The LEARNEU project “Learn Europe is a game for young people” has obtained great results in terms of the developments carried out (7 video games and animations) and the number of users, which have exceeded 1000 in the final phase of dissemination of the results, and a short-term impact of more than 20,000 users is expected.
The project arose in response to the current situation of lack of knowledge and mistrust that young people in particular, but also adults, have towards the European institutions and in particular towards those that they feel “less close” from a territorial point of view.
The main objective was therefore to provide education about the European Union and its institutions in a way that is at the same time simple, modern, innovative, immediate and attractive to young people.
The project has created a “space on the European Union” suitable for the new generations with a series of interactive recreational-cultural-educational tools and activities on Europe with the direct and active involvement of school pupils, encouraging intergenerational dialogue and a sense of active European citizenship through digitalisation and gamification.
AIJU has carried out technical tasks in the creation of the tools and has provided expert knowledge, both in the aspects of video game creation and in raising awareness among young people to be able to offer “a new way of explaining Europe and its values” through “serious games” capable of involving students and making them learn by actively participating and having fun, helping to raise awareness of active European citizenship.
The results are now available for use, consisting of a set of video games and animations or complementary lesson recommendations for learning about the European Union and its institutions:
1. The animated history of the European Union.
This is a mixed journey between animated cartoon and live theatrical scenario. It can be accompanied by a live performance, partly animated cartoon and partly dramatised by the facilitators/trainers, who will intervene alongside the animated cartoon to provide interactive moments. A review of the history of the European Union with a cartoon part and another part in which trainers will play specific roles involving the young people in the audience to become protagonists of European history by involving them as “involuntary actors”: the young students will play a role to become historical characters. Multi-player quiz game.
You can see an animated video in Italian with Engllish subtitlesb here.
2. On the Hunt for Europe
This is a collaborative video game in which, by means of a board with squares with the flags of the countries of the European Union, you have to answer questions about each country in which your piece is placed after rolling a die. It can be played individually or with up to four players, allowing you to get to know Europe through the questions of each country.
A total of 2000 questions make up the question base of the game. In addition to the questions about the countries, there are also mini-video games that have to be passed skilfully in order to move from one square to the next. It is therefore a “gymkhana” type video game with the aim of overcoming the challenges in order to achieve the ultimate goal of reaching the final square or treasure first, while discovering and learning as much as possible about the European Union. The game will focus on the elements that characterise the geographical and political morphology of Europe: young people will not only have to remember the different geographical locations of the nations and their relevant cities, but also learn about other traditional elements, representative characters, particular and characteristic elements of each country (paella in Spain; the mandolin in Italy; the kilt in Scotland, etc.).
The videogame is now available to play online here.
3. Who is who?
This is an interactive game in which you have to identify a European character and his or her role. In a sense, it recreates a virtual simulation of the life of an MEP and other supranational bodies with the aim of raising awareness in order to try to get young people to participate more actively in the life of the institutions. The game becomes a kind of interactive manual that provides an understanding of parliamentary action in order to encourage them to believe more in the positive action that the Supranational Parliament carries out in favour of the different Member States: in this way the values, roles and activities that the European Parliament develops are also identified and promoted.
Available for download for Windows, IOS and Android from the official website of the project.
4. Euroquiz
This is a game of multiple choice questions, only one of which is correct, on European issues, being a timed competition in which participants will have to use their smartphones to answer correctly in the shortest possible time. The questions will be asked randomly to the different teams (yellow, red, green, blue) by a small animated mascot who also shows them the possible answers. The competing teams have to answer by trying to get the best possible score. The aim is to learn as much as possible about Europe.
Available on Android for download from the project’s website.
5. Discover core values
This is a team game in which the objective is to guess a secret phrase or word about supranational values, where one player will help his or her teammates by drawing clues
on an interactive monitor without saying a word. The game allows each team (blue, red, yellow, green) to have a marker on an online board where valid answers are indicated.
Available to play online here.
And also for download on Android from the project’s website.
6. I am also an MEP
This is a game that simulates the life of the European Parliament in order to raise awareness about active participation and debate on supranational issues of major interest to young people. The knowledge acquired in game 3 (Who’s Who?) is now used to organise real simulations.
Available to play online here.
7. Recreational training lessons
To complement this, a manual with rules for guided learning has been created for the use of all the project results created in order to help trainers to better and competently use the tools created in order to obtain the best possible result in the implementation of the playful didactic paths created in the project.
Download in several languages available on the project website.
On the official website of the project it is possible to access all the results free of charge.
You will find extra material available for download below such as the presentation of the project, the Games Guide and news related to the development of the project: