The new learning context requires creative and autonomous approaches from educational centers in the face of the current complexity of contexts that far exceed the usual problem-solving processes established in a standard educational plan. Students must learn to understand the interdependent and changing world in which they live. They have to be able to collaborate, speak out and act for positive change. These students could be called students in sustainability.
There is a general consensus that sustainability students need certain key competencies that allow them to participate constructively and responsibly in today's world. These competencies describe the specific attributes that our students need to develop to act autonomously and consciously in different, often unpredictable situations. Included here are cognitive, affective, entrepreneurial and motivational elements generated, therefore, from the interaction between knowledge, abilities, attitudes and values. Competencies cannot be taught, but rather the students themselves must develop them. In general, they are acquired during action, based on experience and reflection.
IGNITE Serious Play has made a great effort in recent years to improve the learning experience of students, through STEAM technological extracurricular activities, as well as in curricular support format. Therefore, in the Educational Programs in Sustainability that we manage, the STEAM digital tools They also play a relevant role, so that students can communicate their best ideas and approaches on SDGs, through tools such as the Robotics, Programming, 3D Design and Video Game Design. In this context It is worth highlighting the possibilities that learning environments such as Minecraft Education y Cospaces Edu, aligned with narratives of awareness and acquisition of knowledge on sustainability aspects.
Key competencies are actually transversal competencies necessary for students of all ages worldwide (developed at different levels depending on their level of maturity). These competencies are, furthermore, multifunctional and independent of context. They do not replace the specific competencies necessary to act successfully in diverse situations, but they include and integrate them with a broader scope. They are part of a global citizen responsibility that allows individuals to link the different Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with each other, providing a global vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
When establishing specific learning objectives for the different SDGs, they should not be conceived as isolated elements of the key sustainability competencies that will support us in our transition towards a just and sustainable society. Learning objectives and key competencies must be worked together.
Based on the previous scheme devised by Claudia Vásquez, The IGNITE Serious Play pedagogical team proposes rethinking transversal and interdisciplinary project work in such a way that sustainability competencies are promoted.
Transverse curricular integration of the SDGs
The Educational Programs in Sustainability of IGNITE Serious Play, whether in extracurricular or school curricular format, allow students to know and become aware of education for sustainable development ESD and the SDG sustainable development goals, reflecting on what they can do to contribute to achieve them from one's own actions (making decisions) and, on the other hand, give meaning to learning new STEAM technologies. As we have seen in recent years by managing technological extracurricular activities aimed at sustainability, this approach facilitates greater internalization of learning. In parallel, this work requires teaching teachers to become literate in these issues, so that they value and pay attention to their incorporation into the school context, with the help of the IGNITE Serious Play facilitators.
The work carried out by UNESCO in the last decade has laid the foundations for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), which can provide us with the roadmap to integrate it in a meaningful and constructive way in the curriculum of an educational center, starting with the Initial Primary Cycle. Throughout this time, teachers have been integrating a wide spectrum of these elements by developing projects in the classroom, whether in environmental education, fire prevention, disaster risk mitigation, human rights, etc. As is the case with the SDGs, ESD is related to all aspects of our lives, of education and, therefore, with the different subjects taught at different levels of education. This particularity gives ESD a special role among all other teachings since it can integrate them in their entirety, but not the other way around.
The IGNITE Serious Play Sustainability Educational Programs allow ESD to be integrated into primary and secondary education in a transversal way at the curricular level, overflowing this area to the entire center itself, the educational community and families. in order to implement a comprehensive strategy in the educational center. As stated in the website of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), educational programs must be based on the idea that the community and educational systems have to move forward together to achieve sustainability. Local education systems need to adapt their curricula to reinforce the sustainability action plans adopted by the community. And all this must be done through a public participation process that involves the different social sectors.
From the pedagogical direction of IGNITE Serious Play, we propose to relate the study plan and locate everything that is already done in the center and that can be related to ESD, or the SDGs. From the basis of each subject and what it can contribute to the global vision of sustainable development, there are many aspects to identify with metrics. A broad and transformative vision on the part of the center's study direction will allow the implementation of an ambitious process of ESD curricular transformation.
Educational and training programs
IGNITE Serious Play training programs are based on the use of motivating digital tools, such as video games (Minecraft, etc.), in order to change our mental frameworks and promote sustainable change in organizations and educational centers. These in-person/online dynamics, through gamification systems (based on game and role mechanics and dynamics), allow us to accelerate decision-making in a participatory and natural way, facilitating the assimilation of the company's new sustainability context. In this sense, an interesting example is the use of thinking routines through workshops with the LEGO / MINECRAFT Serious Play methodology. Specifically, the objective of our educational programs and dynamics team building by IGNITE Serious Play is oriented towards the implementation of a new economic model that is truly sustainable, efficient in the use of resources, decarbonized and, at the same time, competitive and digital.
Likewise, it is equally important to promote the culture of sustainability in organizations, stimulating collaboration with educational entities, so that we all become aware of the environmental, economic and technological challenges that we must face today. This is undoubtedly an ambitious plan, but absolutely essential, to guarantee the future and stability of the next generations on our planet.
Sustainable finance, the fight against climate change, the protection of biodiversity and our natural capital represent a unique opportunity to change the production and consumption model and also to generate a positive impact on our lives and on the planet, in harmony with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Goals of the Paris Agreement. The commitment of companies like IGNITE Serious Play to all these strategic objectives provides strength to the transition strategies towards the Circular Economy, so that they can soon materialize.
Over the last decade, IGNITE Serious Play has accompanied strategic sectors in their organizational and sustainable transformation processes, allowing them to mitigate their risks, obtain global recognition, generate competitive advantages and create shared value. The knowledge and experience accumulated in sustainability education and consulting have made IGNITE Serious Play a key ally in supporting companies towards the desired path of circularity.
For more information on how we can help your organization, in the face of Strategic Integration of the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals, contact ods@igniteseriousplay.com
