Enhance SEL skills of secondary school students through collaborative MINecraft gaming Environment (SELsMINE)

Project Acronym: SELsMINE

Project Start Date: 1^st May 2022

Project End Date: 31^st May 2024

The project is funded by the “Erasmus +“ program.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected more than 1.6 billion children and youth in 161 countries due to schools closures. This is close to 80% of the world’s enrolled students. Starting the school year late or interrupting it completely, disrupts the lives of many children, their parents, and teachers. A lot can be done to at least reduce the impact through remote learning strategies. Maintaining the engagement of children is critical. Going to school is not only about learning math and science, but also about social relationships, collaboration and peer-to-peer interactions. It is about learning to be a citizen and developing social skills. School students need opportunities to develop social-emotional learning (SEL) skills that not only improve academic performance, but also increase empathy, reduce depression and stress during these tough times of social isolation and are highly effective in addressing initiatives like anti-bullying, diversity and inclusion, and special education. However, schools often struggle to find ways to integrate SEL skills enhancement into their e-learning curricula. SEL emphasizes mastery of 5 core skills that prepare students for social success, as well as boost academic achievement.These are:

– Self-awareness

– Self-management

– Social awareness

– Relationship skills

– Responsible decision-making

The common practice in most countries is to use all possible delivery modes with the infrastructure that exists today, such as learning management tools,video calls,forums etc. to assure that learning materials, videos, tutorials, and other resources are available to students. But also, TV, games, mobile phones and social networks could provide a new effective approach to remote learning in terms of maintaining the social relationships and peer-to-peer interactions.

Target groups:

Teachers in lower primary and upper secondary level of education

Schools and educational institutions

Educational stakeholders/policy makers deciding about subjects covered by school curricula

Project results:

R1: Development of evidence-based handbook for SEL delivery in Minecraft – comprises the activities for identifying, conceptualising and developing a step-by-step guide, that will support educators to deliver SEL skills fostering through the game-based environment in Minecraft

R2: Development of a SEL Educational Gameplay in Minecraft – aims to provide the required digital resoures, that will be utilised by educators according to handbook to deliver remotely SEL instruction.

Partners:

DANMAR COMPUTERS SP ZOO– RZESZOW, Poland (coordinator)

UNIVERSIDAD DE VALLADOLID– VALLADOLID, Spain

ASSERTED KNOWLEDGE OMORRYTHMOS ETAIREIA– ILIOUPOLI, Greece

ATERMON B.V.– ROTTERDAM, Netherlands

NATSIONALNA ASOTSIATSIA NA RESURSNITE UCHITELI – SOFIA, Bulgaria

EPI FIVE SPÓŁKA Z OGRANICZONĄ ODPOWIEDZIALNOŚCIĄ – WARSAW, Poland