Tackling the problem of early school leaving is the one of the priority targets of Europe. In the Europe Strategy 2020, it has been planned to reduce the dropout rate to %10 from the current 15 %. We aim to contribute the solution to this problem with this project “learning through games”. Using games while teaching lessons will be an effective method to increase pupils achievement and to keep pupils aged 11-15 at school. The reasons of absenteeism and early school leaving are the low socio-economic level of families, parents' attitudes towards school, pupils' feeling inadequate in lessons, pupils' not feeling belonging to school, the inadequate interest of teachers in pupils, not existing role models around disadvantaged pupils especially in Turkey. Thanks to the project we will reduce these disparities in learning outcomes affecting pupils. We aim to reach pupils by teaching through games which creates amusing learning atmospheres. Freud defined children’s mental health as “love and play”. Game is children’s most important and serious work. They learn everything in games; they repeat what they learn in games. While children are studying, we must find ways to benefit from games. Taking into consideration this information, games are chosen as an effective way to reach pupils. Thanks to games, we will help pupils express themselves, increase their self-confidence, make them feel themselves valuable, provide them learning environment where the inequality of opportunity in education is reduced, provide comfortable learning environments, encourage pupils use their creativity, develop their problem solving skills and digital skills and provide permanent learning. This project is based on the exchange of good practices. Each partner will share good practices about teaching through games which makes learning enjoyable. There are 6 partner schools. We have a partnership consisting of Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Turkey. In order to achieve our objectives, we will carry out the a series of activities for example: -Hour of Code, Game Day, -preparing online avatars, -a themed lexicon including high frequency and ICT words in all partner languages, -a European Language Portfolio, Europass, -language learning tools and one final collection of internet tools which will be made to public for students, teachers, parents and wider school communities. Methodologies we intend to use are: -identifying specific and measurable goals, -establishing a realistic time frame, -preparing for potential obstacles, -clear planning, -regular evaluation and formal/informal assessments. In the long term, activities will be integrated into the school curriculum to ensure all students/learners benefit. Developing language skills in English as well as in digital competence will allow students and staff to explore things from a range of different viewpoints. The designed activities will provide results and outcomes such as: -an interactive project web space, -preparation and analysis by students of data collated from special events, -an exhibition corner in each school, -games prepared by the students, -coding and ICT tools, -”Game Day” yearly -”Open Day” after each LTT at schools for students, teachers, parents and wider school communities, -a themed lexicon including high frequency and ICT words in all partner languages, -European Language Portfolio and Europass, We expect our pupils to be happier, more active while learning through games. This project will reduce the negative attitudes towards school and provide them an entertaining learning environment. Teachers and pupils will get to know the teaching and learning process in partner schools. They will understand their situation better by seeing the differences and similarities. They will realize the diversity in languages and cultures. They will also have a desire to improve English as a common language. The project will increase the interest of the stakeholders towards the school. The participatipang schools will be an example for the other schools in the neighborhood.
Tackling the problem of early school leaving is the one of the priority targets of Europe. In the Europe Strategy 2020, it has been planned to reduce the dropout rate to %10 from the current 15 %. We aimed to contribute the solution to this problem with this project “learning through games”. Using games while teaching lessons was an effective method to increase pupils achievement and to keep pupils aged 11-15 at school. The reasons of absenteeism and early school leaving were the low socio-economic level of families, parents' attitudes towards school, pupils' feeling inadequate in lessons, pupils' not feeling belonging to school, the inadequate interest of teachers in pupils, not existing role models around disadvantaged pupils especially in Turkey. Thanks to the project we reduced these disparities in learning outcomes affecting pupils. We aimed to reach pupils by teaching through games which created amusing learning atmospheres. Freud defined children’s mental health as “love and play”. Game was children’s most important and serious work. They learnt everything in games; they repeated what they learnt in games. While children were studying, we found ways to benefit from games. Taking into consideration this information, games were chosen as an effective way to reach pupils. Thanks to games, we helped pupils express themselves, increased their self-confidence, made them feel themselves valuable, provided them learning environment where the inequality of opportunity in education was reduced, provided comfortable learning environments, encouraged pupils use their creativity, developed their problem solving skills and digital skills and provided permanent learning. This project was based on the exchange of good practices. Each partner shared good practices about teaching through games which made learning enjoyable. There were 6 partner schools. We had a partnership consisting of Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Turkey. In order to achieve our objectives, we carried out the a series of activities for example: -Hour of Code, Game Day, -preparing online avatars, -a themed lexicon including high frequency and ICT words in all partner languages, -a Europass, -language learning tools and one final collection of internet tools which were made to public for students, teachers, parents and wider school communities. Methodologies we intend to use were: -identifying specific and measurable goals, -establishing a realistic time frame, -preparing for potential obstacles, -clear planning, -regular evaluation and formal/informal assessments. In the long term, activities were integrated into the school curriculum to ensure all students/learners benefit. Developing language skills in English as well as in digital competence allowed students and staff to explore things from a range of different viewpoints. The designed activities provided results and outcomes such as: -an interactive project web space, -preparation and analysis by students of data collated from special events, -an exhibition corner in each school, -games prepared by the students, -coding and ICT tools, -”Game Day” yearly -”Open Day” after each LTT at schools for students, teachers, parents and wider school communities, -a themed lexicon including high frequency and ICT words in all partner languages, - Europass, We expected our pupils to be happier, more active while learning through games. This project reduced the negative attitudes towards school and provided them an entertaining learning environment. Teachers and pupils got to know the teaching and learning process in partner schools. They understood their situation better by seeing the differences and similarities. They realized the diversity in languages and cultures. They also had a desire to improve English as a common language. The project increased the interest of the stakeholders towards the school. The participating schools were an example for the other schools in the neighbourhood.