2023-06-26
GEM IN – Game to EMbrace INtercultural education
The GEM IN - Game to EMbrace INtercultural education project aims to promote intercultural education, European values and mutual understanding of cultures and traditions among young people. It is a KA3 (Social Inclusion) project, coordinated by CESIE. The project partners are from Cyprus, Greece, Austria, Portugal, and France. The project manager who coordinated it was Giovanni Barbieri, who in turn organised it as a scaling up of a previous project, the GEM project, funded by the Anna Lindh Foundation, which involved the creation of a board game and proved to be very successful and was included in the UN Good Practices.
The main objective of GEM IN was to develop a board game created by the partners with the aim of disseminating an inclusive and intercultural educational methodology. Each partner in the development of the game worked on the creation of questions on different school subjects, many of them based on local cultural references. In this way, the students participating in the game were able to learn about the cultural references of the countries involved in the project, in addition to the classical scientific subjects. In addition, the game was produced in all partner languages as well as in English.
The target group of the project was young people aged 14-18 years and non-formal teachers and educators. The game can be used in both formal and non-formal settings. Besides the game, the project also created the GEM IN Common Values Archive, which can be consulted on the project website.
Before the final result was finalised, the teachers involved in the pilot activities were trained online, explaining the purpose and use of the pedagogical kit. Then they were involved in pilot workshops, organised in schools and youth centres. The same methodology and project development was carried out in all countries of the partners involved.
The project was a success, involving more than 1000 young people. Both the young people and the teachers or non-formal educators expressed strong appreciation for the methodology, the quality of the game, their emotional involvement in the game and the reflections that resulted. In addition, a digital library of information on the topics covered has been created from the cards and questions in the game and is freely accessible to everyone. The game is very practical and cards with new questions can be freely created, so the game can be used for different purposes and even developed in different languages or new subjects can be added. Versatility is its main feature.
The idea of learning by playing helps to create a supportive environment where every student has the opportunity to succeed. Play breaks down barriers, puts everyone on the same page, stimulates curiosity and encourages participation. Through play, students become more receptive to learning and are encouraged to embrace and, in some cases, value diversity. Similarly, the role of the teachers is crucial, as it leads them to take responsibility for ensuring equal access and understanding of play for pupils. The GEM IN project is an excellent example of good practice. Creating a new game would be a complex task that would require a lot of time, but the fact that it is freely available and easy to modify and adapt makes it possible to use it as a basis for creating new pedagogical paths.
