The Norwegian and German students participating in the peer learning activities related to the Intercultural Glossary Project met in Trondheim January 20-23, 2012.


The students and their teachers spent three days together, visiting places which are linked to the idea and construction of «Norwegian cultural heritage» getting to know the related narratives, interpretations and debates.

These activities were closely related to the conceptual learning activities; examining concepts such as Cultural Heritage, European Identity, Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. The students continued the work they had done during the fall term, by creating «Speaker Position Charts» based on changing understandings and definitions of these terms throughout time and within different contexts, as one of the activities.

The meeting also served as an opportunity to have a shared evaluation of the Glossary Project's approach towards concept learning and the concrete experiences from the peer learning during the fall term. The evaluation was moderated by EWC's Claudia Lenz.

Evaluation results: Whereas the approach of the project was highly appreciated and regarded as relevant for the future teaching practice of the Norwegian and German students, the feedback regarding the peer learning showed that a lot of work remains, non the least in order to provide a fitting online tool and consistent working instructions and follow up throughout the process. These issues will be discussed at a workshop of the Intercultural Glossary Project (IGP) group to be held in Berlin in February.

The last part of the meeting dealt with the possibilities of realizing the IGP approach in the class room. Discussing a variety of learning contexts – the approach can be made fruitful with basically all age groups and within all subjects, but most of all in interdisciplinary and project learning. It was stressed that the approach is able to meet students in their individual preconditions and needs in the learning environment and thereby empower them to take ownership of their own learning.

The results of the students' work (discussions of concepts and speaker position charts) will be published on the EWC website.