JEAN MONNET
Play with Eu was promoted by the University of Bologna in cooperation with Baolab soc. coop., and is supported by the European Commission through the Erasmus+ Program - Jean Monnet action, which aims at promoting excellence in education and research about the studies on the European Union.
The project intends to increase young students’ interest in the EU by letting them develop their own tools to study and learn about the EU. More than 200 pupils (aged 11-13) will be involved in a creative workshop: initially they will be trained on the history of the European integration, its values and the EU policies affecting citizens‘ life; then they will rework the information acquired with the aim to develop an educational game on the EU.
The game will be co-designed and co-developed by pupils under the guidance and inputs provided by academic staff, youth educators and school teachers, in a multidisciplinary approach proposed by the Department of Political and Social Science of the University of Bologna, BaoLab cooperative active in education and visual methods and a lower secondary school of the Bologna District.
The game will be a multimedia and interactive resource accessible online, to be played in classroom or in families, with the aim to learn about the EU while having fun. It will consist of a pathway, where different characters enjoy a journey into the European Union. The pupils will design the pathway, the dice, the pawns and the tasks assigned to each step (e.g. questions, enigma, find the intruder). Each task will direct to a secondary multimedia resource (video, audio, cartoon, graphic creations) also produced by students.
The final goal is to develop an innovative methodology to teach the EU to young people, based on one side on gamification, on the other side on co-design and self-production by students and for students.
The major outcome will be evaluated by pupils and teachers different from those involved in its creation and invited to pilot test the game. The expected impact is to increase interest in understanding and participation in the European Union among lower secondary school students, leading to a more active citizenship.
