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Skepsis Movement

Skepsis. More than just tools. France, 2022

The "Skepsis. More than just tools" is a 7-days training course on critical thinking that was held in France, in October 2022. 

The training course involved participants from 6 countries: France🇫🇷, Poland🇵🇱, Malta🇲🇹, Spain🇪🇸, Croatia🇭🇷, Latvia🇱🇻

The project aimed to increase critical thinking skills among youth leaders, youth workers and NGO activists and their stakeholders through learning about tools and methods to improve critical thinking and by creating tools and workshops which later would be used in local communities.

We had a lot of activities devoted to raising critical thinking and media literacy skills. We spent these days learning, сhilling, visiting Carcassonne castle, playing games, getting to know each other cultures  and more other interesting things. 

We would like to express our gratitude to all the partners involved and the hosting organization, Amitie Franco Russe Languedoc and to Erasmus+ for this project to happen.

At the project participants worked in several groups creating various materials connected with critical thinking. Below you can see the results of their work:

Tools:

1. Quiz on how to differentiate misconceptions from real facts.

Link: https://create.kahoot.it/share/misconceptions/64e5446f-da1f-4357-bad2-cb2b55f84708  

2. Video that presents logical fallacies.

Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PkyTOST8CrVGthyXujuSwXYgU3a0OPHT 


 

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Critical thinking — Youth against propaganda. Toila, Estonia. 2022

The "Critical thinking - Youth against propaganda!" is a 7-days long training course that took place in Toila, Estonia and was devoted to the issue of developing critical thinking and media literacy skills.

We were in amazing country Estonia 🇪🇪. And there we were talking more about propaganda, fake news, disinformation. Popular topic, as usual. We had a possibility to implement various of activities, even to visit a local media. So that was a nice practical opportunity to see how news creation process looks from inside. 

As a result:

  • We increased critical thinking skill among participants of training course and their stakeholders;
  • We improved quality of youth work in partner organisations;
  • We created 6 tools and workshops about critical thinking for youth workers which can later be applied at local communities;
  • We developed new activities within the Skepsis Movement movement to have better continuation and spreading of ideas about critical thinking.

Project was conducted by two trainers, who are working in the field of media literacy and critical thinking, Veronika Kurkina and Viktoriia Nuzhdova. 

Thanks to hosting and participation organizations:

Progress Center Estonia Associació Cultura Creativa CreativePlus FORUM 16 Giovani Iddocca

Participants of the project in international teams created 5 tools for critical thinking promotion among youngsters that are open for public, below you can find more information about it:


Skepsis vs Propaganda. Sivas, Turkey, 2022

Training course "Skepsis vs Propaganda" was implemented in Sivas, in June 2022 under the funding of Erasmus+ programme.

One more project within our movement "Skepsis vs propaganda" was done! 

The idea of the project was to bring 28 young people from 8 different countries to Sivas, Turkey, and to talk more about how to deal with the amount of fake information circulating all over the Internet and how to apply your critical thinking project to it. 8 days of learning about cognitive biases, logical fallacies, misconceptions, and, of course, propaganda, disinformation, hoaxes, etc. 

During the project, participants created 7 tools, which can later help to share the knowledge of informational distortions to the target group, namely young people, youth workers, and their stakeholders. Besides that, participants discovered more about Turkish culture, especially Sivas considered to be one the most conservative city in the whole country. 

They had a possibility to look for city treasures like mosques, museums, and cafes.

As a result of the project, local volunteers came to see what kind of tools we created and how they work. 

  • Tool №1. Emotional Thinking. Workshop on identifying your emotions.

Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YC_O0OFSeXNwZG_gNDm3Oinnl_U4bYK4?usp=share_link 

  • Tool №2. Fake Hunter. Website on critical thinking materials. 

Link: https://bit.ly/FakeHunter 

  • Tool №3. Historical Tool. Know your history to identify fakes. 

Link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ton0Ipx5Rd6n3gcpRqTEwcPK9d_9Nru2/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=109711573818977678404&rtpof=true&sd=true 

  • Tool №4. Media Laborynth. A Game to promote critical thinking.

Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1X2dENYtRtu8cVVgevTpsQ_lu_kLpNgsI 

  • Tool №5. Perform and Debunk. Presentation. 

