Target audience
Teachers at different educational levels, school counsellors, educational psychologists, support teachers, social educators, adult educators, youth workers, project coordinators, mentors and professionals working with children, adolescents or adult learners.
This course is especially suitable for professionals interested in using modern board games, game-based learning and active methodologies to observe, understand and address behavioural, social and emotional challenges in educational contexts.
Duration
Objectives
1. Understand how modern board games can be used as educational tools to observe behaviour, emotions and social interaction in a safe and structured environment.
2. Identify behavioural and socio-emotional challenges such as impulsivity, lack of inhibitory control, communication difficulties, emotional dysregulation, peer conflict, bullying, screen overuse and online risks.
3. Learn how to use board games and game-based activities to promote self-regulation, attention, frustration tolerance, decision-making and impulse control.
4. Explore cooperative, communication-based and social deduction games as tools to work on active listening, teamwork, empathy, trust, emotional intelligence and social reasoning.
5. Understand how games can help educators observe group dynamics, hidden needs, emotional responses and social skills in a more natural way.
6. Reflect on the difference between asking “What is wrong with this child?” and “What is this behaviour trying to tell us?”, promoting a more educational, empathetic and preventive approach.
7. Learn how to facilitate debriefing sessions after game-based activities in order to connect the gaming experience with real behavioural and social challenges.
8. Analyse how board games and active methodologies can be adapted to different educational contexts, age groups and learner profiles.
9. Design practical intervention proposals using game-based tools to address specific behavioural or socio-emotional challenges.
10. Develop confidence in selecting, adapting and facilitating modern board games as part of educational, preventive or intervention programmes.
Methodology
The course follows an active, practical and experiential methodology. Participants learn by playing, observing, reflecting and designing their own educational applications.
Each session combines short theoretical inputs, practical game-based activities, guided observation, group discussion and structured debriefing. Participants experience different types of games and dynamics, analyse what each activity helps to observe, and reflect on how these tools can be transferred to their own professional contexts.
The training includes cooperative games, communication challenges, social deduction games, empathy-based activities, digital risk awareness activities and collaborative case design. Participants are encouraged to connect each experience with real educational situations and to identify possible applications for their own learners.
At the end of the course, participants work individually or in pairs to design a practical intervention case using the tools and methodologies explored during the training. These proposals are presented to the group and receive feedback from the trainers.
Contents
– Introduction to board game-based learning for behavioural and socio-emotional challenges.
– Behaviour as communication: visible behaviours and hidden needs.
– Self-regulation, inhibitory control and impulsivity.
– Games to observe attention, impulse control, frustration tolerance and decision-making under pressure.
– Communication, active listening and emotional intelligence through cooperative and structured communication activities.
– Social deduction games as tools to explore trust, suspicion, persuasion, emotional control and social interpretation.
– Empathy, perspective-taking and peer conflict.
– Bullying, social exclusion and group dynamics.
– Screen overuse, compulsive digital habits and internet risks.
– Identification of risk situations such as grooming, sextortion and unhealthy screen habits.
– Debriefing strategies after game-based activities.
– Selection and adaptation of board games according to educational objectives.
– Design of practical intervention cases using game-based tools.
– Presentation of participants’ proposals and feedback from trainers.
Participants
Language
Dates and Course Venue
Dates and schedule can be adapted to the needs of the sending institution or group.
The course can be delivered in Valladolid, Spain, or in other formats agreed with the organising institution.
Cost
Info and registration
For further information, please write to: info@ludusmagnus.es
To register: https://forms.gle/bcBWHpw9jBwCFnk56
Trainers
Azael Herrero is a Full Professor at the Universidad Europea Miguel de Cervantes, UEMC, and holds a PhD in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences from the University of León, with European Mention and Extraordinary Doctorate Award. In addition to his teaching work, he has held university management positions, including Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Vice-Rector for Academic Organisation and Faculty Affairs, and has a consolidated research career.
In the field of education, he stands out for his specialisation in gamification and board game-based learning, with more than 15 years of experience applying modern board games for educational purposes and gamifying his university teaching since 2017.
He is co-founder of the European Institute for Modern Board Games, Ludus Magnus, and leads initiatives and training activities, including training of trainers, linked to local and European projects such as Erasmus+. His work involves primary education, vocational education and university students, while also exploring the impact of board games on cognitive variables and quality of life in older adults.
Miriam Herrero Martín is an Educational Psychologist and Psychopedagogue, and she also trained as an Early Childhood Teacher. She holds postgraduate qualifications in Social Psychology and Sexology, and has eight years of professional experience as a school counsellor, supporting students, families and teaching teams in relation to learning, wellbeing and educational guidance.
She is currently completing a PhD at the University of Valladolid focused on the use of board games in Primary Education. Her work is strongly connected to active methodologies, educational innovation and the use of modern board games and digital tools to enhance motivation, learning and socio-emotional development.
Miriam has contributed to more than ten educational innovation initiatives and Erasmus-related projects, bringing a valuable psychological and pedagogical perspective to Ludus Magnus training courses. In this course, her expertise is especially relevant for addressing behavioural challenges, emotional regulation, communication difficulties, bullying, social conflicts and the educational use of board games as tools for observation, reflection and intervention.