REPORT Artmile International Collaborative Learning 2023
Country/Region [ Lithuania ]School [ Laurynas Ivinskis Gymnasium ] Teacher [ Valdonė Verseckienė ] Grade (10th) Member (24)
JP School [ Toyohashi Chuo Senior High School ]Teacher [ Yusuke Kondo ]# Subjects, Activities and Hours of the lessons
Subject
Conception of the lesson
17 SDGs. Goal No.1.
Geography
Research on world poverty statistics.
Geography, economy & culture of Japan..
17 SDGs. Goal No.1. No Poverty.
Geography, economy & culture of Japan..
Research on national and regional poverty statistics.
What should and what can we do to eradicate poverty?
EnglishOur message to the world.
Educational system & school life in Japan. The Japanese language.
The life of a disabled person.
Christmas for everybody.
The value of volunteering.
ArtDiscussing ideas, sketching, painting & exhibiting the Mural.

Hours
217

16

# Theme and Message of the mural
ThemeMessage
United thoughts toshare with the world

NO POVERTY: Eradication of poverty and its consequences.
Most people probably don’t notice how bad the situation of poverty is. Since we don’t
see it, we don’t think much of it. In reality every tenth person lives in poverty. Some ofthe reasons are unemployment, abandonment, natural disasters, wars and many more.
We hope that the situation in the future will be better and people will help each othermore. We are ready to do our best to contribute.

Students’ video report:
https://youtu.be/rlhPyTkOIt8

# Effects and Problems•
•
•

•

•

•

Students’cross-cultural
understanding.has
significantly grown.
The level of awareness of the 17 SDGs, especiallyof SDG No.1, has increased.
Due to looking at globally important issues fromdifferent perspectives, students’ critical thinking
skills have progressed.
Cooperation with project partners while learning
about global issues involved our students in many
active and interactive activities the value of which
students recognized.
Students’ ability to express their thoughts &feelings both in words & in pictures has increased.
as well as their ability to communicate online.
The following quote from one student’s reflection
shows the positive attitude they have developed:•Points for further improvement
Since September, Lithuanian schools have beenworking according to a new National Curriculum.
We are given the right to choose part of theteaching contents. Due to participation in theArt Mile project, we have enriched our school
curriculum with teaching about the 17 SDGs andwill continue to do so.

In the project we have learnt how important it is to do what we
can to help others. You don’t need much, sometimes just ahug, a helping hand. You can try to understand others and treat
them with respect. Even the simplest smile can change
someone’s day. We have developed our communication andteam work skills. We became more aware of the sustainable
development goals, the poverty issues in the world and ways tohelp deal with it.

# How has your impression toward your partner’s country/region and the world changed?
Changes in the students
Changes in the teachers• One of our students visited Japan in summer. In • Our school’s communication with the Japanese
September, he shared his impressions with otherEmbassy in Lithuania is continuing.
students of our school. The impressions he • All teachers of the school have acquired moreshared were very positively accepted by all theknowledge about the 17 SDGs and have started
school community, especially by the students
introducing this topic in their subject curricula.
directly involved in the Art Mile project and their • All five English teachers and Art teacher madeclassmates.
a great team of teachers who became• Due to constant dissemination of the Art Mileambassadors of the Art Mile project and involved
project activities in the school community,
colleagues teaching other subjects in one orstudents of our school got more interested in andanother Art Mile project activity. (Geography
have become more aware of the 17 SDGs andteacher, Ethics teacher, etc..)
their importance.
• Due to the friendly relationships with the• The increase of our students’ interest in ourJapanese teachers’ team and the kind guidance
partners’ country and its culture has resulted inof the Japanese national Art Mile project
more students visiting our school museum wherecoordinators, we now know that we all are part
we have a special display devoted to Japan.
of a big united international community of• More students got involved in volunteering
educators who are doing our best to help young
activities.
people develop a better understanding of theproblems our world is facing and teach them beresponsible citizens.

# Flow of the Activity
ContentMonth•••RESEARCH
the themeJun.
Sept.

•••

•

•

SHAREwith thepartnerOct.

What you did
We had an introductory
onlineteachers’
meeting attended byprincipalsofbothpartner schools.
Senior students who
participated in 2022
AICL presented lastyear’s project and its
results.
In Geography & English
lessons, all 10th form
students studied about
Japan’s
physicalgeography, economy &culture.
All students had ameeting with a senior
student who had visited
Japan.
In
Englishlessons,students studied issues
related to SDG No.1. &statistics related topoverty in the world, inLithuania & in the localregion.
Project
participants
shared the progress ofthe project with theschool community.

Students prepared avideo introducing our
project activities.
We had two video
meetings
withourpartners(onewithteachers, onewithstudents).

