Dissemination of the Manual and Online Game “ECO PATROLS” in Zadar, Croatia

On Thursday, November 28, in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zadar, we presented and disseminated Eco Patrols, a manual for informal youth education on environmental topics, along with an online game, Eco Patrols in 24 Zones. The game aims to teach young people about the environment and ecology through informal methods.

The manual and e-game were created as part of the two-year project Eco Patrols 4 Environmental Goals, led by the Murter-based association Argonauta. The project concept was inspired by the Blue Eco Patrol project, previously implemented with younger students across seven primary schools in the Šibenik-Knin County. That initiative, which also led to the creation of a manual in 2020, was a success. Due to these positive results, Argonauta decided to elevate the initiative on environmental topics to an international level by collaborating with partners from Hungary, Italy, Serbia, and North Macedonia to create content for a new manual geared towards slightly older participants.

The manual’s modules cover topics such as ecological literacy, biodiversity, climate change, waste management, energy and resources, water, sustainable agriculture, and environmental activism.

Each module was tested with around 20 young participants in each partner country, and in Croatia, the testing took place at Antun Vrančić Gymnasium in Šibenik.

To add a digital dimension to the project, an e-educational game was developed to encourage young people to take civic action on environmental and climate challenges.

Teachers, educators, youth workers, and members of organizations involved with youth were invited to the dissemination event. They participated in several activities from the manual and played the online game, gaining inspiration for conducting their own activities with young people. The manual (which attendees received at the end of the event) and the online game will ease the preparation of environmental content by providing easy-to-access resources on various environmental topics.

Anyone interested in browsing or downloading the manual and online game can do so on the website at the links https://eco-patrols.eu/manual/#language-versions and https://eco-patrols.eu/e-game/.

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