Training course „Restart the game “
6th-14th of August 2015
Countryside outside Pärnu Estonia
About project
28 participants – teachers and youthworkers from Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Turkey, Belgium, Jordan, Moldova and Georgia.
Schools are places for acquiring knowledge and if they include a good citizenship policy and motivation, they can be perfect for growing responsible adults willing to participate actively in society and build a healthy democracy all around. In this project we dealt with the teachers in order to share a taste of non-formal education methods and tools to improve the learning experience of the young people. We provided a space for them to discover experiential learning and many games, which could be very powerful tools to support young people in gaining new competences (skills, knowledge and attitudes). Debriefing techniques and facilitating have been key parts of the success of these tools.
As a result of the project we had many intangible outcomes (mainly the raise of quality of the activities developed by the participants and the partner organization in the future) and also tangible, such as new tools adapted to the specific needs and skills of the participants, and all those new tools have been disseminated through the different communication channels (Facebook, websites, Salto-youth Toolbox...).
A group of 9 partner organizations , sending 2-3 participants each and 2 trainers met in Parnu (Estonia) during 9 days to share their cultures, to learn from each other and, most importantly, to discover all the possibilities of using the games as a powerful tool in learning process.
Our aim in this project was to share experiences and develop competencies on using GAMES in non-formal settings not only as an element of fun, but as an effective learning opportunity for youth. We achieved it using Experiential Learning approach and counting on the active involvement of participants at all stages of the project. The intercultural side of the project was very important in order to achieve high quality results (especially, because in this project we gathered participants from 3 different regions), each country had different perspectives of games in society and they brought interesting approaches to the tools. Also the specificity of schools the teachers work in and students that they target added different view-points to the topic.
The main impact was at the participants and partner organizations, as they improved the quality of their daily work, and this had a big multiplier effect, as all of them were actively involved in working with youth people aged 13+.
The long-term effects will be a new generation of citizens, engaged and empowered in their communities, and also future projects among the partner organizations in different educational fields.