Your students’ attitude/reflection•

Students were excited to start theproject.

•Students were interested to learn
more about the partners’ country.

•The presenter shared very positive
impressions of Japan. The audience
were really interested and asked alot of questions.
Discussing the issues related toSDG No.1. students were surprisedat the high rates of poverty.

••

They were proud of their progress
and gladly shared it with others.

•Students took this task with great
responsibility.

•Everybody was excited to meet thepartners and talk to them.

Subject

Geography
EnglishEnglishArt

••

•

•

UNITE
the thoughts

Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
••

•

CREATEthe muralFeb.

•Students deepened thediscussions related toSDG No 1.
Communicating in theForum and during video
meetings of students &teachers,students
discussed and came up
with the united message
to be presented in theMural.
In Art lessons, students
generated ideas how toconvey their thoughts invisual symbols andshared them with thepartners.
Students discussed &appreciatedourpartners’ ideas theyshared about the firsthalf of the Mural.
While our partners werebusy with the Mural, ourstudents participated inactivities related to
SDG No.1:
We had a meeting with adisabled (blind) person
and her dog assistant.
Students of the 10thform made Christmas
cards in Art lessons andbaked
Christmas
cookies to be given to
local
organizations
taking care of lonely
elderly people, disabledpeople and sociallydeprived children.
We received the MuralfromJapan
andappreciated the great
work our partners haddone.
Our students sketched& painted their part of
the Mural & exhibited it
at school for the schoolcommunity & school
guests to get acquainted
with and admire.
We
postedthecompleted Mural to ourpartners in Japan.

•They understood the complexity ofthis issue.

•Students became more independentwhile writing & sharing ideas in theForum.

•They foundchallenging.

thistaskquite•

They got inspired by the partners’
creativity.

•Theseactivities
werevery
important to all the students. They
felt they were doing something
meaningful and really important.

•Students were excited to open theparcel box and see the results of
their partners’.work in reality.

•Students were happy to sketch &paint the second half of the Mural.
They were especially proud of theMural exhibited in the school
exhibition area and explained tostudents of other classesand toteachers the symbols conveying thejoint message they had come up
with together with their project
partners.
They kept asking to track theMural’s journey.

•Art
EnglishArt

•

APPRECIATE
the wholelearningFeb.
Mar.

••

All Art Mile project
participants reflected on
the whole collaborative
learning journey and its
impact on our personal
growth.
A group of students
prepared a video about
our project results.
In English lessons, we
presented & discussed
the results of theARTMILE project withall the classes of ourschool.

•Reflecting on the collaborative
learning journey they had made, thestudents appreciated what they hadlearned and experienced in thisproject..

•Students worked as a team andwere happy about that.

•Everybody was impressed by theresults of the project and the 9thformers kept asking if they would be
able to participate in a similar
project next year.

Art
English# Effect and evaluation gained through the collaborative learning
Evaluation: Rank 5 to 1 (5: very effective / 4: effective / 3: so- so / 2: not so effective / 1: not effective at all)

Expected effectCross-cultural
understanding

Evaluation4Active learning

5

Critical thinking

4Collaborating withdifferent people

5

Expressing in words,in shape

5

Scenes and reasons that teachers felt the effects
Students have learned a lot about Japan, its geography, economy &culture. Now they have a better understanding of Japanese students’school life.
Most importantly, they have understood that we have to learn more
about other countries and respect each country and its people.
Students’ awareness of the 17 SDGs, especially of SDG No., hasincreased. They now know much more about the 17 SDGs and theirimportance for the future of the world. Investigation of SDG No.1,
especially involvement in volunteering and other practical activities,
made this collaborative learning journey much more meaningful.
Due to looking at globally important issues from different perspectives,
students’ critical thinking skills have progressed. They investigatedglobal, national and regional statistics related to the issue of poverty.
We did not dare to convey any survey in the school community
concerning poverty issues for the fear of possibly hurting the feelingsof some students,
Our students were involved in many collaborative activities. They
managed to work with our project partners and create a common pieceof art presenting shared ideas and feelings. It is an extremely valuablelesson our students have learnt: They also did volunteering activities
integrating people from the local day center for mentally disabled people
and their assistants. While reflecting what they have learned, students
pointed out that they had understood how important it is to be positive
towards others and look for similarities, not differences while
communicating with other people if we want to live in a better world.
Students’ ability to express their thoughts & feelings both in words &in pictures has increased. Depending on the language level and artistic
skills of each student, their personal progress was different. For someit was the first time to participate in an international project. Somestudents did volunteering activities for the first time. Some overstepped
their fear of speaking in public. Some discovered artistic talents inthemselves. All students have made a step forward in theirunderstanding that it is possible to convey your ideas in different formsand they will be understood by others if you put your heart in what youare doing.