Presentation of the new manual and online game “EKO PATROLE” in Šibenik.

On Saturday, October 26, at the Orange Building in Šibenik, we presented and disseminated Eco Patrols, a manual for the informal education of young people on environmental topics, as well as the online game “Eco Patrols in 24 Zones” both designed to teach young people about the environment and ecology using informal methods.

The manual and game were created as part of the two-year project Eco Patrols 4 Environmental Goals, supported by the Murter-based Argonauta Association. The idea for this project stemmed from a similar initiative, the Blue Eco Patrol, which involved implementing a comparable program with slightly younger children in seven elementary schools in the Šibenik-Knin County. This earlier project also resulted in a manual, which was published in 2020. Due to the success of the project and its results, Argonauta decided to elevate the discussion of environmental topics through informal education to an international level. They gathered partners from Hungary, Italy, Serbia, and North Macedonia, and together they co-designed the content for a new manual aimed at slightly older participants.

The modules covered in the manual include eco-literacy, biodiversity, climate change, waste management, energy and resources, water, sustainable agriculture, and environmental activism.

Each module was tested with about 20 young people in each partner country, with the tests in Croatia conducted at the Antun Vrančić Gymnasium in Šibenik.

A digital dimension was added to the project through the development of an e-educational game, designed as a teaser to encourage young people to take civic actions related to challenges in the fields of the environment and climate change.

Teachers, professors, youth workers, and members of organizations and associations working with young people were invited to the dissemination event. They had the opportunity to participate in several activities from the manual and to play the online game, all to inspire them in carrying out their own activities with young people. The manual (which was distributed to participants at the end of the presentation) and the online game will undoubtedly make it easier for them to prepare content and materials on various environmental topics quickly and effectively.

For anyone else interested in exploring or downloading the manual and the online game, these resources are available on the website https://eco-patrols.eu/, with direct links to the manual here and the e-game here.

Additionally, the Eco Patrols 4 Environmental Goals project is funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ program. The project has a budget of €250,000 and will run until February 1, 2025.