
Project's topics: Media literacy and tackling disinformation; Creativity, arts and culture; New learning and teaching methods and approaches
KA1 - YOUTH EXCHANGE
"Criti?al th?nking"



About the project:
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The aim of our project is to create a space, where during the time of youth exchange participants, aged 18-25 from 5 different countries can meet, share their cultural peculiarities, share their own experience and the most important - learn new about critical thinking and develop their own knowledge all together.
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One of the objectives is to learn how to use the skills of critical thinking more effectively in daily life and while making important decisions take into account their own needs and wishes that are not imposed by society and advertising. Our aim is during the duration of the project we want to develop our analyzing skills, skills of making an argument and of how to achieve your goals.
Day 0. Welcoming day!
Taevaskoja was ready for the guests and international inhabitants, who are seeking new knowledge and experience…
First ones, who arrived at the destination were Lavian team - all together they came in one car and implementing team was ready to welcome them. After 1,5 hours we were ready to welcome others, who were coming by train. There were people from Curacao, Moldova, Italy and Estonian team. With a 20 minutes delay the train came and after everyone went out from the right door, we put all the baggage into the cars and were ready to go to the project venue. Arrived!
After the small opening words of Sasha, the first thing that we did was dinner. Then was the first session - circle of names and 2 truths and 1 lie. Now we know that the Italian clock system is a little bit different - they are not late, they are on time, but on their own time, and there are a lot of people here, for whom it is the first Erasmus project.

Day 1. Welcome everyone and let's get to know each other and make some rules for our time together.
We started with receiving notebooks for our further work, and then introduced our 2 new Italian participants… First thing that we did together was a chair changing game.
- I am Kira and I have been to Italy twice
Silence and sitting italians… They live there all their life, so should they stand up and change the place?
- I am Alexander and I love training.
Silence. Admiration and ovations for the only hero.
The next activity was to remember the names better, so we went outside and made two circles.
Lina Lina, Manuel Manuel. Did everyone remember the names? If not, go to another circle!

Next part was to draw our portraits on the envelopes. For sure, there were some similarities. We ended our first session with taking our pair to exchange the cups and speak with this cup-elevator friend. What is your favorite color? How old are you? Are you studying and what are your hobbies?
It was possible, but what about “Mission Impossible”? 15 tasks in 30 minutes and as an outcome - the flag of the project looks amazing and so does the group portrait drawing too, the lines from the poem of the project topic sound absolutely great… Do you still remember the participants' handshake? And of course, the best storylines…
But let's take a break. It's time to try Estonian Kama and after that Volleyball! After the break it was time for a small hike. Walking and talking with your pair, thinking about your life decisions… And finally we reached our destination - the Taevaskoja river. The last session back in the activity room was about fears and expectations. The net of wool was very tangled, but also full of important words and thoughts.


Day 2. Out of The Box
Misty morning, stretch with Alexander and his 3 sporty followers - not bad for the beginning at all! We started our day with the dancing energiser. Kirill almost guessed the right person (let's not mention that he started to point at everyone in a row). After the energy level was highered we started with gossip and some information. Pasha has beautiful eyes and Alexander stole someone's heart…
Small rock-paper-scissors energizer to continue with breaking the ice between us. But now enough talking, it's time to train our brain muscles and get to know the “Out of The Box” games! Did you get the rule of Black Magic? Can you be one of the magicians? Well, before the coffee break, some people had a brain explosion and some were feasting their win.
And after the break it was time to get into the topic. What is critical thinking to me? How do I use it and how does society and surroundings affect it? We had time to work in groups and then present one of the topics that we discussed. Then the next session started. “Light the candles” they said and left us alone with a lot of different similar items. What were the rules? What should we do and how? When the first marker was received, we started to work together and accomplish different tasks. Let's hope that now we will be more respectful to each other and look after each other, so even if you are left behind the wall or stay outside the house, you won't be left there without support. On that day we also had our first cultural evening made by Latvian team. Now we know that Latvian flag means, traditional dances and places to visit.


Day 3. Arguments
Argumentation and opinion formation. The Hand of Opinion was there to help you to have your word. Studying abroad or in your own country? What do you think about the language of education you will gain?
Then we talked about how to build an argument. Thesis-Explanation-Example-Conclusion. Youth and Politics - should they be involved more in what is happening in their country? We had a small debate about that and then it was time to go and refresh our minds.
Italian team, your session was the next one. We started with capoeira basics and experienced the language of this fighting dance. It was a nice warmup before going outside to do the treasure hunt. Of course there was a team, which made it the fastest way, but let's be honest and accept that we all won the game at that moment, when the treasure hunt was announced because the most precious treasure that we could find in Taevaskoja except the knowledge is the people around us. It was a really nice activity and after it we had a deserved rest.
And what was next? The story of Abigail.
Day 4. Olympic games
The first session was an Olympic game for the brain. Do you know what to say in the interview? Did you find the pair of the same name and trained your memory? Did you manage to make a trip plan? What has keys but cant open the locks and do you know where to find Totoro Ethos? The questions were answered and all the stations were completed!
After the break there was Moldovian session. King, king - give us a soldier! The soldiers did their duty and after that we started our debates. The discussion was filled with different arguments and opinions, but at the end the judges made their choice and we had a talk about the topic.


Day 5. Preparations
Our fifth day. And it started with Latvian session. Next session started with information about the trip to Tartu. From today some sessions will be for us to work in small teams and make workshops for local people. Let's get out of our cozy bubble and spread the information and knowledge that we gained here to new folks!
Physics helped us to make a molecule of 6 membered teams and refreshed our knowledge about how the atoms move and how temperature influences their speed. What will be the ideas of the workshops? The brainstorm went well, but how will the
preparation go?
And you can always read more here...