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Description
40% of high school students in Romania do not understand texts that they read at first sight and have difficulty with simple logical deductions. Adolescents are exposed to a multitude of extreme phenomena: bullying, fake news (in the absence of media literacy courses), depression (social comparisons, pressure for school performance etc.), discrimination and populism. Civic education is the "Cinderella" of the formal education curriculum: "in the gymnasium, the topics of the course are obsolete with 14-year-old textbooks" (Romanian Students'' Council), while in high school it’s an optional subject, although civic education is a priority according to the Youth National Strategy 2014-2020. There is a lack of coherent, practical, interactive tools and civic responsibility actions to encourage pupils to become agents of solidarity and positive change. Aim: involve 1200 pupils in a gamified civic education program to develop their personal, social and civic competencies and critical thinking skills. Objectives: 1.Create a national network of 60 high school teachers to accumulate through 2 training courses the tools, competencies and knowledge needed to support the accelerated growth of civic education among adolescents and to change the class management / civic education (60 classes / ± 20 students) into authentic learning contexts and transformational learning contexts. 2. Introduce, through the multipliers network, the educational board game Hi-Quest in 15 high schools (60 classes) in Romania, for 14 weeks, to prepare 1200 students to become active citizens of the communities they belong to. Hi-Quest will be played by pupils and is based on the "conquest" of 7 thematic cities by solving missions and challenges: Decidopia, Empathyville, Civiburg, Creativitown, Autocotrolia, Realopolis, Divercity. 3. Organize 1 awareness campaign to encourage active citizenship among multipliers and pupils through 100 in 1-day event - 100 simultaneous civic interventions
Summary of project results
The project''s aim was to involve 1200 pupils in a gamified civic education program to develop their personal, social and civic competencies and critical thinking skills. The idea started from the desire to combat the civic apathy of young people and the lack of practical and interactive working tools and civic empowerment actions that encourage high school students to become active citizens and involved in the development of civil society.
A national network of 58 high school teachers was established. In the first stage, the selection procedure of the mentor teachers was carried out, 14 mentor teachers were selected who participated in the first training course for the classroom implementation of the Hi-Quest educational tool and familiarization with
gamification methods. Together with 343 students, they implemented the prototype of the Hi-Quest boardgame in high schools, and then they gathered in an evaluation and mentoring session where they improved the game and prepared for mentoring other multiplier teachers to implement the game in the
second stage. Following the feedback received, another 60 pieces of the final improved versions of Hi-Quest were produced. In the second stage, another 44 teachers were selected, who were trained in 3 training courses to implement the final Hi-Quest game that reached another 1069 students, totaling 1412 final
beneficiary students who had access to this complex learning tool (from 21 cities and 39 high schools).
Following the organization of 20 civic education workshops and the 100in1day awareness campaign, the global initiative brought to Romania for the first time, initiated by the students of the Captain Civic community, the impact was : the students became familiar with the educational game and with topics such as self-knowledge, diversity and anti-discrimination, decision-making, critical thinking, active citizenship and volunteering, 64 civic interventions carried out within the campaign in which 2731 beneficiaries participated with the aim of bringing a positive change in the local community.