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Tag - Critical thinking

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.

Get yourself empowered. Groningen, Netherlands, 2019

About the project
"Get yourself empowered" was a Youth exchange held in the city of Groningen, the Netherlands during the period of 23rd of June – 1st of July, 2019. This YE brought together 30 participants from Spain, Latvia, Poland, Greece, Romania and The Netherlands. This was the first youth exchange to be hosted by Logos Netherlands

Being millennials, we are raised in this society where social media, internet-of-things and innovative technologies are very important in our daily lives. How does this actually affect us and how are we dealing with it?
We are used to the fact that we can Google everything, which makes information easily accessible. But is all of this information honest and trustworthy? The availability of information and our fast-growing society puts also pressure on us to perform. On the one hand: this allows us to grow, which is great. On the other hand: how do we deal with this pressure?
During the exchange we focused on answering this question by providing participants with a ‘mental’ toolkit, and experiencing the topic from different viewpoints with the ultimate goal of empowering ourselves and the people around us.

Project Aim

We equipped youth between 20-30 years with tools to empower themselves on critical thinking and mental health. This resulted in more aware and knowledgeable youngsters
which went home with tools and ideas on critical thinking and mental health. They can apply these tools in their daily life and local organizations

Project objectives

- To introduce the topic of mental health
- To understand the power of critical thinking
- To recognize fake news and false information
- To equip participants with a set of practical tools to deploy critical thinking and mindfulness
- To test different mind growth techniques, such as yoga / pilates, mindfulness, bodymind connection, clean listening, meditation, sports, expressing emotions, and many more.
- To promote mental health and the use of positive psychology
- To learn from each other’s cultures
- To have fun!

Check this video from the project:

Uploading…Critical Thinking. Potenza, Italy, 2019

About the project:

"Uploading... Critical thinking" was a training course that took place in Potenza, Italy between 6th and 14th of February, 2019 and was created by Logos and EURO-NET. This project was made within the framework of Skepsis movement. It was made and co-funded under Erasmus+ programme.

Project aim
The aim of the "Uploading…Critical Thinking" was to gather youth workers, trainers and leaders from 6 EU countries (Italy, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Spain, Greece) who would learn together about the international movement devoted to developing critical thinking and promotion of the media literacy skills among young people and to develop ideas for future activities and projects in terms of this movement.

Project objectives

  • Provide youth workers with tools and knowledge on the topic critical thinking and media literacy
  • Increase understanding of how media and social networks affect our perception
  • Increase media literacy among the participants
  • Develop skills of critical thinking among participants
  • Continue the work from YE in the sphere of building the concept, vision, brand, logo, motto, and possible activities for the movement devoted to the critical thinking and media literacy
  • Find common ground and innovative ideas for future partnership working using the skills and лnowledge of people from diverse backgrounds
  • Develop future projects on the topic
  • Raise participants' awareness and understanding of other cultures and countries

Project results

Participants of the "Uploading…Critical Thinking" worked on the creation of various tools for developing critical thinking and media literacy skills. These tools are available in the folder below. Feel free to use them for your work.

Project partners

Following organisations partnered in this project:

  • EURO-NET - Italy
  • Logos Polska - Poland
  • Erasmus Student Network Greece (ESN Greece) - Greece
  • AROUSA MOZA - Spain
  • Hea Hombre - Estonia
  • Logos Latvia - Latvia

Critical thinking – clean mind. Lviv, Ukraine, 2018

The main aim of the youth exchange Critical Thinking Clean Mind was to gather young people from 6 countries who worked together to improve the international movement devoted to developing critical thinking and media literacy skills among young people and to create ideas for future activities and projects in terms of this movement.

At this YE, we shared the initial idea of the Skepsis movement and allowed participants to be part of creating this movement.

For seven days (24th of May - 3rd of June, 2018), we worked on the movement’s concept, vision, possible activities at local and international levels, project plans, etc. We also created simple tools which could help to develop critical thinking, media literacy and help with dealing with fakes and disinformation.

At the end of the Youth exchange, we ran an open event in Lviv, where we invited locals to learn about the project and critical thinking. We had over 40 guests at this event.

Have a look at the video below which was made during the open event in Lviv.

And here are some simple tips on improving your critical thinking and media literacy

As a result of this project, participants created various tools for developing critical thinking and media literacy. Theses tools include workshop, videos, infographics, quest, etc. You can find them as well as other materials on critical thinking in the Skepsis movement open folder:

 

This youth exchange was initiated by Logos and Shokkin Group Norge and was funded by the Norwegian national agency within Erasmus+ programme. It was implemented by 6 organisations:

Shokkin Group Norge
Norway

Logos Ukraine
Ukraine

Logos Polska
Poland

Asociatia pentru Dezvoltare Creativa
Moldova

Karas
Belarus

Shokkin' Group Danmark
Denmark

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