Schools often teach children what values mean, but knowing the meaning of honesty, perseverance, kindness or fairness does not necessarily mean being able to recognize and apply them in real-life situations. Caçadores de Virtudes was created to bridge this gap between knowing and choosing.
The innovation grew from my experience as a teacher and from my studies in Positive Psychology, neuroscience and education. I wanted character strengths and virtues to become more than concepts discussed in class. Children needed opportunities to identify them in stories, observe them in everyday situations, make choices, cooperate, create, reflect and gradually recognize these strengths in themselves and others.
I began developing this educational journey in 2020 and have continuously refined it through classroom experience. Since 2024, it has been implemented at EMEF Arthur Azevedo, a public school in São Paulo, Brazil.
Caçadores de Virtudes therefore uses literature, dialogue, movement, creative production and real-life experiences to make character education concrete, engaging and connected to children's everyday lives.
Caçadores de Virtudes transforms the school environment into a space where children can recognize, discuss and practice character strengths and virtues.
Literature and storytelling introduce characters, dilemmas and choices. Guided conversations help students connect these situations to their own experiences. The learning then moves beyond discussion through cooperative games, physical challenges, theatre, creative activities, writing, student-produced books and collective projects.
A recurring educational sequence guides the experience: recognize, choose, act and reflect. Children first notice a strength or virtue in a story or situation, discuss possible choices, experience activities in which cooperation, perseverance, fairness, empathy or other strengths become relevant, and finally reflect on what happened and why.
Students are not only recipients of information. They create texts, artwork, presentations and other productions that express what virtues and strengths mean in their own language.
The methodology can be integrated into everyday school life and adapted to different ages while preserving the same principle: character develops through meaningful opportunities to make choices and reflect on them.
The innovation has developed primarily through sustained implementation and continuous refinement rather than rapid expansion.
I began developing the educational approach in 2020, progressively connecting character strengths, virtues, literature and experiential learning. Since 2024, Caçadores de Virtudes has been implemented at EMEF Arthur Azevedo, a public school in São Paulo, Brazil, across different elementary school grades.
The methodology has gradually expanded through new stories, classroom activities, cooperative experiences, student productions, theatre, physical challenges and educational resources. A book was also developed as one of the tools supporting the methodology.
The experience is now entering a new stage of dissemination. The project has been documented for presentation to educators and educational communities, and it was accepted for presentation at the 17th ICLOC Congress in Brazil in 2026.
Rather than claiming scale that has not yet been achieved, our next goal is to make the methodology clearer, more transferable and easier for other educators and schools to implement while developing stronger ways to document its outcomes.
Caçadores de Virtudes has evolved continuously since its first development in 2020. It did not begin as a fixed program. Classroom observation helped me understand which experiences made abstract ideas about character more meaningful to children.
Over time, I added literature and storytelling, guided reflection, cooperative games, physical challenges, theatre, creative production and student authorship. The methodology gradually moved from teaching children the names and meanings of virtues toward creating situations in which they could recognize strengths, consider alternatives, make choices and reflect on their actions.
Student participation also became increasingly important. Children began producing texts, artwork, books, presentations and other artifacts rather than simply completing predetermined activities.
The innovation continues to evolve through classroom practice. The current stage focuses on organizing the methodology more systematically, documenting implementation and strengthening ways of observing and evaluating its educational outcomes, while maintaining the flexibility that allows teachers to adapt activities to their students and context.
Start with one character strength or virtue that is meaningful in your students' everyday lives.
Introduce it through a story, character or situation that presents a genuine choice or dilemma. Instead of immediately explaining the “correct” answer, invite students to identify what is happening, discuss different possibilities and consider the consequences of each choice.
Then create an experience in which the strength can become visible in action. This may be a cooperative challenge, game, movement activity, creative task, theatre scene, writing activity or real classroom situation.
After the experience, invite students to reflect: What happened? What choices were made? Which strengths appeared? What could have been done differently? Where might we encounter a similar situation outside the activity?
Finally, encourage students to express their understanding through drawings, texts, stories, presentations or other forms of authorship.
The essential sequence is simple:
Recognize → Choose → Act → Reflect.
Teachers can begin with a single activity and gradually integrate the approach into literature, Physical Education, classroom projects and everyday relationships. The book is one possible tool. The innovation is the educational process behind it.
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