Young Minds exploring links between culture, health and the environment

About the project

Young Minds - is an Internet based project in which young people from a number of countries in Europe communicate and explore links between youth, culture, health and environment. It was initiated in 2000 and there have been several “phases” of the projects since then (click on the links in the menu on the left for more information).

 

 

An important aspect of the project is that the students have access to and control off the administration of the website’ contents.

 

This year (2004) "Young Minds" consists of 8 schools working within the frames of the approach, focusing of environment and health. The action component this time is linked to the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, titled  “The future for our children”, that is to take place in Budapest 23-25 June, 2004. "Young Minds" are invited to actively participate in this conference.

 

 

Key features of the project

• Student participation: students are genuinely involved in dialogue and decision making about specific aspects of the topics they are working with.
• Action and change orientation: the student project-work is directed towards action and change. Students’ ideas and visions have a crucial role in deciding about actions to be taken with regard to improving the environment and health in their schools and communities.
• The use of ICT: students use WWW and other new technologies to investigate the topics, exchange and discuss ideas, present their findings and reflections and initiate a broader debate.
• Cross-cultural collaboration: students cooperate in order to explore differences and similarities with regard to the environmental and health concerns, with an emphasis on global interconnectedness and social responsibility.

 

We hope that this project will inspire young people, teachers and schools to engage in educational dialogue aiming at both promoting meaningful learning and making a difference with regard to health and environmental care.
 
The coordinating centre for the project is the Research Programme for Environmental and Health Education at the Danish University of Education.
 
The project is linked to the European Network of Health Promoting Schools (ENHPS), a programme jointly supported by the European Commission, Council of Europe and WHO regional office for Europe.

 

 

Young Minds Song

 

Lianne Savage, Young MInds England, wrote and recorded a song for the Young Minds project.

 

Click here to listen to the song.