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o2aeuKh7Tut4aacYk47l_V5l6ONVN542/view?usp=share_link

  • Tool №6. Triangle. Introduction to CT

Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XUwjOOWF9QZ3viPrMJ4ZPqYzl0dBINkQ?usp=share_link 

  • Tool №7. Where the telescope is? Infographics.

Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1rDRwOqX4t9f1cE2Yy1KWSSk0Xb2LLxIU  


Critical Power. Spain, Vilanova de Arousa, 2022

The "Critical Power" training course, which was held in Vilanova de Arousa, Spain in March 2022, was part of the Erasmus+ program. It was conducted within the context of the Skepsis movement.

The "Critical Power" training course funded by the European Union's Erasmus+ programme, brought together 20 youth workers from Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Belarus, Georgia, Greece, Malta, and Spain to develop critical thinking skills and information analysis techniques.

The course, taught using non-formal education methods by Veronika Kurkina, an expert in fake news, was made even more relevant by the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine and the accompanying propaganda and misinformation.

Through group work and discussions, participants were able to analyze propaganda, disinformation, and misinformation techniques and learn how to fact-check information.

Here you can find verified sources about the situation in Ukraine: https://war.ukraine.ua/support-ukraine/
Different ways how you can help Ukraine from any place of the world (not only financially): https://linktr.ee/ukraine_ua

Project was organised by Logos together with partners Arousa Moza and supported by Erasmus+  programme.

Participants of the project in international teams created 4 tools for critical thinking promotion among youngsters that are open for public, below you can find more information about it:

1. How to understand what biases and framing are and how they affect our processing.

3. How to understand the knowledge of forming arguments for a conversation with person who is misinformed.

2. How to recognize fake photos and media manipulations based on them.

4. How to understand the spectrum of opinion and use it during everyday life decisions.

Skepsis. Learning never ends. Kolin, Czech Republic, 2021

“Skepsis. Learning never ends” is a training course that was held in Kolin, Czech republic. This project was about critical thinking and media literacy, made as a part of the international Skepsis Movement.

For 7 days participants discussed fake news and how they are spreading. How people and institutions manipulate our opinion. How countries wield propaganda and what we should do with that. We debated about active citizenship and democracy, played lots of Kahoots and got everyone a pair of beautiful Skepsis socks.

As a part of the project, participants developed some workshops, which could be used by youth workers, educators and NGO activists when educating about critical thinking and media literacy. And now we want to share them with you:

  • Fake news, Fake Photos. This workshop will let you understand how to spot fake news and fake photos. 
  • Gender stereotypes in media. You will learn about gender stereotypes on the media, recognize them, find new solutions in order to break them.
  • Manipulation during elections workshop will give you understanding which techniques are used during the elections to manipulate voters behaviour.
  • Defeating propaganda workshop will teach people about techniques of propaganda used in politics and commercials and how to not be influenced by them
  • Thanks to the Soft power in movies, TV shows workshop one will learn how soft power is used in movies and TV shows and how they influence our perception to events presented in scenes
  • Strategies for developing critical thinking. This workshop will let you understand the methods of developing critical thinking and choose the one suitable for you

This project was implemented by Logos and CEFIG together with partners E U R O S U D , CIA Gostivar, Labdaros ir paramos fondas „G vaikų pasaulis", Goodness of People Sweden, GEYC, Asociación Las Niñas del Tul with the support of the Czech National agency and Erasmus+  programme.

Each folder contains workshop description and all necessary materials, printouts. Feel free to use these tools in your work and share it with your partners!

Fake news, Fake Photos.

Gender stereotypes in media.

Manipulation during elections workshop

Defeating propaganda workshop

 

 Soft power in movies, TV shows workshop 

Strategies for developing critical thinking.

Critical force. Poznan, Poland, 2021

Critical force was a training course that took place in Poznan, Polan in July, 2021. This training course was devoted to topics of critical thinking and media literacy. It was hosted by Logos Polska and implemented by a consortium of partners from different programme and partner countries. The audience of the training course were youth workers, youth leaders and NGO activists.

