1. Educational Technologies Primary School (ЕТ) has signed a contract with Ecobulpack for separate waste collection- an activity in which the entire school community participates. More than 3 seminars were held by experts in the field of separate waste collection. The school has developed its own portal for distance learning with electronic resources in 100% of the subjects in order to reduce the use of paper and protect the environment. ET receives funding for textbooks of its students for a period of 3 years. After their expiration, there is a campaign to deposit these textbooks for recycling. The activities involve students from the whole school – a total of 350.
2. Vela Blagoeva School (VB) has 664 students. High school students develop specific business projects aimed at solving environmental problems, guided by The career club produced bio-martenitsas – more than 300 students and 400 the vision that nature can influence business ideas. The school student-led company Ecofuture created a biodegradable packaging for seeds and published a booklet made of recycled paper “What we do for nature” – 52 students participated and their ideas were presented in the national contest Rising Stars. parents took part in the initiative. Over 120 students from 6th and 11th grade developed the project “I choose my grandmother’s food”, which won 1st place in a national competition. An organic garden with herbs has also been created. An outdoor classroom for 664 students was set up within the Clean Environment campaign. The school has organised a festival EcoVela – a fashion show of clothes made from waste materials. VB has an Environment Calendar, including the celebration of Water, Earth and Environment Day. Two projects “EcoliveTV” and “Discoverers of the Secret of the Green Globe” have been implemented.
3. Educational Technologies High School has 180 students and 25 teachers. To reduce the waste of paper, the school encourages the use of e-textbooks, tests in a Moodle platform, organises an internal exchange for old textbooks and toolkits. The school community regularly participates in the Caps for the Future campaign. During the autumn and spring-summer period, the leaves of the trees and the mown hay are collected and composted. Environmental topics are regularly discussed in Biology classes. 10th graders write an essay on “My contribution to the environment – 10 habits that will change forever”, do their own research on global or regional environmental issues and present their personal views on how to solve them. In 9th-grade Biology classes, when studying the anatomy and physiology of human body, the harms of plastic and packaged foods are discussed, and steps are planned to change personal behaviour.
4. Established in 2015, MUZEIKO is the first children’s science centre in Bulgaria and the largest in SEE. It attracts more than 120,000 people a year, the main target group being children, aged 1-12. There are also a youth volunteer programme, and Science Night events for adults. Many of the 130 interactive installations address issues related to environmental protection: the balance between nature and the city, organic farming, sustainable communities, climate. Muzeiko has an experimental garden with a composter area, where workshops for kindergarten groups are held. The annual number of schools participating in Muzeiko’s programmes is between 100 and 260. The team was trained in waste management by Gorichka. Muzeiko has implemented a system for separate waste collection and has a contract with a recycling company. Many of the science workshops for individual visitors and school groups are on environmental topics, reuse of old paper, etc. At least 2 training seminars for teachers are organised annually. Muzeiko has 2 travelling exhibitions – Inventions and Construction that tour around the country.
5. St. Kl. Ohridski school in Debren has 216 students from grades 1-10. The school has implemented a system for separate waste collection and regularly organises campaigns for cleaning key places in the local community, engaging all students from middle school with their parents, teachers, municipal representatives (min. 100 people per campaign). As a participant in the national programme Innovation in Action for the exchange of good practices between schools and in the FIERST initiative of Teach for Bulgaria, Education Ministry and New Bulgarian University, the school team is trained in developing professional learning communities and strategies for building 21st century skills.
6. The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology (NTM) was founded in 1914. It is located in Oslo and hosts a Science Centre with the objective to demonstrate the implications of the historical progress in science and technology, both socially and culturally. It has vast experience in exhibition design, developing education programmes for school groups and individual visitors. In June‘20 NMT opened a new exhibition devoted to climate change and environment.