The aim of this project is creating, testing, improving and spreading around of an innovative educational tool - ON-LINE GAME which simulates refugees’ fate as well as ACTIVATE LESSONS’ PLANS. It will support diversity, promote equality, non-discrimination and build social, civic and intercultural competence based on European cultural heritage values in the context of migration crisis in recent years in Europe among school teenagers from Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. THE ON –LINE GAME SIMULATOR connected with school activities will be an effective tool to face the problem of refugees which is present among teenagers from Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Thanks to ON-LINE GAME students will have possibility of being an avatar/hero – the citizen of Africa/ Middle East, who because of socio-political situation is forced to escape from his/her country (becomes a refugee). A student, impersonating his/her avatar/hero, will take key decision, very often dramatic ones which influence on his/her fate similarly to decisions taken by contemporary refugees. Such an approach will let teenagers understand life drama being connected with escaping from their own country. They will get to know about consequences taking decisions in such dramatic circumstances. Taking part in lessons, led according to ACTIVATE LESSONS PLANS, will increase students’ knowledge in the area of Civics, Geography as well as History subjects and empathy for other people’s fate, understanding the problem of refugeeism as well as sense of responsibility for common values based on European cultural heritage. Students will improve their social, civic and inter-cultural competence which are based on European values, also knowledge considering problem of migration crisis. The new created educational tools are part of the core teaching curriculum (as part of global education) in Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic within such a subjects as Civics, Geography, History, Ethics or Educational lessons. ON-LINE GAME will be a kind of simulator in "LET'S PLAY - LET'S LEARN" technology. The tool will be based on ‘gamepetition’ so mechanisms existing in games will be used to educational purposes. Identifying with a main hero by impersonating his/her avatar will be a definitely effective educational tool based on making relation-interaction between them. ACTIVATE LESSONS PLANS will include proposition of methods and ways of working with students adjusted to needs and expectances of a given group, its maturity and involvement, time and goals which will be achieved. During these lessons student won’t be a passive receiver of lesson, as it happens in traditional methods of teaching, but he/she will actively take part in each one. Both gained knowledge and attitudes which will be learnt by students thanks to this educational method will bring further outcome – that is preserving among teenagers values of European cultural heritage as basis of further existence in their adult lives, which will decide on improvement’s directions and moral rules valid on our continent. The target group of this project: 1) Primary schools and training institutions ( there will be about 19 thousand primary schools and training institutions from Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia which will be able to use this educational tool) 2) Educational staff- teachers of humanistic subject, class teachers and school counsellors (about 30 thousand teachers from primary schools from Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia who will be able to use this educational tool in didactic process) 3) Schoolchildren (about 2 million students at the age of 10-16 attending primary schools from Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia who will get the opportunity to use this educational tool i.a. 180 students taking part in testing stage) 4) On spreading around stage- school managing staff, teachers, school counsellors, psychologists, school managing authorities, policy makers, universities and students. Partnership in this project: - Leader – European Foundation of Development playing the role of ‘donor’ of this method and implementer, - Partners- schools/institutions from Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia as practitioners in educating young people. The realisation of this project consists of 3 main stages: creating the ON-LINE EDUCATIONAL GAME which simulates refugees’ fate and ACTIVATE LESSONS’ PLANS about refugees, testing new created educational tool as well as spreading it around. In The spreading around stage the new created tool will be transferred to project target groups from Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. In this stage some conferences, seminars and mailing will be organised.
The goal of the project, which was achieved, was to create, test, refine and disseminate an innovative educational tool - REFUGEE FATE SIMULATOR - ON-LINE GAME and 20 ACTIVIZING LESSON SCENARIES to support diversity, promote equality, non-discrimination, learn history, geography, build social competences , civic and intercultural activities based on the values of European cultural heritage in the context of the migration crisis that Europe has been facing in recent years among schoolchildren from Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The SIMULATOR combined with activating activities has become an effective tool to deal with the problem of approaching the issue of refugees from Africa/Middle East that prevails in these countries. SIMULATOR making the topic of refugee real, where students can play the role of a person forced to flee from their own country and learn on their own skin the real human dramas that such a situation involves. LESSON SCENARIOS, on the other hand, increase knowledge in this area, empathy for the fate of other people, understanding of the problem of refugees and a sense of responsibility for common values based on European cultural heritage.
The project responded to the issue of refugees that prevailed in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This was largely due to the refugee crisis of 2015. where the number of migrants and refugees coming to Europe from countries in North Africa and the Middle East has skyrocketed. This subject has become a tool of political struggle, many myths and half-truths have accumulated on television and the Internet, which directly translated into the attitudes of schoolchildren, which were far from the values based on European cultural heritage. Few schools organized lessons on refugees. As a result, young people from these countries often did not have access to a reliable source of knowledge on this subject, and the lack of knowledge in turn influenced the attitudes of students. Many surveys/studies showed that reluctance to accept refugees in Poland, Slovakia or the Czech Republic was most often expressed by young people. The partnership, based on previous experience in initiating pro-education activities and after conducting a thorough analysis of the above-described problem in each of the partner countries, decided to implement a project that enabled the creation of an effective educational tool to combat this phenomenon.