The theme of the project is fake news and propaganda in the past and now. It addresses two horizontal priorities: Social inclusion and Supporting individuals in acquiring and developing basic skill and key competences. Besides cultural awareness, social and civic competences and communication in foreign languages, the project focuses on sense of initiative and entrepreneurship. A workshop on fake news, conducted at school, created a need for fostering critical thinking, online safety and tackling fake news and other forms of misinformation, propaganda and populism online and in the media in general. The project aims at developing critical thinking skills by exploring events preceding WW II; studying current affairs and a literary text; using strategies to identify fake news; learning about the reasons behind the production of fake news and propaganda; developing visual literacy skills for spotting elements of propaganda and manipulation in posters and the news; developing the ability to argue by exploring topical issues; developing initiative and entrepreneurship in key stages of the project – finding sources, processing information and the presentation of project results. Partner schools have been chosen carefully to enable us to achieve our objectives. Polish school is situated in Gliwice, where the Gleiwitz incident at Radio station Gliwice unleashed WWII. History and propaganda can also be explored in nearby Krakow with Schindler`s factory, and in Auschwitz – Birkenau. Poland offers ample opportunity for exploring and comparing current affairs and social issues related to the theme. The partner school in Slovenia is an important partner as we aim to juxtapose a large school in an urban area and a small school in a rural area to find out if and how social circumstances affect teenagers` susceptibility to fake news and their ability to think critically. The project will include 15 students and four teachers who are involved in a project on initiative and entrepreneurship. The project team includes an English teacher, a Psychology teacher, a Sociology teacher, and a Slovene teacher. Partner institutions from Poland and Slovenia will include students who participate in extra-curricular activities related to project themes. The project teams include English teachers, History teachers, a teacher of the Polish Language. The main project activities include surveys to assess the baseline situation and the final situation, and the achievement of objectives during the project. Workshops in Poland - exploring the available literature on WWII in Poland, the role of propaganda and populism before WWII and the events leading to it - are aimed at preparing students for on-site education – excursions to Gliwice Radio Station, Memorial and Museum Auschwitz - Birkenau, Schindler`s Factory. Students collect sources, which are used in workshops that promote visual literacy and critical thinking. The second physical exchange in Poland explores resources to draw students` attention to current affairs, topical issues, fake news in the media. Cultural and political circumstances are studied to define their significance in creating and spreading fake news. They are debated; critical thinking is encouraged through various activities such as case study scenarios. On-site education in Slovenia takes place at Maribor Synagogue and National Liberation Museum, where students` critical thinking is acquired by actively participating in workshops on the century of war, daily life during WWII, human rights and social inequality, the consequences of prejudice and negative cultural stereotypes. The novel I Saw Her That Night will be read and discussed, students acquire skills that enable them to prepare questions to interview the author. Surveys conducted at the two partner schools from Slovenia assess differences between people living in urban areas and those from rural areas in adopting positions, and whether modern media narrows the gap and reduces disparities. Students` initiative and entrepreneurship will be promoted in all project stages – finding relevant literature, the exploration of the novel, organizing facts, the presentation of the project, and dissemination on schools` websites, by conducting workshops for schoolmates, primary school pupils and parents attending open days. The outcomes produced include: approaches and topics that are relevant and that integrate good practices and new methods into regular activities. This leads to increased ability to think critically when accessing news, information and propaganda, and greater understanding of the importance of being informed; a more positive attitude to European values; greater understanding of social and cultural diversity; increased sense of initiative and entrepreneurship; increased competence in foreign languages and social skills, as well as increased level of digital competence and literacy.
The theme of the project was fake news, propaganda and manipulation in the past and now. It addressed two horizontal priorities: Social inclusion and Supporting individuals in acquiring and developing basic skill and key competences. Besides cultural awareness, social and civic competences and communication in foreign languages, the project focused on sense of initiative and entrepreneurship. Awareness of polarization by misinformation and disinformation created a need for fostering critical thinking, online safety and tackling fake news and other forms of misinformation, disinformation, propaganda and populism online and in the media in general. The project aimed at developing critical thinking skills by exploring events preceding WW II; studying current affairs and the novel I Saw Her That Night; using strategies to identify fake news; learning about the reasons behind the production of fake news and propaganda; developing visual literacy skills for spotting elements of propaganda and manipulation in posters and the news articles and messages; developing the ability to argue by exploring topical issues; developing initiative and entrepreneurship in all the key stages of the project – finding sources, processing information and the presentation of project results. Workshops in Poland - exploring the available literature on WWII in Poland, the role of propaganda and populism before WWII and the events leading to it - were aimed at preparing students for on-site education – excursions to Gliwice Radio Station, Memorial and Museum Auschwitz - Birkenau and Schindler`s Factory. Students collected sources, which were used in workshops that promoted visual literacy and critical thinking. The second physical exchange in Poland explored resources to draw students` attention to current affairs, topical issues, manipulation in visual and audio messages and included creation of socially-engaged and advertising posters. Cultural and political circumstances were studied to define their significance in creating and spreading fake news. On-site education in Slovenia took place at Maribor Synagogue and National Liberation Museum, where students` critical thinking was acquired by actively participating in workshops on the century of war, daily life during WWII, human rights and social inequality, the consequences of prejudice and negative cultural stereotypes. The novel I Saw Her That Night was read and discussed, students acquired skills that enabled them to interview the author. Due to Covid-19 and restrictions in travelling during the first year, an additional LTT activity was organized – virtual LTT activities. Covid-19 and the vaccines controversy provided an opportunity to illustrate the project`s main theme with topical media content - by providing ample examples of conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation and topical issues, which made the theme of our project more relevant and contributed to the project being more relevant and beneficial, and developing critical thinking more meaningful. During physical LTT Activities, workshops and field work activities were implemented as planned. The participating pupils studied the materials, learnt the subject matter in theoretical parts of the workshops, which was invariably followed by outputs created by the participating pupils and reflected their acquired knowledge and skills. The project`s main results are materials that were used to train the participating pupils to prepare them for LTT Activities, and materials created by the participating teachers and trainers and used during LTT Activities, and outputs created by pupils in groups. The outputs created include PowerPoint presentations, leaflets, videos, posters, reports, photo essays and online quizzes. The outcomes include approaches and topics that integrate good practices and new methods into regular activities. This led to increased ability to think critically when accessing news, information and propaganda, and greater understanding of the importance of being informed; a more positive attitude to European values; greater understanding of social and cultural diversity; increased sense of initiative and entrepreneurship; increased competence in foreign languages and social skills, as well as increased level of digital competence and literacy. Increased 21st century skills are an expected outcome not only for the participating pupils but also for the participating teachers, who have gained experience in running projects, overcoming obstacles, team work and perseverance. The involved schools acquired greater recognition in their local environment and widely, as the project was presented at a regional event internationally. A most profound effect that exceeded our expectations is the effect the project had on the involved pupils with special needs, who despite disability proved that they are capable of not only contributing to such projects equally, but also enriching them.