Project Summary 

International Links Global, acting as coordinators, together with its partners: Kokoro in Portugal, University College Lillebaelt in Denmark, and Skole Longyearbyen in Svalbard (Norway), have created an Association for a three-year KA201 project focused on the creation and implementation of Game Based Learning (GBL) materials for students using GBL (including the development of a Board Game), Project-Based Learning and Digital Competence tools as a focus in order to teach a number of subjects, although focusing on the Climate Emergency as a cross-curricular element.

The main objective is creating and experiencing materials to provide teaching training materials, resources and content for Primary education where pupils work on projects in the areas of Language, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences and English, among others, encouraging critical thinking, teamwork and the development of creativity. These materials can be used as part of their curriculum as a complement for the basic subjects mentioned. As a cross-curricular element in the materials 21st Century Skills will be used widely. The final product will be made available for the wider teaching community, and a Good Practice Guidelines will be also compiled and published in order to multiply the effect of the project.

These cross curricular materials, as a primary output of the project, are based on a learner-centred approach to empower learners to help developing a game that would be used by many more pupils, to conduct research, integrate theory and practice, and apply knowledge and skills to develop a viable solution to a defined problem. We want to integrate learning in a wide range of subjects and areas, create a collaborative and democratic environment and involve learners in self-directed learning. At the same time other results are expected as an outcome in pupils learning such as motivation and engagement in the activities, self-assessment, progress measurement, and last but not least, GBL as a pedagogical base of the curriculum.

For this end, a range of activities and outputs have been proposed: training in GBL methodology and 21st Century Skills (including PBL, Digital Competency, Robotics/Coding and Problem-Solving Based Education), development of a Board Game in order to tackle the Climate Emergency, job shadowing in each of the countries of the association, a pupil exchange in each of the countries of the Association, a group on Microsoft Teams as main platform to share resources, and a number of Transnational Project Meetings to allow correct management and coordination, plus Multiplier events in each of the countries involved.

This project was funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ programme.

Participants (12) 

WALES

International Links Global (project coordinator: Ruben Chapela-Orri)

Ysgol Emmanuel, Rhyl                                              

Christchurch CP School, Rhyl                                

Ysgol Y Castell, Rhuddlan                                       

Ysgol Bryn Hedydd, Rhyl                                                         

Ysgol Llywelyn, Rhyl                                                                 

DENMARK

UCL ERHVERVSAKADEMI & PROFESSIONSHOJSKOLE SI (Local Authority)

Agedrup Skole

Skt. Klemensskolen                                                                   

Næsby Skole                                                                                

PORTUGAL

Associação Kokoro (Local Authority)

NORWAY (Svalbard)

Longyearbyen Skole                                                                                 

Intellectual Outputs (5) 

O1 – Baseline Assessment and Impact Review 

Baseline assessment and final assessment that were used to generate an impact assessment review and report. The questionnaires were completed by teachers and pupils, and together with other project evaluation tools, results were gathered as part of an Evaluation Report.

O2 – Board Game for Climate Emergency solutions
A set of 4 board garmes were developed by LTT teachers under the coordination of Kokoro, following their training and the results of the baseline assessment collected from school teachers and pupils. All games were tested and published in the final year of the project. The four board games are now available here [1. Trees and chimneys, 2. Alien Allies, 3. Regenerate, 4. Our Super World]. 

O3 – Teacher Training Materials 

All resources created for the LTTs were collected and used to create a toolkit for teachers. These include documents, power point presentations, webs and videos.

O4 – Lesson Plans / Didactic Units

Each participant schools designed a total of 3 lesson plans and 9 teaching resources, producing a total of 30 lesson plans suitable to teach different subjects and year groups, using Game Based Learning methodology and a total of 90 resources. These plans were piloted and assessed during the final year of the project, 2022-23. They are now available here. Lesson plans are also available in Welsh.

O5 – Good Practice Guidelines

Fictional teacher Dulce Mente reflected on the organisation and success of each of the project mobilities, extracting her own conclusions relevant for the teaching community and for those who would like to read further about this project or design their own application. This resource in available in English and Portuguese.