Active lessons about the European Union

The educational tool 'Europe@school - Active lessons about the European Union' includes a teachers' manual and seven independent modules. Each module contains guidelines and materials to help educators to teach about different EU topics.

1. 1. Online quiz about the European Union

   This quiz has 12 multiple-choice questions. You can play it in the classroom or with the whole school. There is no limit on the number of participants. Estimated duration: 15 minutes

   • Teacher guidelines for the Online quiz about the European Union
   • Online quiz (about the European Union)

2. 2. The EU Member States

   The aim of this game is to get familiar with the EU's Member States. Students work in teams to crack the code as fast as possible. This exercise aims to encourage students’ curiosity to find out which countries are actual Members of the EU. Estimated duration: 40 minutes

   • Teacher guidelines for the game on EU Member States
   • Educational Game (EU Member States)
   • Presentation (EU Member States)

3. 3. EU history and facts

   This is a question-and-answer card game that contains questions about the EU and its history. This game encourages students to memorise answers to the questions and therefore learn about the EU while playing. Estimated duration: 40 minutes

   • Teacher guidelines for the card game on EU history and facts
   • Educational Game (EU history and facts)
   • Presentation (EU history and facts)
   • EU Timeline - Printable timeline of the European integration process ( EU Treaties)
   • EU Timeline - Printable timeline of the European integration process (Countries)

4. 4. The EU in our daily lives

   This game is dedicated to instances when the students encounter the EU in their daily lives, including some concrete examples of EU legislation. In this elimination game, for each given example, students indicate whether they think it is EU legislation or not. Estimated duration: 20 minutes

   • Teacher guidelines for the game on the EU in our daily lives
   • Educational Game (EU in our daily lives)
   • Presentation (EU in our daily lives)

5. 5. EU values

   This module begins with a four-of-a-kind game, through which the players can discover the EU's values and some concrete examples of how they are put into practice. Students are then asked to critically reflect on them with an individual exercise. Finally, they further improve their democratic skills with a class debate, with 16 statements to choose from. Estimated duration: 30 minutes + 10 minutes per statement

   • Teacher guidelines for the game on EU values
   • Educational Game (EU values)
   • Debating exercises and statements (EU values)

6. 6. European Parliament role-play game

   This role-play game puts your students in the shoes of a Member of the European Parliament. For one to two hours, your classroom becomes the European Parliament itself, and your students discuss how they would tackle different current EU topics such as global warming, tobacco rules and an EU army.

   • Teacher guidelines for the role-play game on the European Parliament
   • Educational game (European Parliament role-play)
   • Presentation (European Parliament role-play)

7. 7. Media literacy

   This lesson includes an exercise that teaches students how to identify potentially manipulative content and lets them discuss how to avoid falling for it. It consists of a mix of group activities and presentations. It also shares tips based on games on the topic and suggestions for further reading and lists of European fact-checking organisations.

   • Teacher guidelines for the module on media literacy 
   • Presentation (Media literacy and introduction to disinformation)

8. 8. Teacher's manual

   The manual describes the concept of the tool, its modular approach and active methodologies, and its educational principles. It also includes a list of complementary learning resources.

   • Teacher's manual (Active lessons about the European Union)