In small Mogeiro, a town of 13,000 inhabitants in the interior of Paraíba, a team of young students developed virtual environmental education games and received an award from European Union (EU).
The project is called "Gamified ODS" and was 1st place in the Citizen Science category of the Green Diplomacy award, organized by the EU in Brazil. The acronym SDG stands for Sustainable Development Goals.
The students are from Escola Cidadã Integral Técnica Otávio Silveira (ECIT).
With the award, the school won a state-of-the-art computer to continue the development of works like this one.
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Digital games about the environment
The digital games developed by the students emerged from two elective courses, called Vem Jogar and Create your game. They are part of the differential curricular component of Integral High School.
The games are based on the goals of sustainability instituted by the United Nations (UN).
Credit: Disclosure.
One of the games is called ODS Life on Land which involves the issue of wild bird trafficking in the Caatinga region.
already the SDG Life on Water aims to reflect on the impacts of plastic waste in the oceans. The inspiration for this game was the Riacho Mogeiro, which runs close to the school.
The pilot of the games was developed on the students' cell phones.
"As a multidisciplinary proposal, the project connects young people to different learning opportunities, stimulating also culture and digital inclusion, as well as creativity and socio-environmental innovation in the school environment and in society. In addition, it has students from rural and urban areas, involving the school community in general in environmental education activities".
Suênio Alves - Professor and project coordinator
Check out:What is sustainable development and its objectives
student protagonism
The development of the project encourages students to relate problems and social issues with reality and to develop skills and possibilities for creation and study.
This type of work is also directly related to the life project of those who intend to work in the development of digital games.
Credit: Disclosure.
Do not stop now... There's more after the publicity ;)
Daniel José graduated from this school and says that the initiative helped make a childhood dream come true, which was to work with technology and games.
"I always wanted to create my own game and be able, in some way, to help in education with the digital medium. My life project is to continue in the area of information technology and game development, and thanks to the support of High School and this initiative, I feel more prepared to reach my goal"
Daniel José - School graduate
The optional game development subjects offered at the school also made a difference for Ygor da Silva, a current member of the "Game Start" team. He reports that since he was a little boy, he was enchanted by the universe of games, but in high school, from tutoring, optional subjects and these projects, this all became a life goal.
Throughout the development of the work, students have support and guidance from teachers through tutorials.
Mathematics professor João Batista says that the main objective with these disciplines is to enable that students seek, through digital tools, concrete alternatives for their life projects.
The educator also points out that in this process important discussions for the formation of students are evidenced, as is the case of the environmental cause.
By Lucas Afonso
Journalist