At this training course we covered various topics:

  • Cognitive biases
  • Logical fallacies
  • Media literacy
  • Misconceptions
  • Strategies for development of the Critical Thinking
  • Fighting propaganda
  • Photo fakes
  • Debunking fakes
  • Working with sources
  • Fact-checking
  • Experiential learning and non-formal education
  • Developing own workshops and activities

We made 2 open events - an intercultural party that took place in the local bar Barbarka and an open event to present the results of the project developed by participants. We had around 60 people at intercultural event and about 35 at the project results presentation event.

Project partners:

  • Logos Polska
  • Planbe Plan It Be It (Cyprus)
  • «Karas» (Belarus)
  • VsI Kurybingumo ir Inovaciju Centras, Lithuania
  • Logos Ukraine
  • Solidaried'arte (Portugal)
  • Moldoway (Moldova)
  • ALTER EGO (Greece)

This project was supported by the Polish national agency and Erasmus+ programme

Training course "Critical force" was made as a part of the international Skepsis movement

Please see the results of the project - different workshops made by participants of the training course

Skepsis – critical thinking in tools. Beziers, France, 2021

Skepsis - critical thinking in tools was an international training course that was developed by Logos and AFRL. We spoke about critical thinking, media literacy, fakes, misinformation, misconceptions, cognitive biases and much more. This project was implemented within the international Skepsis movement devoted to the development of critical thinking and media literacy

During the project, we had a meeting with the mayor of Agde. Mister Gilles D'Ettore met with participants of the training course to discuss youth participation and the role of media in political life. They also learned about the history of the city and asked questions directly to the Mayor. That was a pleasant and interesting meeting for us.

After receiving knowledge on the topic, participants created their own tools and ideas about critical thinking.

At the end of the project, we made an open online event (https://www.facebook.com/events/282275840007966) to share tools and ideas that participants of the training course developed. This open event was attended by people from 9 different countries.

We want to thank our lovely partner Amitie Franco Russe Languedoc for organising it, our other lovely partners for supporting and taking part Baltijas Reģionālais fonds Brno for you, z.s. Asociación Las Niñas del Tul Pozitiva Samobor PlanBe, Plan it Be it Global Union for Innovations, Development and Education - GUIDE

This project was supported by Erasmus+ programme and Agence Erasmus+ France Jeunesse & Sport. Thank you very much for helping us!

Tools

At the project, participants worked to create various tools which could be used for education on critical thinking and media literacy. See them below and feel free to use any that you find interesting.

Cognitive Bias Practical Activity

This game aims to be aware of how easily you can be tricked by your brain by putting in practice various cognitive biases in a funny way. (30-45mn)

Posters about critical thinking

Use these posters to illustrate your workshop on critical thinking or for decoration

Critical thinking online interactive game

Play together with Skepsotron to learn about misconceptions and fakes. Click the link to play - https://www.thinglink.com/video/1437027929220448258. Or you can play it on our website below

Think critical. Skepsis. Poznan, Poland, 2020

During 23-30 of August, under the coordination of Logos NGO, we had a possibility to implement a project "Think critical. Skepsis" in Poznan, Poland. This project was implemented within the Skepsis movement 
For a whole week, we have been working on the themes of critical thinking and media literacy with 4 countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia.
Trainers presented some interesting information on cognitive biases, logical fallacies, misconceptions, fake news, and fake photos. Then, participants were asked to create their own workshops and they did it in an amazing way:
- Some of them staged interactive theatre including logical fallacies and cognitive biases.
- Some people designed stickers on "Smart fact-checking"
- Another team made a Kahoot presentation of biases.
- Moreover, one team decided to involve an article analysis of the Russian vaccine.
- And the last team also did an incredible thing. They filmed a video, a social experiment, you already saw on our page.
Unfortunately, the project is over. Everybody is already home. Because of the pandemic situation, some activities were cancelled, but anyway, the project was really educational.
Don’t forget that the learning process can be also fun and not exhausting!
The project was supported by International Visegrad Fund.
We have created a website where all the outcomes you can find. You can definitely use it and share it with others.

Logos organization and Skepsis movement are thankful to all of you, partners, and participants, for this educational project to happen. We hope you found out new knowledge or at least now know the direction to move on.

This project was developed and hosted by Logos and implemented together with our great partners:

Critical thinking – healthy food for your mind. Beziers, France, 2019

Youth Exchange “Critical Thinking- Healthy Food For Your Mind” took place in France, Beziers on 14-22nd of October, 2019. We made  this youth exchange within the framework of the international Skepsis movement. Our dear partners from France -  Amitie Franco Russe Languedoc "AFR" hosted this project.

