The eTwinning project "The Children's Train", initiated by Dumitru Panaitescu Perpessicius National Pedagogical College in Brăila, Romania, brought together students and teachers from Romania, Italy, Türkiye, and Belgium in a complex educational experience focused on literature, history, children's rights, and the skills needed for modern life. The project demonstrated how international collaboration can transform the educational process into an authentic learning environment, where knowledge is constructed through dialogue, reflection, and cooperation.
As part of this project, the 6-3-5 method was used to foster critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration in the analysis of the novel The Children's Train. Students were organized into groups of six, with each group receiving a worksheet. Based on the problem situation, "How can a child in Amerigo's situation be supported in overcoming fear, homesickness, and the challenges of adapting to a new environment?", each student wrote down three ideas or solutions inspired by the experiences of the main character.
Among the proposed solutions were maintaining contact with the family through letters, providing emotional support through the host family, involving the child in school and recreational activities, encouraging friendships, building self-confidence, and ensuring a safe and caring environment.
In the next stage, each worksheet was passed successively to the other five group members. Students expanded on their classmates' ideas by providing examples from the novel, adding arguments, posing questions, and suggesting improvements or alternative solutions. In this way, every initial idea was examined from different perspectives and enriched through the contributions of the entire group.
At the end of the activity, the team leader summarized all the proposals and, together with the group members, developed a shared strategy entitled "What Does a Child Need to Turn a Difficult Experience into an Opportunity for Growth?" The strategies were presented to the whole class and compared across teams. Students identified the common values highlighted by the novel: solidarity, empathy, courage, trust, and the importance of community support.
The 6-3-5 method encouraged the active participation of all students, including those who were more reserved, as each participant had the opportunity to express their own ideas and contribute to improving those of their peers. At the same time, the activity developed students' collaborative, argumentation, negotiation, and group decision-making skills, which are key objectives of the eTwinning project. In this way, the activity not only supported the development of essential 21st-century skills but also strengthened the project's central values of international cooperation, empathy, intercultural understanding, and active learning.