In the Future of Learning, published by the EU, the authors highlighted three key concepts that should guide learning in the future: personalisation, collaboration and informalisation. And despite the terms are not new, the urgency of placing them at the centre of the learning design and facilitation still lacks priority and action.As the OECD reported in 2015 (Schooling Redesigned: Towards Innovative Learning Systems), education used to be “about teaching people something” but has evolved to “making sure that individuals develop a reliable compass and the navigation skills to find their own way through and increasingly uncertain, volatile and ambiguous world”. Schools should therefore be preparing students for a fast pace changing world, for jobs yet to be created, technologies to be invented and to solve problems yet to arise (Idem). And to do so, schools need to focus on nurturing “ways of thinking, involving creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and decision making; ways of working, including communication and collaboration; tools for working, including the capacity to recognise and exploit the potential of new technologies; and, last but not least, the social and emotional skills that help people live and work together” (Idem).The new learning environments designs are based on a “horizontal connectedness across areas of knowledge and subjects as well as to the community and the wider world” (Idem). The “ability to apply meaningfully-learned knowledge and skills flexibly and creatively in different situations” or as many scholars presented the adaptive expertise/competence (Idem) along with empathy are considered critical skills for the 21st century learners: “Every child must master empathy and teens must be practiced at the new requisite skills of cognitive empathy-based ethics, working in teams of teams, new leadership and changemaking” (Henry de Sio, Ashoka).The main goal of the ChangeMakers project is to create an innovative computer learning game for Design Thinking Education of children (6 -10 yo), that can be easily implemented in formal, non-formal and informal education settings.Thus, the project’s value proposition includes:• Aiming a specific target group (children 6-10 yo) which has been less favoured in transversal competences development • Highlight the transdisciplinary key drivers for improving the learning experience• Promote the learners development in an integrative framework capacitating the new generations with the competences required to act in a context of complexity, adaptive challenges, innovation, technology and active citizenship• Support the professional development of educators• Use of innovative e-learning technologies (gaming) to develop new competences• Usable in class or in other contexts, including in family environment• Inclusive learning tool, by being designed to the need of both boys and girls, by meeting WCAG 2.0 requirements and by targeting different national languages• Easy to disseminate at European level, as it can be accessed onlineIn the ChangeMakers Game children will learn how to use a design thinking approach to address and build solutions to problems and/or come up with new ideas and prototype it. The game will immerse kids in different scenarios (school, home, community) where they will be challenged to come up with ideas to solve challenges presented by engaging characters. To come up with the ideas and prototype solutions, kids will be guided through a simplified design thinking approach that will include the steps of the process, tools and actions to be selected according to the features of each problem and the needs/expectations of each character.The challenges presented to the players will consider the curricula settled for this age range to build bridges between the game based approach and the subjects and contents that children should be learning at this level of education.The Game will be supported by a Facilitators ToolKit, with clear instruction on how to access and play the game; guidelines for the use of the learning game inside and outside class; off-game activities and other useful resources.The consortium expects to impact:• Teachers/trainers and Parents by providing an innovative and user friendly tool for teaching Design Thinking skills that can be used in various settings• Children, by delivering a tool, at the same time user friendly and entertaining, that enables learning a wide set of Design Thinking skills, as well as transversal competences • Organisations active in Education that will have a new tool and knowledge to improve transversal skills of childrenIn the future, the consortium aims to:- support the development of innovative learning methodologies, meaningful, learner-centered and connected to the real world;- nurture a new generation of citizens, workers and leaders, more proactive, creative and innovative;- boost a new generation of educators.
The main goal of the ChangeMakers Project has been to create an innovative computer learning game for Design Thinking Education of children (6 -10 yo), that can be easily implemented in formal, non-formal and informal education settings.Thus, the project’s value proposition has included:• Aiming a specific target group (children 6-10 yo) • Promote the learners development in an integrative framework capacitating the new generations with the competences required to act in a context of complexity, adaptive challenges, innovation, technology and active citizenship• Use of innovative e-learning technologies (gaming) to develop new competences. Empatheia is an innovative computer learning game for Design Thinking Education of children between 6 and 10 years old, to be used in formal, non-formal and informal education settings, and that is online available and completely free Europe wide! In Empatheia, the player is sent to a period which appears to be in between the medieval age and the renaissance age. Why this period ? Because it is a period where crafts become more and more focused on combining both functionality and aesthetics together, where efficiency joins with beauty. The player is sent in that period and plays the role of a craftsman/designer who will have to design a carriage for the royal couple. Of course, the brief is quite blurry as the couple have just asked for the « best carriage in the world », but what does it mean? What are the needs of the couple? how do they travel? what are their habits? what do they like? Since the player can’t get answers from the royal couple, s/he has to explore the subject by meeting with characters and discussing with them, especially with people who directly concerned by the royal couple and/or the carriage : the captain, the court people, but also people we forget about like the coachman or the stable boy. The player has then to define what directions s/he wishes to take according to what s/he has listened to and her/his own intuition. Then the player starts generating ideas by first having a look at what already exists out there, then by starting creating its own idea of the carriage. After a couple of iterations, the player finally get to a functioning prototype which will need to be tested. And that’s where things get more complicated : as the player tests its prototype, s/he encounters unexpected disruptions : s/he gets attacked, s/he passes totally unnoticed then s/he encounters a situation where s/he gives a ride to someone else. This is the critical point of the game as it enlarges the scope of solutions way beyond the carriage features. We are seeing a bigger picture in which the carriage shall not only be seen as a product but as a product-service system of transportation. It opens new options like surrounding the carriage with soldiers or entertainers but also sharing it. Finally, the game does not end with one solution to the problem but a multiple set of possible solutions as Design Thinking is not only about problem solving but also problem setting and about finding unobvious and/or unexpected and/or indirect solutions to problems. The online game is combined with offline activities (a Toolkit for teachers and Toolcards). The ‘Toolkit’ guide aims to support educators with the implementation of the game both in class and off-class and also with inspirational hints on how to further develop the design thinking mindset. In addition to the guidance provided by the toolkit, it offers a set of ‘Toolcards’ that educators can use to combine the use of the online game with a serie of offline activities. This extra output of the project has proven to be a valuable add-on to the game as it offers an opportunity for kids to collaborate together in class around real items that they discuss, manipulate and reflect on. The conclusions from the feedback collected in real educational contexts show how the Project results are succesful to nurture Design Thinking skills in primary education contexts: Change Makers provide innovative tools (Online Game, Toolkit and Toolcards) for Teachers/trainers and Parents for teaching Design Thinking skills that can be used in various settings; Children can use these tools (guided by educators) to learn a wide set of Design Thinking skills, as well as transversal competences; Organisations active in Education have a new tool and knowledge to improve specific Design Thinking skills but also key educational transversal skills of primary education children. The Change Makers Project has also obtained results that shows how game-based learning for nurturing Design Thinking skills in primary education supports the development of innovative learning methodologies, meaningful, learner-centered and connected to the real world; The Change Makers resources nurture a new generation of citizens, workers and leaders, more proactive, creative and innovative, boosting a new generation of educators.