The Elementary school “Jelenje-Dražice is located in the village of Dražice near the city of Rijeka and the sea, but also near the mountainous part of the Republic of Croatia. The school principal Dejana Paškvan-Žeželj, after being contacted by the NC Jelena Basta during October 2021, decided to engage in the project in order to introduce students to healthy habits.
51 students were involved, from 11 to 14 years old accompanied by a biology teacher and a school principal. They used the SALL methodology and started the project “Through tradition and contemporaneity, from the garden to the table” by addressing a real problem – GMO food and nutritively bad diet. This was chosen after the survey’s results conducted that showed that nowadays more and more students base their diet on junk food and unhealthy drinks.
During the project few activities were conducted, such as:
- conducting a survey among students on their eating habits
- gardening the school garden
- cooking meals out of healthy food
- creating a digital cookbook
The students mostly participated in the activities and conducted them in smaller groups or with the support of their parents at home.
At the end of the project, some feedbacks were collected from the actors of the project. The school principal was honored that the school was invited to participate in this international project. In her eyes, it is a great way of introducing students to international projects and to encourage them to live a healthier lifestyle.
Feedbacks from the teachers was overall positive, but there were some difficulties they encountered during implementing the project, such as the weather conditions that made planting and gardening difficult. The students involved in the project were thrilled to learn something new and to participate in creating something different and significant for their school. They were especially happy to participate in the gardening and preparing meals out of healthy food.
Contact
Jelena Basta
National coordinator, Blue World Institute
Mail
School website