Learning through football
As the May 2010 UEFA Champions League Final approaches, children throughout Europe are invited to try out over 300 game-based learning activities at Footee and to take part in Grassroots Day.
This year’s themes for schools are ‘being a team player’ and ‘winning and losing’. European Schoolnet have been working with UEFA and the developers MotivatED to ensure activities appeal to young football fans across Europe and to ensure a good fit between the games and national curricula. Many of the games are designed for use on interactive whiteboards.
Grassroots Day celebrates grassroots football across Europe. Held three days before the sport's highest-profile professional club match – the UEFA Champions League final – UEFA Grassroots Day recognises the opposite end of the football spectrum without which the elite could not flourish. In addition to the main event in Madrid, UEFA Grassroots Day will also be marked in each of UEFA's 53 member association countries; keep up to date with the activities planned in your country or region by visiting the UEFA Grassroots Day website. In the lead-up to 19 May – and beyond – the site will also provide educational material on key topics such as winning and losing and teamwork. Teachers, coaches and parents can access online lessons designed to aid youngsters' understanding of values that have huge sporting, educational and social significance.
By becoming a registered user, schools and clubs can take advantage of the videos and games available on this interactive website, comparing their performances against those of other users via the online tables. Prizes too are up for grabs, including UEFA Champions League table football games, computer games for consoles, and balls and coaching jackets courtesy of adidas.
Footee 2010 is a free online education resource that builds on football’s appeal to young people 6-12 and their love of games, competition and social networking to make learning effective and fun. With more than 300 games to choose from, including online sessions against friends and safe online chat facilities, Footee users (of whom there are already over 10,000) have many opportunities. They can design their own avatars, explore the Footee Town – with its café, stadium, gym and marketplace – or earn points to ‘buy’ players for their teams by playing games (and thereby acquiring and consolidating curriculum-related skills and knowledge in a playful way). There’s even the opportunity to collect and swap virtual stickers of their favourite players. Click “What’s it all about” at Footee for a quick tutorial on Footee 2010.
Every time children use Footee, they’re completing wide-ranging curriculum-based activities. Clicking on the Parent/Teacher tab at the top of the page reveals a drop down menu with Lesson Plans and Activities and articles on ‘Footee 2010 in the Classroom’, ‘How Footee Links to the Curriculum’ and ‘Online Safety’. Activities are linked to the curriculum and are intended to help learning mathematics, language, science, sport, geography and history as well as developing cross-curricular subjects and competences like citizenship, health, technology, problem-solving, learning to learn, teamwork, and digital literacy.