"Transnational learning in action: from permaculture farms and school gardens to mountain ecosystems and digital filmmaking."
Discover our four international mobilities in chronological order, where European students and teachers turned environmental theory into real-world impact across Türkiye, North Macedonia, and Spain.
Location: 📍 Belentepe Permaculture Farm, Bursa (Türkiye)
Host: Hilal Doğu Akademi Ltd.
Focus: Teacher Professional Development & Methodological Foundation
🌿 What We Did & Learned
The project officially launched with an intensive expert-led training workshop for European educators, facilitated by permaculture expert Taner Aksel. Teachers moved beyond traditional classrooms to experience regenerative practices first-hand:
Soil & Water Systems: Exploring regenerative agriculture, composting techniques, and natural water-harvesting designs.
Biodiversity in Practice: Observing self-regulating ecosystems and sustainable food production systems.
Pedagogical Integration: Translating permaculture ethics (Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share) into active teaching toolkits.
Key Deliverable: Educational guidelines for implementing outdoor learning and permaculture design in European schools.
The workshop demonstrated how experiential learning can help teachers and students develop a deeper connection with nature and become active contributors to a more sustainable future.
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Location: 📍 Kichevo & Čaška (North Macedonia)
Host: OU "Dr. Vladimir Polezhinoski"
Focus: Practical Garden Construction & Sustainable School Living
🛠️ Living Laboratories in Action
Students and educators transformed school grounds into interactive, self-sustaining green spaces:
Hands-on Building: Designing organic raised garden beds, installing water-saving irrigation, and setting up school composting bins.
Peer Learning: Collaborative workshops on waste reduction, soil fertility, and practical biodiversity conservation.
Survey Insights: Student confidence in maintaining school gardens jumped significantly following the hands-on building sessions.
The activity encouraged participants to connect ecological knowledge with everyday actions and provided practical ideas for implementing sustainable practices within their schools and local communities.
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Location: 📍 Montefrío, Granada & Regional Ecosystems (Spain)
Host: IES Hiponova
Focus: Field Research, Comparative Ecosystem Studies, Student Presentations & School Transformation
The activity encouraged participants to become more environmentally responsible citizens and motivated them to take action in support of sustainability and environmental protection. It also provided valuable opportunities for exchanging ideas and strengthening cooperation among the project partners.
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🥾 Fieldwork & Comparative Ecosystem Analysis
Delegations from Türkiye, North Macedonia, and Spain analyzed and compared the ecological dynamics of three distinct local environments:
🌲 ⛰️ Sierra de Huétor Natural Park: Exploring high-mountain environments, analyzing karstic rock formations (relief and dissolution processes), pine forest self-regulation, and bio-indicators like local amphibians.
🌊 Mijas Coast: Investigating coastal biodiversity, human impacts on intertidal zones, and conducting a clean-up campaign.
💻 Student Workshops & Comparative Presentations
Back in the classroom, international student teams synthesized their findings into digital presentations:
Ecosystem Comparative Matrix: Analyzing similarities, differences, and human pressure across mountain/karstic forest (Huétor), and coastal (Mijas) habitats.
Permaculture Application: Presenting how permaculture ethics (Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share) can solve specific environmental threats identified during fieldwork.
Intercultural Debates: Sharing national perspectives on climate change mitigation and habitat conservation.
📜 Key Deliverables:
Student Comparative Ecosystem Presentations (Freshwater vs. Karstic Mountain vs. Coastal Habitat).
The European "Green Behavior Code" for protecting natural habitats.
🏫 "Greening IES Hiponova": Our School Transformation Hub
As the central host, IES Hiponova launched a deep paradigm shift to transform concrete spaces into living ecosystems:
Location: 📍 Bursa & Uludağ Mountain (Türkiye)
Host: Salih Şeremet Ortaokulu & Hilal Doğu Akademi
Focus: Ecosystem Fieldwork, University Agro-Research & Student Documentary Production
The activity helped participants understand the importance of environmental responsibility and encouraged them to become active contributors to a greener future. It also strengthened cooperation among partner organisations and supported the exchange of innovative educational practices.
👉 Presentation of activities of the whole week: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oqV8SUd1ctr_mHxxWw63-8bd1uPIVvJC/view?usp=sharing
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📸 Fieldwork & Academic Exploration
Serving as the final mobility, this activity consolidated all learning from previous mobilities into digital advocacy:
🏔️ Uludağ Mountain Ecosystems: Conducting field observations on mountain biodiversity and alpine plant species.
🔬 Academic Agriculture Laboratory: Visiting Bursa Uludağ University’s Faculty of Agriculture (exploring the GES Greenhouse, Egg Production Lab, and Ostrich Breeding Facility) to study sustainable food systems.
Structured Fieldwork Worksheets: Using structured field-observation worksheets, mixed international teams documented flora diversity, soil composition, and human environmental impacts.
🌳 Botanical & Cultural Exploration: Team-building at Bursa Botanical Park and visiting the historic village of Cumalıkızık.
School Garden Expansion: Building upon earlier project phases, students and teachers actively worked in the permanent Permaculture Garden established at Salih Şeremet Secondary School.
Practical Workshops: Activities included organic soil enrichment, seed planting, building composting areas, and designing outdoor learning signage.
Workshop by Hilal Doğu Academy: Led by experts from Hilal Doğu Akademi, students received specialized hands-on training in video composition, scripting, framing, audio recording, and mobile editing techniques.
Creation of 4 Student Documentaries: Applying these skills immediately in the field, international student teams conceptualized, filmed, and edited four distinct short documentaries highlighting local ecosystems, permaculture, and youth climate action.
