This educational programme of the Historical Archives of the European Union (HAEU) aims to open its historical and documentary heritage to citizens, especially the younger generations. The programme aims to make the students reflect on the meaning of being European today and to make them aware of the history of European integration and the complexity of the issues that the European Union faces today. "How did the European Union come about?". Students learn about the history of the process of European integration by exploring it through a plurality of creative languages.
The activity leads participants to understand the birth of the European integration process and the bases and values on which this process was founded. These objectives are achieved through a personal appropriation of this process, through the exploration and experimentation of different creative languages (musical, theatrical, visual-manual, textual) that make learning more effective. In this way, terms such as "borders"/"frontiers", "war", "friendship" and "solidarity" acquire a concrete meaning for the students.
The methodology adopted involves the integration of the teaching of the history of the European Union with the experimentation of different creative languages (musical, theatrical, visual-manual, textual). Music and theatre are multidimensional tools. Both are channels through which the exploration of the self and the other, the verbal and non-verbal expression of emotions and feelings, creativity and group work are encouraged. Learning through creative languages implies a constant intertwining of fields of experience: body and motor skills, sound and listening, creativity and expression, contact and interaction, which make the learning of concepts and passages of history more accessible to primary school children. The workshop also makes use of oral history, a particular historical research methodology based on the production and use of oral sources. The methodology of oral history opens new horizons for working with children through narration and memory, allowing students to dialogue with the history of the European Union through their personal stories.