Eduskills.plus.Media – Photography as a tool for fostering media education in kindergartens Erasmus Project

Project Title

Eduskills.plus.Media – Photography as a tool for fostering media education in kindergartens

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Today’s children are growing up surrounded by media. They use it intuitively and without fear. But in order to make their use safe, effective and constructive the handling with media should be learned just as other any other skill. Through media education in kindergartens children can learn about the use and creation of media and its content. The focus in kindergartens should be, in contrast with the usual use at home, not only on the proper handling of media but much more on using media as tools to realize one’s own ideas and goals. Through early media education kindergartens can help close the digital divide and help all children lay good foundations for later media literacy and skills.
Our project aims at creating opportunities for children to get to know, think about and experiment with the medium of photography. Today, pictures are the basis of media; they are a form of communication, but also a form of deception. Being able to critically evaluate pictures is becoming a necessity in the digital age, where most pictures are manipulated in one form or another. With simple activities children can learn how photography can stage reality (with the use of perspective, lighting or simply by choosing what to leave out of the picture), how it can change the past by cutting elements out, how it can “improve” reality (filters, Photoshop) etc. With playful activities with stop motion technique they can experiment with making moving pictures and build their understanding of videos. Photography also offers an excellent opportunity for children to actively use media. They can work on their own topics, learn about and create photography art and they can get to know the language of the media and understand its tricks. Using photography, teachers can involve a wide range of topics, from culture and creativity to science and social topics. All this is possible without major investment into pricy equipment.
The objectives of our project are:
1. To develop materials for active use of photography in kindergartens
2. Try out practices in kindergartens
3. To inform kindergarten teachers of the importance of early media literacy and their own role in laying the foundation for later digital skills of children
4. To inform parents about the appropriate use of media by children
The final product (output) of the project will be the portal “Photography for kids” – a portal for kindergarten teachers with all relevant information about the introduction and use of photography in kindergartens and information about media education. The portal will be available in 5 languages, among them 3 small European languages.
The portal will offer:
1. Didactic materials for photography in kindergartens
2. Handbook for teachers on media education in kindergartens
3. Information for parents
4. Practical online tools and templates for teachers to enable them to create games and activities based on children’s photographs
We foresee impact on our three target groups (teachers, children, parents) and beyond:
1. higher level of awareness of teachers about the importance of early media education
2. higher motivation of educators to use media in kindergartens creatively
3. better skilled educators (ICT, culture)
4. higher level of basic skills of children (media, culture, science…)
5. higher level of media awareness of children
6. higher level of awareness about media use and media education of parents
7. More awareness of policy makers of the potential and challenges of media education in kindergartens
8. higher level of public awareness for the importance of life-long media education

Project Website

https://media.eduskills.plus/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 154734 Eur

Project Coordinator

Inter-kulturo mednarodni kulturno izobraževalni center d.o.o. & Country: SI

Project Partners

• Zavod za fotografsko terapijo
• Vrtec Tezno Maribor
• International Kindergarten OÜ
• STUDIO GAUS GMBH
• Djecji vrtic Pcelica