RISE LAB – The students partecipate at the laboratory for the creation of educational games
CEIPES has organised within the RISE LAB Project – Rete per l’inclusione lo sviluppo e l’Empowerment (numero progetto: AVVISO PAC 2018-BENI-CUPJ71E20000370008) co-funded by the Department of Youth Policies and Universal Civil Service, a Laboratory for the ideation of educational games that actively involved young people from the Sicilian territory. The workshops took place in the facilities of the Ernesto Ascione high school in Palermo and involved for eleven meetings 29 students aged between 16 and 18. The participants were accompanied during the training course by CEIPES facilitators and by an expert game designer.
After the first theoretical lessons on the basics of game design, the students gathered in groups developed their design ideas. These ideas are based on issues such as environmental protection, legality, inclusiveness and gender equality. The themes were selected for their social relevance.
Specifically, the laboratory for the design of educational games allowed the development of 4 different games.
1. – The 5 Kingdoms
The themes chosen for this project are environmental sustainability and interculturality. Through this game it is possible to raise awareness among you people by encouraging the acquisition of new information on both climate change and migration phenomena. The goal of the game is to move animals between the islands in order to withstand as many natural disasters as possible.
The game ends when there are no more pieces on the field.
Both catastrophic events and animal species represent a metaphor for the unpredictability of events and the importance of enhancing diversity.
Like a hurricane, even a war can come unexpectedly, and it is only with the mutual help between all populations that the most difficult moments can be overcome
2.- Game on the remembrance of the victims of the mafia
The underlying topic of the game is legality. In this game there are no winners, its goal is to make known and keep alive the memory of all the men and women who gave their lives so that Sicily could have a better future. The game allows players to know the stories of the victims of the mafia, favoring moments of reflection and sharing among the participants.
3. Quo Vadis
Quo Vadis is a board game intended for young people, designed to familiarize themselves with the rules of the road and good habits to keep behind the wheel
The idea of Quo Vadis is to create an educational game based on active citizenship with particular attention to safe driving education.
4. Scravop
Scravop is a game designed to raise awareness about recycling. The game consists of 57 cards, with 8 different symbols for each card. The students inserted symbols relating to the theme of recycling into the cards and added a mechanic that rewards players when they decide to make a choice related to the theme of sustainable development, for example taking a card with particularly difficult waste to dispose of.
The laboratory for the creation of educational games has allowed several young Sicilian students to follow a path aimed at their personal growth The participants acquired new knowledge on game design and on the mechanics underlying the development of educational games but, at the same time, they dealt with relevant social issues today: legality, active citizenship, social and environmental sustainability.
The educational games developed during the workshops will be used within the laboratory courses proposed by the RISE LAB Center.
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