In order to tackle new challenges associated with young people’s use of social media we are committed to the creation of new scenario based programmes of learning, based on stories that children tell us about their online experiences.
We turn the stories that children tell us into short films and develop active learning strategies in response to those films. This approach to learning is built on a substantial evidence base, for example Herbert and Lohrmann (2011), concluded that:
“Active learning strategies are key to effective health education, as they allow students to apply knowledge through practice.”
They identified three active learning strategies which were evidenced in all effective curricula: role play, group cooperation and small group discussions. We ask children to step into the roles of the characters in our films and to practice skills they might use if they find themselves in the role of the bystander or the victim. An established body of evidence suggests that the rehearsal of refusal and resistance skills is more likely to lead to positive behaviour change than simple awareness raising activities. Thomas et al. (2015) found that:
“Curricula were effective only where they included teaching social competence skills, whereas those focusing on knowledge alone were ineffective.”
During the last 10 years we have worked with delivery partners in over 300 schools to continuously monitor the effectiveness of our interventions. If you are considering becoming a partner you will find evaluation reports from previous projects below.
