Paul Hey Middle School's Erasmus project suffers from a pandemic

Created: 08/11/2022, 11:05 am

On the go with Erasmus: students at the Paul Hey Middle School in Gauting.

© private

The Gauting middle school takes stock after almost three years.

The topic of the Erasmus Plus project "New Media in Democratic Societies" is more topical than ever.

Gauting – When the 8th and 9th graders of the Paul-Hey-Mittelschule started their two-and-a-half-year project in autumn, they could hardly have guessed how topical it would soon be.

They were allowed to take part in the European Erasmus Plus project "Nemesis - New Media in Democratic Societies".

But it was only after the kick-off event in autumn 2019, to which five Gautinger schoolchildren traveled to Odense in Denmark, that the dimensions of the corona pandemic and the influence that social media should have on opinion-forming became apparent.

The topic "New Media in Democratic Societies" could hardly have been more topical, as the balance sheet shows.

Of course, the pandemic also had an impact on the project itself.

The first visit to Denmark took place as planned.

The Gautinger pupils were housed with Danish families, experienced everyday school life there and worked in international groups on the project topic, which was about how pupils and parents find out about current affairs.

Part of the program was also a visit to a TV news channel, getting to know Odense, the hometown of Hans Christian Andersen and a visit to Copenhagen.

The students from five nations communicated in English and although the Paul Hey School was the only middle school in the project, the people from Gautingen impressed with their good knowledge of English and creative ideas.

"The English language was the key to getting to know each other",

Mutual visits were made more difficult or could not take place at all

But soon after the return it was clear: Mutual visits by the participating students from Germany, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia were made more difficult or could not take place at all.

The next meeting should take place in Gauting.

An appointment during the Oktoberfest had to be postponed, and in the run-up to Christmas the Danes, Norwegians and Slovenes, who were already sitting on their packed suitcases, had to cancel their trip at short notice because of the high number of infections in Bavaria.

However, the Slovaks and Portuguese traveled and stayed with host families.

In smaller groups, the students dealt with the topic "Real News - Fake News" in workshops.

They dealt with deep fakes, i.e. fake videos.

In March 2022, five students with two teachers from Gauting traveled to the partner school in Mortágua, in the heart of Portugal.

The topic, which the international groups informed themselves in detail before the trip, was the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Actually, the differences in reporting should be analyzed in Portugal.

But since war had broken out in the meantime, the students created news videos in international groups, in which they discussed, for example, how the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi uses the new media, how the work of the free press is being made impossible in Russia and how quickly one can become a victim of incorrect information.

After the many international contacts, it was clear to the Gauting students: “We discovered so many things in common.

We will continue to keep in touch.” mm