"AWAKE Attention, Perception, Concentration, Experience - Learning According to Neuro-Science" is a project in the field of school education that takes on the challenge of restoring the basic attention of children to enable a natural learning process. All of this is embedded in the “Theater” learning environment, since here all neurosensory stimuli occur naturally and are continuously triggered during play. The results of the 28-month Erasmus + project AWAKE are a mixture of further training, modern teaching materials and video instructions that are freely available on a project website. Attention is the greatest force in the learning process. It makes it possible to grasp something new and unexpected. Attention is the prerequisite that the necessary information is generated in a learning process through the perception and opening of the senses. Attention is not only an integrative requirement for cognitive, sensory and motor performance, for the development of knowledge, but overall for the development of the personality. Significant motor, sensory and cognitive development problems have been observed in children in recent years and decades. The children have increasing difficulties in being curious, attentive, awake. With AWAKE, teachers are introduced to the neurosciences and a mix of materials for further training and use in class is developed for them. The goals of the project are: - Bringing together neuroscientific knowledge and pedagogy - Recognize children's problems in terms of attention, awareness, concentration, learning problems in general, social and personal problems - Preparation of an exercise pool with materials that trigger attention - Conception of an ideal learning environment in the form of classic theater, since all neuroscientific aspects are incorporated here - Creation of a digital teaching material mix, which is prepared from interactive content for learning the basics, a simple implementation of the learning environment "theater" in practice and teaching materials for practice with professional video instructions - Empowering teachers to rehearse a play (which can be performed in all participating schools at Christmas at the end of the project) - Creation of a curriculum for training and further education based on the project content and results The target groups in the AWAKE project are primarily teachers from the compulsory schools for 6 to 14 year olds. The project deals with scenes from the classic plays "Romeo & Juliet", "Midsummer Night's Dream" and "The Talisman". The AWAKE project is carried out with a total of four partners from Austria, Germany and Romania. The participating organizations have specialized knowledge of education, neuroscience and theater. Their common drive is to improve the situation in which many children find themselves - the lack of attention and ability to concentrate on the part of schoolchildren, which prevent them from acquiring basic and key competences and subsequently also to be able to participate in society as a full member. Teachers learn about the neuroscientific processes that take place in learning processes in humans and are sensitized to the topic. With modernized interdisciplinary teaching, the students in the AWAKE project gain basic knowledge of how learning works, what positive emotions and experiences can be connected with it and how these can be reinforced by changes in attitudes. They also immerse themselves in the world of classical theater and get to know the drama. The project includes multiplier training in which 60 teachers from Austria and Romania are trained based on the content and results of the project. An international conference will take place in Vienna in the summer of 2022 to make the topic of neuroscience & education accessible to a wider public. The intellectual achievements of the project will be available in digital form in three languages (German, English and Romanian) and also enable non-project teachers from other EU member states to carry out the theater project in their classes. The dissemination of the results is supported by a large number of associated partners who are involved from the start of the project. The project covers several desiderata from the European Commission regarding the promotion of key competences for lifelong learning, development of learning competency in the sense of "learning to learn", reduction of early school leaving and the use of digital technologies in teaching in modern teaching.
The main goal of the project was to provide a mix of information/tools/materials to those educators who are in the classroom, with which the attention of the children can be increased in an uncomplicated way: - the combination of neuroscientific findings and their comprehensible translation into everyday pedagogical practice - helping to recognise children's problems with attention, perception, concentration and general learning problems, and - preparing a comprehensive collection of exercises and games that can counteract these problems - demonstrating the holistic learning environment of "theatre", producing professional video instructions and materials for rehearsing a play at school - creating a curriculum for training and further education based on the project contents and results - combination of several events with the target group to give the topic a broad publicity
Attention is the greatest force in the learning process. It makes it possible to grasp new, unexpected things. The role of attention in the learning process is crucial. It not only enhances people's cognitive abilities to see and understand the world, but also enables them to act competently and effectively in it. In this respect, attention is also comparable to a character trait. Increasingly, however, significant motor, sensory and cognitive developmental problems are observed in children. The children have increased difficulties in being curious, attentive and awake - with well-known consequences from everyday school life such as acute attention and concentration problems. The AWAKE project is designed to meet the challenge of increasing children's basic attention in order to facilitate a natural learning process. On the one hand, the target groups are given insights into neuroscientific basics. On the other hand, this is to be done away from the traditional classroom environment in the learning environment and with instruments of classical theatre, where attention, intensive perception, imitation, improvisation, listening and learning are an integral part.