning, clearly structured into learning groups. The method tries to organize the activities within the classroom to become it into a social, emotional and academic learning experience.
 

The advantages of the use of cooperative learning techniques in education have been summarized by García, R., Traver, J. and Candela, I. (2001). Here we highlight some such as the direct learning of attitudes and values, the improvement of school motivation, the practice of prosocial behavior, the progressive loss of egocentrism, the development of a greater independence and autonomy,… All these aspects contributes to the integral development of the students.
 

Cooperative work is a way of understanding the teaching-learning task that emphasizes the role of the learner as responsible and protagonist of their learning process. It starts from the idea that those who take responsibility learn more and that people learn in community and in constant interaction. Cooperative work is also a way to know the other people who participate in it in a deeper way, establishing other types of relationships more egalitarian and solidary. Knowing and collaborating with other people, especially if they are different, in a common task, is fundamental to value and respect, through their contributions, the value of these people and get better.
 

CELL contributes to the achievement of the horizontal priorities chosen through:

-    the development of the competences included in the EU framework, as is set out in the document about Recommendation of the European Parliament and the European Council (18th December 2006) on key competences for lifelong learning published in the Official Journal Of the European Union L 394, 30th of December, 2006. It incorporates a large number of elements to achieve to reach the development of the basic skills in parallel with the development of normal classes, without having to design specific sessions of work oriented to the achievement and delivery of basic skills.
-    their contribution to increasing students' motivation to learn, which will favor school success and continuity in schooling and directly combat early school leaving
-    the inclusion of all the students, due to that one of the main ideas of the cooperative learning is that groups of students of different capacities and different personal and social characteristics work together towards a common goal; in this way they learn to value both their own learning and that of their peers. Thereby we will minimize the disadvantageous situations inherent to the development of the school work, and also succeed in forming European citizens who in the future could be accustomed to coexistence among peers within the diversity of Europe itself.

 

C.E.L.L. using the cooperative learning as an educational tool seeks to transform the role of the student as a manager of knowledge so that we could be able to modify consciousness from the school and from the sense of belonging to a global entity to fight against disadvantaged situations that appear in the classroom, and paralelly to change the social reality we are involved in Europe.

Priorities selected in C.E.L.L.

 

HORIZONTAL: Achievement of relevant and high quality skills and competences

 

SCHOOL EDUCATION: Promoting the acquisition of skills and competences
 

The current context of the consumer society does not favor the values of cooperation, nor altruistic and prosocial attitudes, so that the school must and can promote a positive development around it. Education must prepare for life and must be linked to democratic ideals. In a multicultural context, it is necessary to talk about education in solidarity, cooperation and collaboration among students, who will be full citizens and will be able to develop these behaviors in their communities and among the peoples of Europe. Not only the education system, as a generator of socialization factors, must incorporate the learning of social relations skills within the curriculum; but, in order for the individual to learn to cooperate effectively,  the education system must cooperatively organize schools and specially their classrooms.
 

The school must train young people to be creative, critical, competent in ICT, autonomous, with high social skills, that adapt easily to work environments, able to work with anyone, anywhere and at any time, who take in value the collective effort, diversity as enrichment, and be able to celebrate the success of their peers as their own.
One of the most effective procedures for learning these values evolves around Cooperative Learning (C.L.). It is about organizing the activities within the classroom to become a social, emotional and academic learning experience.

 

The advantages of using C.L. in education have been summarized by García, R., Traver, J. and Candela, I. (2001). Here we highlight some such as direct learning of attitudes and values, improvement of school motivation, practice of prosocial behavior, progressive loss of egocentrism, development of greater independence and autonomy, etc., which contributes to the integral development  of the students.
 

Cooperative work is a way of understanding the teaching-learning task that emphasizes the role of the learner as responsible and protagonist of their learning process. It starts from the idea that those who take responsibility learn more and that people learn in community and in constant interaction. Cooperative work is a way to know the other people who participate in it in a deeper way, establishing another type of more egalitarian and supportive relationships. Knowing and collaborating with other people, who are different, in a common task, is fundamental to value and respect the value of these people and get better.
 

CELL contributes to the achievement of the horizontal priorities chosen:
- It contributes to the development of the competences included in the EU framework, as set out in the document on Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on key competences for lifelong learning published in the Official Journal Of the European Union L 394 of December 30, 2006. By their very nature, cooperative work incorporates a large number of elements that, without having to design specific sessions of work aimed at the achievement of basic competences, these are In a natural way in parallel with the development of normal classes, in which the formative objectives of the curriculum advance.
- It contributes to the increase in the motivation to learn from the students, which will favor school success and continuity in schooling, and directly influencing early school leaving
- It favors the inclusion of all the students, since one of the main ideas of the A.C. Is that groups of students of different capacities and personal and social characteristics work together towards a common end; In this way they learn to value both their own learning and that of their peers, thereby minimizing the disadvantageous situations inherent in the very development of school work, and also succeeding in forming European citizens who in the future are accustomed to coexistence among peers within The diversity of Europe itself.
- Social relations and respect for the rules of coexistence are of great importance, favoring the good climate of the centers.
We understand that cooperative learning is not only a method, but also a content, since students should use this knowledge in their lives, both in the exercise of their professions and to continue learning throughout their lives.

 

We also believe that cooperation and exchange of good practices will contribute to the enrichment of the teachers participating in the project, who will adopt the same 
 

The Transnational Meetings (M)

We will hold three transnational meetings throughout the project. The first one (M1) will take place at the beginning of the project (October 2017) to coordinate all aspects of CELL startup. We will do it without the presence of students and we consider it necessary to attend to the coordinator of the project of each country plus another teacher of the CELL team.
The second transnational meeting (M2) will be held at the end of the first year of the project (October 2018), as a tool for evaluation and readjustment of the deviations produced.
The third transnational meeting (M3) will be held as a closing and final evaluation of the biennial CELL cycle (May 2019)

 

The LTTA (C – Short-term exchanges of groups of pupils)

The mobility activities (C), or learning, teaching or training activities (LTTA) will be short – term exchanges of groups of pupils, with a duration of five days.
 

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