The project aimed to gather young people from 6 countries and let them work closely to increase the involvement of youth organisations in partnership projects in the youth field. Participants shared experiences, worked with non-formal tools to develop critical thinking and media literacy skills and ideas for future activities and projects in the youth field and within Skepsis movement.

A long term goal for the conference and for the movement is to raise participants awareness and understanding of other cultures and countries through reducing of the negative influence of disinformation and takes which produce hatred and can lead to the rise of intolerance and discrimination.

Project partners.

We implemented this project together with the group of partners from the EU and partner countries:

Logos Polska

Karas

AFRL

Logos Ukraine

Opora

Logos Latvia

Logos NGO

Project results.

At the project participants learned about critical thinking and media literacy. As it was youth exchange they created their own educational materials on the topic. When working in groups they made some videos, memes, collages. All of these materials were later presented on a web-site made by one of the project participants - Vadym Havrylenko

The web-site is available at this link - https://cthffym.logos.ngo/ and we welcome you to check it out.

Thinking habit. Riga, Latvia, 2019

About the project

"Thinking habit" was an international training course that took place in Latvia between 6th and 13th of October, 2019. At this training course, we worked with youth workers to develop their critical thinking skills. We also created workshops to develop critical thinking in local communities. This training course was developed by Logos and Baltic Regional Fund and implemented within Skepsis framework. The project was made under Erasmus+ programme and supported by the Latvian National agency.

Project aim

Our aim was to increase critical thinking skills among youth leaders, youth workers and NGO activists and their stakeholders through learning about tools and methods to improve critical thinking and by creating tools and workshops which later would be used in local communities.

Objectives

  • Increase critical thinking skill which is a relevant skill not only for civil society but for youngsters striving to be employed as well
  • Improve quality of youth work in partner organisations through cooperation between them and/or other stakeholders within the Skepsis
  • Promote active citizenship and and understanding of democratic processes through knowledge on critical thinking and media literacy
  • Create tools and workshops about critical thinking for youth workers which can later be applied at local communities
  • Fight fakes, propaganda, prejudice, misinformation,etc.
  • Develop new activities within the Skepsis to have better continuation and spreading of ideas about critical thinking

How did it go

At the training course, we started with learning about basics of critical thinking and media literacy, diving into the world of fakes, biases, logical fallacies and conspiracy theories. After that participants developed their own ideas for workshops about critical thinking and media literacy. At the end of the training course, we made an open event open for external guests. At this event, attended by almost 50 people, we introduced the idea of Skepsis movement and presented workshops made by participants.

Workshops made by participants

Below you can find results of participants' work - workshops that were created at the training course.

How to make a decision using critical thinking - "Are you well equipped to take decisions". This workshop was originally prepared for the people who are taking leadership roles in NGOs and are looking for a ways to make decisions within their organisations. But as we practiced the workshop we found out that it can be applied to anyone who is in the process of making a decisions, including personal
ones. At the project we tested the method on about 10 people, who managed to take decisions on issues they had.


How to recognise fake news using CRAAP method - "Cut the CRAAP".  This workshop was developed by the group of participants who wanted to have an easy tool to detect fakes in media. It was originally created to be used during the upcoming Youth Exchange that one of the participants was preparing. CRAAP method is about analysing the article with 5 different arguments: Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose.


How to spot fake news - "Do you news?". This workshop has its goal of introducing learners to basic concepts of critical thinking and media literacy. It can be used in the class by teachers with some practical examples and debates included.


Applying critical thinking when using social networks - "Mind in action". At this workshop, there were several learning objectives - to present the tool to recognise truth from false, to bring participants attention to the content they consume, to make learners think before they post something in media. Main specifics of this workshop is that it is about social media usage and this is one of the most important topics today.


Affect of media on young people's life - "Should we believe in media?". This workshop is mainly about the media and helps learners to understand that not all that seem true is true and also to identify pros and cons about social media framing. Also this workshops includes many visual examples of fakes and misinformation which would be interesting for young people.


How our background affects how we perceive information - "Tell your story". At this workshop, learners get to see how their background affects the way they see the information. What makes this workshop different is that it can be made for young people aged 7-14.