EUTEENS4GREEN Projects

We'll organize a Hackathon for secondary school students in Groningen to solve local sustainability issues. We'll focus mainly on gas extraction, which ends because of earthquakes and the climate.\n\"Groningen is a province in the Netherlands where natural gas (methane) is extracted. Because of the many problems this has caused, it was decided in 2019 that this gas extraction should be ended. However, due to the current energy crisis, this decision is being reconsidered. Therefore, now, more than ever, is the opportune time to look at sustainable solutions. After all, continuing to drill for gas in Groningen will not solve the energy crisis and sustainable solutions will. Extracting gas causes earthquakes in this region and more importantly, fossil fuels cause dangerous climate change.\n\nOne group that is being affected by these recent developments yet is often overlooked are the young people. By offering students in Groningen the tools and skills they need to lead systemic change, we aim to help this generation to push the sustainable energy transition forward. Through challengebased learning, we aim to empower the secondary school students to lead us to a zero-carbon economy. Aligned with this theory of change, we believe that students should not have to strike from school to show their care for the environment. The education system should provide them the opportunity instead.\n\nTo provide the secondary school students of Groningen the opportunity to make themselves heard, we will organize a Hackathon event. During this event, students work in groups to solve local issues on sustainability. An example of an issue is: How should the government involve young people in the just transition towards an inclusive green future? A Hackathon is an event where teams work nonstop to come up with solutions for cases in a short amount of time. The Groningen goes green Hacakthon is one full school day and takes place at school or at another suitable location. In collaboration with the youth organizations and participating schools, we will organize the event. During the event, challenge owners, students, teachers and youth organizations come together to create change. Concluding the event, the students creatively present their solutions to all attendees.Then a jury, consisting of young people from youth organisations, will deliberate and choose a winner. The winning team will be awarded a lasting prize.\n\nThrough connecting a large set of stakeholders with the education system, we aim to challenge current paradigms in the same education system, mainstreaming climate change education, and embedding systems thinking and challenge-based learning into curricula.\"

\"\"\"Groningen goes green\"\" (GGG) aims to connect students from the VMBO and the\nHAVO/VWO within the same project. Depending on the participating school, the expected\nnumber of students that will participate can vary. However, the GGG project aims to reach\nand help approximately 100 students. In this sense, the minimal numerical results that are\nexpected are as follows: At least one participating school with four classes. For these\nclasses we aim to find at least 3 separate external organisation that participate as challenge\nowners.\n\nThe GGG project also aims at qualitative results. The impact can be seen in the lifestyle of\nstudents to a more sustainable one. Also, the students are more aware of the existence of\ngreen organizations and jobs, which could influence their choice for future studies and\ncareers. Furthermore, students learn how to come up with a solution in which several\nstakeholders with different needs are being met. Because of their experience of being heard\nand that their ideas and voice matters, will lead to empowered citizens, that are aware of\nways how to participate in democratic decision-making. Additionally, by hosting such an\nevent in collaboration with a school, helps schools to see in what way they can incorporate\nsustainability as a topic into their curriculum. Challenge holders in the region, will as well see the importance of including schools and their students in finding solutions for their\norganizations.\"