About Smile

SMILE: Schools Museums Internet Learning Europe is concerned to provide schools with an internet tool that enables them to investigate Europe. More specifically it is concerned with enabling children to explore a number of aspects of their identities, to present these using simple internet publishing tools and to compare the various identities expressed by other young Europeans. The course recognises the importance of the built environment in exploring and expressing identity and the role of museums, especially those dedicated to the local area, in interpreting the identity of a locality and the people who live there.
The SMILE training course and teaching material are directed towards teachers and children engaged within formal and informal education throughout Europe It is based upon the educational material produced within the Socrates Comenius project SMILE Schools Museums Internet Learning Europe.

The pedagogical method for the course is based upon the ideas developed within the project and experiences from practical training courses which have now been held annually since 2002. Comenius SMILE courses have been held for consecutive years with approximately 100 participants from 23 countries participating every year.

The method has become a flexible way of addressing issues about identity. The method has also developed into several forms, each putting the stress on various aspects of the subject. Hence we have variations of SMILE - Schools Museums Internet Learning Europe, Schools Museums Identity Learning Europe and Schools Museums Identity Learning Environment being but three.