
Between 8,9,30 May 2023, we organized workshops with Two schools ”Riga secondary school no.86” and ”Sala Secondary School” as part of the “DisinformACTION! – Counter Climate Change Disinformation through Youth E-participation” project.
The workshops aimed to equip students with the knowledge and skills to identify and counter misinformation and disinformation surrounding climate change, while also empowering them to find their voice and stand up for issues related to climate change.
The workshops were conducted using an interactive and participatory approach. The methodology involved the following steps:
a. Selection of participating schools based on their interest and commitment;
b. Signing a collaboration protocol with the schools, stating all the details of the collaboration;
c. Conducting a qualitative research among the students through pre and post questionnaires, designed to measure the level of knowledge and confidence in the topics before and after the workshops;
c. Facilitation of the workshop sessions in each country designed to be engaging, informative, and age-appropriate.
d. Use of multimedia resources, group discussions, case studies, and interactive activities to enhance learning.
The workshop covered the following chapters:
- Chapter 1: Critical online citizens
- Chapter 2: Effective online communication
- Chapter 3: Climate Change Ambassadors
- Chapter 4: Digital tools for e-participation
The order of the chapters is different from the application stage, as during the process of creating the methodology and activities, the partners noticed that it is more logical to switch two of the chapters (3 and 4).
The workshops were delivered by experienced facilitators who combined their expertise on the topics with pedagogical skills. The sessions were designed to be interactive, fostering active student participation. The delivery approach included several non-formal education methods, among which:
a. Engaging multimedia presentations to convey information effectively.
b. Group discussions to encourage critical thinking and knowledge sharing. c. Hands-on activities to enhance understanding and application of concepts, as well as different digital tools.
d. icebreakers and team building activities
e. debates, simulations
In Latvia we partnered up with 2 schools from Riga and Sala region and we reached 101 students from 6 classes, aged 15-19 years old. We applied the previously developed Climate Change Ambassadors Methodology, split into 2 days (since all the activities last around 4 hours, it was too much for just 1 day, which is why we agreed with one schools to have 2 hours in one day, and 2 hours the next day).
We have agreed with the 2nd school to implement the 4 chapters in one day that lasted around 4 hours
a. Engaging multimedia presentations to convey information effectively.
b. Group discussions to encourage critical thinking and knowledge sharing.
c. Hands-on activities to enhance understanding and application of concepts, as well as different digital tools.
d. icebreakers and team building activities
e. debates, simulations
the age of the students between 15-19 years old, based on the previously developed Climate Change Ambassadors Methodology. The workshops aimed to equip students with the knowledge and skills to identify and counter misinformation and disinformation surrounding climate change, while also empowering them to find their voice and stand up for issues related to climate change.
From the surveys we conducted after the workshops, we have gathered the following results:
Do you think that after the workshop, it is more important to recognize and prevent disinformation about climate change

Do you think you managed to learn new skills from this workshop?

– In contrast to the surveys we conducted before the workshops began, in the subsequent surveys, in general, only 40% were able to to answer the difference between misinformation and disinformation as we can observe here:

The workshops were a success! Our participants had a great experience learning how to identify and counter climate change disinformation/misinformation. They acquired new skills, found the digital tools presented to be interesting and are now ready to behave differently online. We’re excited to announce that another part of the project involves training for teachers.
