Sustainable Living School Gardens
LivingYards turns concrete school yards in Türkiye, Romania and Italy into living laboratories — where compost cycles, rainwater harvesting and student-built robotic irrigation transform eco-anxiety into active ecological citizenship.
Eco-anxiety is real. So is the answer growing outside the classroom window.
Surveys across Europe and in Türkiye show the same pattern: students see climate change as a serious threat, yet environmental education stays mostly theoretical. Knowledge without agency breeds helplessness — a rising "eco-anxiety" among young people documented in international research. Our own baseline survey of 142 students across the three partner schools confirms it.
LivingYards closes that gap by putting students in charge of a real ecosystem. School gardens become places where organic waste turns to compost, rainwater is harvested and measured, and irrigation is run by sensor systems the students design, code and calibrate themselves.
Every line of code and every seedling is a measurable act of ecological citizenship — and a green skill demanded by tomorrow's labour market.
Four objectives, four concrete results
Aligned with the Erasmus+ horizontal priority on environment and climate, plus STEM/STEAM and teacher-support priorities in school education.
From eco-anxiety to ecological citizenship
Transform students' passive climate anxiety into meaningful environmental awareness and responsibility through active roles in the garden ecosystem.
Self-sufficient model gardens
Convert existing school yards into sustainable, self-sustaining demonstration gardens built on circular-economy principles.
Robotic & sensor-based water management
Bring technology into ecology: irrigation and soil monitoring managed through robotics and sensor networks designed by students.
An international living-garden standard
Elevate local good practice into a shared, transferable standard synthesising the experience of three countries and climates.
Three schools, three strengths
A partnership shaped through joint needs analysis and previous Erasmus+ cooperation, combining production capacity, technological know-how and pedagogical depth.
Kınık Mesleki ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi
Production & implementation baseA 54-decare campus with 120 olive trees and 200+ trees of 50 species; chemistry and food production centres (200 t/yr · 2,000 meals/day). Coordinates the project, hosts the kick-off, TPM and final events, and manufactures micro-greens cabinets and compost units.
kinikmtal.meb.k12.tr →Liceul Tehnologic "Vasile Sav"
Technology & methodology leadA technical college of 916 students and 60 teachers specialising in electrics, electronics, automation and IT, with a "Green School" vision and its own Greenlab club. Provides the technical backbone for smart irrigation and sensor control, hosts the student camp, and builds and maintains this project website.
vasilesav.ro →IISS F.sco D'Aguirre – Dante Alighieri
Ecology & pedagogy leadA multi-programme institute blending academic and vocational tracks, experienced in sustainability projects such as "Irreplaceable Sources of Life". Hosts the joint staff training, enriches the ecological-literacy curriculum and provides scientific support for the eco-anxiety impact methodology.
istitutodaguirre.gov.it →Colegiul Tehnic "Gheorghe Cartianu" (Piatra-Neamț, Romania) supports the partnership with field implementation experience and local stakeholder coordination, building on long-standing cooperation with the consortium.
From kick-off to harvest
Kick-off Meeting
Coordinators and key staff from the three schools finalise roles and sub-agreements, approve the lump-sum budget — including an early garden-setup allocation of €1,650 per school — fix the activity calendar, standardise communication channels (eTwinning, cloud workspace) and revise the risk-management and emergency plan.
Joint Staff Training on Green Skills Methodology
Fifteen teachers (five per partner) train as "Living Garden Leaders": needs mapping and site analysis, soil chemistry and plant physiology, four composting techniques (worm, bokashi, hot/cold, lasagna), Arduino-based robotic irrigation, and a curriculum matrix matching garden practice to national learning outcomes. The guide's writing teams are formed here.
Ecological Literacy & Eco Awareness Workshops (Student LTT)
A green-skills camp for 24 students and 6 teachers — 40% of students selected from disadvantaged or high eco-anxiety groups, with extra points for girls in STEM. Carbon-footprint calculation, HOGG eco-anxiety scale, seed-ball and art-therapy workshops, rainwater harvesting maths, sensor calibration, mBlock-coded irrigation prototypes and LED micro-greens cabinets.
TPM & LivingYards Guide Development
The editorial core finalises the Implementation Guide after six months of joint drafting: four modules (Universal Design, Compost Cycle, Robotic Irrigation, Green STEM), DIY infographics, accessibility tips, impact-survey data, a policy brief for decision-makers and an interactive QR-linked flipbook in four languages.
Final Meeting & Dissemination Event
Results presented to local education authorities, municipalities, NGOs and press; eco-anxiety impact reports shared publicly; final reporting consolidated in the Beneficiary Module; a post-project sustainability agreement signed; and a garden festival opens the living laboratory to families and the community.
Management, Implementation & Dissemination
The cross-cutting backbone of the whole 15 months: monthly Project Management Board meetings, garden construction and maintenance at each school, monitoring and evaluation with pre/mid/post measurements, the project website and social channels, eTwinning documentation, and a "Green Harvest & Presentation Day" at every partner school.
What the project will leave behind
Sustainable Living School Gardens Implementation Guide
The project's flagship output: an open, interdisciplinary handbook synthesising three countries' practice — universal design rules, compost C/N tables, DIY circuit schematics and Green STEM lesson plans — published as an interactive flipbook with QR links to field videos, and shared on the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform and eTwinning.
Ecological Citizenship Impact Report
Pre/post measurement of eco-anxiety and green self-efficacy, building on a 142-student baseline survey, analysed with validated scales (HOGG, Green Self-Efficacy) and shared openly with educators and policy-makers.
Robotic irrigation & smart cabinets
Student-designed, sensor-driven remote irrigation prototypes and LED micro-greens cabinets — working hardware that stays in daily use at each school.
Compost & rainwater systems
Functional compost units and rainwater harvesting installations that cut schools' dependence on external water and fertiliser and feed a zero-waste school culture.
Policy Brief
A data-based, applicable pilot model for green school transformation, presented to local governments and education directorates.
Open-air ecology laboratories
School gardens reborn as "nature museums": QR-labelled plants, iNaturalist observation zones and data panels, open to families and the local community.