By Globers
Hello everyone!
We are Laura, Lucía and Oriol, three Spanish participants who took part in a Training Course called “Future Bricks”, funded by Erasmus+ and which took place in Dobczye (near Krakow), Poland.
The main goal of the project was using LEGO Serious Play method to reflect on the concept of “futures thinking”.
Futures thinking is a strategic approach which has the idea to explore different possible futures scenarios, taking into account the uncertainty of the future, especially in a fast-changing World like the one we currently live in. The main objectives of futures thinking are to develop the capacity to proactively anticipate changes, gain problem-solving skills, recognize opportunities and critically analyse our preferred future while taking steps towards it in the present moment.
On the other hand, LEGO Serious Play is a creative method that uses LEGO bricks in order to imagine, build and reflect on new ideas.
For a better understanding of the concept of futures thinking and LEGO Serious Play, we will explain an activity we did as an example. We splitted into groups of 4–5 people with the idea to reflect on the future of the World regarding topics such as the future of social relationships, the future of technology, the future of music and art, the future of education, etc. In each of these groups, we used LEGO pieces to create how we imagined the future of society regarding these subjects.
Once we finished to build, we presented our LEGO creations to the rest of the participants, sharing all the different concepts we took into account while making our structures and opening debates with all the participants to share the varied perspectives that each one had. These activities were especially enriching, since we could develop our creativity while also learning from the points of view of people from different Countries and backgrounds.
This project was facilitated by Mateusz and Vera, who both are certified in Lego Serious Play. The facilitators gave us the theoretical basis that
we needed to take part in the practical activities that they also designed for this project. The training took place in a natural and relaxed area in Dobczye, which is a town near Krakow. We all agree that the coordination of the project (including the training, accommodation, food, activities, etc.) was really good and we are grateful for it!
The Erasmus+ Training Course program focuses on non-formal education, which means that the training is not about sitting in a chair and listening to the teachers giving a speech in a classroom for hours, but it’s much more dynamic. This kind of trainings are based on the proactive participation of all the international participants involved. This means that there’s space for all participants to give their opinions and propose activities, this way we all learn from each other and we make the project all together.
One of the most common activities during the day were “energisers” which are playful activities that have the objective to take a break from the main subject of the project and refresh our body and minds, thus increasing the energy levels of each participant. These kinds of activities were also really useful to get to know each other better and connect as a group.
Apart from learning about the subject of the project, we also increased our knowledge about the different languages, cultures, foods and ideas that came up from the participants during this intercultural project.
We were around twenty participants from North Macedonia, France, Turkey, Latvia, Greece, Italy, Romania, Poland and Spain. The different countries, ages and backgrounds of the participants really enhanced the richness of the project, since we often had really varied perspectives on any topic that would come up during the week.
We had intercultural evenings and all kinds of activities to learn from each other and connect as a group. It’s very beautiful to see how deep the connections can be in an international group like this in just one week!
Towards the end of the week, we also had the chance to visit Krakow, which is a beautiful and vibrant city with lots of things to do. We walked around the city, ate the local food and we got to know each other better. For the three of us it was our first time in Poland and we came back to Spain with the satisfaction to have discovered such an interesting Country.
We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in a project like this. If you are doubtful about participating in an Erasmus+ project, we would really recommend to you taking the step! You will meet other curious international youngsters who want to learn and grow together. This is the kind of amazing experience you will never forget!
Many greetings from all of us,
Laura, Lucía and Oriol