MIRACLE Project

The MIRACLE project is a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme and starts in August 2023.

The full name is coMics and Illustrations Augmented to tackle CLimate change in primary Education and is aimed at school education. 

It is made up of seven partners from five different European countries, with Cleverbooks Limited as the coordinating organisation.

The project consortium is also made up of an organisation from Greece, PARAGON, from Spain, JAITEK, from Portugal, AETA, from Malta, the University of Malta and MRC St Paul's Bay Primary, and from Croatia, OSTB. 

What is MIRACLE about?

The MIRACLE project develops an inclusive Digital Learning Environment (DLE) to upskill teachers’ digital and sustainability competencies, empowering them to support school community members as agents of change.

Europeans rank climate change among the most serious problems facing the world today (European Commission, 2021). Protecting the environment is important to 94% of EU citizens personally; 78% consider that environmental issues impact directly on their daily lives and health and almost all feel that urgent action is needed to tackle biodiversity loss (European Commission, 2020).

Putting environmental sustainability at the heart of education and training means responding to the realities of the 21st century and equipping learners with the competencies they need to contribute positively to a sustainable society and economy.

The MIRACLE project introduces deep and transformative changes needed to prepare learners for a rapidly changing society, economy, and future. The project responds to the need for a systemic green component of education and responds to the existing challenges as it:

• adopts an interdisciplinary approach to learning about environmental sustainability, putting the learner at the center of the co-creation processes;
• provides pupils with an interactive and immersive experience with Augmented Reality of the co-created digital comics, creating lasting knowledge and understanding of the topic and sparking their interest in science;
• adopts the “Whole School Approach” where sustainability is embedded in all processes and operations;
• provides schools with the basic science behind Climate Change, including data and tools on how to monitor the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives and efforts;
• maps the national curricula for sustainability at all grades of primary education so that schools can easily integrate the project's learning activities;
• offers teachers training and support in sustainability education and training, in particular regarding interdisciplinary approaches, active pedagogies, and the challenging subject matter.

Partners collaborated on specific objectives based on their common needs and expertise:

• O1. Upskill teachers to support an action-based Climate Change Education Curriculum (CCEC).
• O2. Improve teacher and pupil digital skills and encourage whole-class co-creation in learning and teaching so learners actively collaborate in content creation with the teacher and each other.
• O3. Guide teachers in identifying eco-anxiety and eco-pessimism so they can help their pupils overcome fear and develop critical thinking and media literacy skills.
• O4. Build on the findings from the project pilots to measure the educational value of Comics Literacy in the CCEC.
• O5. Encourage and enable teachers and school leaders to improve both pedagogical and organisational practices concurrently through outreach activities at local and European levels.

The main concrete results developed in the five WPs of the project are:

1. All administration, monitoring, assessment reports and tools
2. The MIRACLE Sustainability Mindset in European Schools
3. The MIRACLE MOOC
4. The MIRACLE Augmented Classroom and
5. The visual branding of the project, publications, creation of networks, 4 infodays and 5 multiplier events.