Last May, the Museum of Science and Technology (MUNCYT) became a real party attended by the winning students of the 2nd edition of the Health Guardians 2030 sustainability educational program, promoted by the Pfizer Foundation in collaboration with IGNITE Serious Play.
The beaming faces of students and mentors upon receiving the awards reflected the effort dedicated for almost three months to solving STEAM challenges in the worlds of Minecraft Education and creating innovative solutions to respond to challenges posed by one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of your choice.
The president of the Pfizer Foundation, Sergio Rodríguez, has thanked the good reception of this educational program on sustainability, "the result of the commitment of teachers and management teams to a different educational proposal to learn about sustainability and develop fundamental skills today. day, such as teamwork, creativity or communication.
Mentors of the winning HG2030 teams along with the promoters of the program
Of the 70 schools that participated, in the Primary Education category (5th-6th grade), the CEIP José Plata de Jaén has obtained the award for 'Best scientific team', the Sant Gabriel de Ripollet School (Barcelona) has been highlighted as the 'Best technological equipment' and the Esclavas de María School in Almansa (Albacete) has obtained the award for 'Best communication equipment' while the Senara School in Madrid has obtained a special mention.
Regarding the Secondary Education category, the LCP Santo Domingo Savio of Huelva has been highlighted as the 'Best scientific team, the IES Sanje of Alcantarilla (Murcia) has obtained the award for 'Best technological team and, finally, the Montserrat School of Barcelona has turned out to be the most innovative center in its Guardian Project proposal. In this section, the Jesuïtes Sarrià Sant Ignasi School has obtained a special mention.
Towards a positive change in sustainability
The constant impact of negative news and warnings about the rapid deterioration of the planet's environmental health - totally justified on the other hand - could be causing a certain emotional disconnection in young people from the colossal dimension of the problem. In this sense, Health Guardians 2030 is a positive proposal that manages to excite and convince that we have a real possibility of transforming our environment, starting from what is closest: our home, family, friends, school or our neighborhood. This practical and close approach has especially inspired this edition and the proposals made by the participants in their Guardian Projects.
This is how Ignacio Aso, CEO of IGNITE Serious Play, defines it, pointing out that «Health Guardians 2030 is an educational project that, above all, aims to excite and stimulate positive change in sustainability through a gamified experience in Minecraft Education. Nearly 5.250 students learn about the Sustainable Development Goals through the Pfizer Foundation. As participants solve logical and technological challenges, they are able to perceive that their actions have a direct impact on the game that has its counterpart in the real world. In this sense, we invite you to take action to join the changes that can give us hope and that are feasible, applicable to your daily life on a personal level or in your immediate environment.
To this end, the project has been given a more transversal vision that covers each of the 17 SDGs and provides teachers with abundant resources and material to work curricularally in class and, if desired, extend this experience beyond the time in the classroom. that the HG2030 competition takes place. The mentors themselves have commented that their students have understood that it was a challenge launched at the center level and have avoided personalism. Together they have been collaborating openly in class to try to jointly overcome the challenges and find the most innovative solutions that can represent them for the Final.
Without a doubt, one of the greatest benefits of the Health Guardians 2030 project is that the students feel directly addressed, they feel that they are part of the project and they want to give the best of themselves. For this reason, the next edition will incorporate a greater participatory component and some of the new challenges will have been suggested/devised by the students themselves.
One of the great lessons learned at an educational level from this experience is that technology, innovation and research will be key to overcoming this planetary emergency, but what can really save us is a radical and conscious change in values with which to guide the fantastic potential for new knowledge.
