Project “Trial of Socrates in the 21st Century” rated highly successful in the final evaluation

The project “Trial of Socrates in the 21st Century,” initiated by the Institute for Contemporary Education and supported through the US Embassy’s program, has been successfully completed.

Several workshops were held as part of the project, including a workshop for 30 teachers in November 2021 in Belgrade, where teachers from Serbia were invited to join the discussion on tools for civic education, the foundations of democracy, the fight against injustice, and Orwellian perspectives. Additionally, an online workshop was conducted in March 2022, with the participation of 60 teachers from the entire region.

Students from high schools Zrenjaninska Gimnazija, Electrical Technical School “Nikola Tesla” in Niš, and Savremena Gimnazija in Belgrade had the opportunity to participate in the trial of Socrates within a simulated court process, assuming the roles of prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, and jury members, applying their knowledge and expressing their opinions. Furthermore, students were divided into smaller groups, examining laws and evidence while defending their views and beliefs. After the project, students shared their opinions and experiences, stating that they had learned some new important lessons about civic decision-making.

The project culminated in an online conference organized in October 2022, with the participation of civic education teachers from the United States and Serbia. They exchanged their knowledge and experiences and learned how to best motivate young people best to participate in democratic decision-making processes.

Those interested in improving their skills in civic education and democratic decision-making processes, as well as learning how to work on this topic with young people, can refer to the manual created as one of the outcomes of the “Trial of Socrates in the 21st Century” project.

https://sites.google.com/iss.edu.rs/toolkit/priru%C4%8Dnik?authuser=0

During the final evaluation of the project, representatives of the “Democracy Commission Small Grants” program rated the project as highly successful.