Press Release

Snap4Europe Launches: Teaching Code, Connecting Europe

 

In a time of growing political complexity and societal change, education plays a central role in fostering democratic values, critical thinking, and a shared sense of European identity. Snap4Europe addresses this by combining digital skills training with content focused on the European Union and its core values. Designed especially for use in educational settings, the course offers a practical opportunity to explore and teach European values through coding. By connecting programming tasks with topics such as EU institutions, fundamental rights, and freedom of movement, Snap4Europe makes both digital and civic learning more accessible and engaging.

Using the block-based programming environment Snap!, the course introduces key programming concepts - including loops, conditionals, variables, and lists - in a way that is well suited for beginners. Alongside acquiring these technical skills, learners engage with relevant European topics, resulting in a dual focus on programming and civic understanding.

The course is designed for a broad audience that includes school students, student teachers, and university educators. Structured into eight concise, self-paced units, it requires no prior programming experience and can be completed flexibly. Participants who finish the course receive a certificate of participation. Although the course is delivered in English, optional live tutorials in several other languages provide opportunities for interactive learning, questions, and discussion of both technical and thematic content.

 

“The course is open to everyone, regardless of age or background,” says Prof. Dr. Nicole Marmé of Heidelberg University of Education. “At the same time, we see particular value in teacher education. It’s about equipping future educators to bring both coding skills and European topics into their teaching - across all subjects, even where that combination isn’t obvious at first.”

 

Dr. Jens-Peter Knemeyer adds:

 

“We particularly want to encourage those who have had no prior exposure to programming to give it a try - getting started is surprisingly easy.”

 

Snap4Europe is funded by the European Union as part of the Jean Monnet Activities, a component of the Erasmus+programme. These initiatives support teaching and research on EU-related topics and aim to enhance understanding of European integration while fostering dialogue on policy issues across Europe and beyond.