BTG recently started the implementation of an educational activity in close collaboration with Bonhoeffer College, a comprehensive school in Enschede.
This school provides secondary education. Including a Technasium stream. In this form of education, students work in teams on current STEM assignments from practice. Working in a small group, the student gets four assignments per year. Assignments are offered by public and private companies.
For GenB, 3 classes with a total of about 75 second-year Technasium students will work in groups as a youth advisory agency, according to the Advisors of the Future concept
| Advisors of the Future is a programme of Natuur en Milieu Overijssel, a federation of approx. 80 nature conservation and environmental organizations in the province of Overijssel. Advisors of the Future gives young people the opportunity to think and talk about society, today and tomorrow. At AvdT, a class works on a real assignment from an external client. Each class that participates forms its own consultancy firm and gets to work in a project-based way. Students conduct research, collect and process information, form their own vision and opinion, propose solutions to the issue, work on various competencies during the process and finally present their advice during a joint final event. In this way, students are stimulated to further develop 21st-century skills: collaboration, problem-solving, creativity, critical thinking, and professional communication. It also offers a valuable interpretation for career orientation, because young people get to work in practice and look into an organization. |
The students are asked to devise and develop an exciting and attractive game that make its designer happy. The game should be designed for their peers. They can decide on the type of game themselves. There are plenty of possibilities: card game, board game, mind game, computer game, role play, escape game – it's all possible.
The game should be educational. In terms of content, the game must address one or more of the themes sustainability, circular economy, or bioeconomy. Students are expected to create a playable version of the game, including all game materials and a manual with game rules. Plus, a promotional video.
At the kick-off in mid-April 2024, the BTG team gave an introduction on the bioeconomy for each of the 3 classes. For 2 months, until mid-June 2024, students will work mostly independently, according to the educational principle of objective-oriented learning. Their teachers and the BTG team are available to answer questions from the students.
Halfway through the assignment, the students will make a company visit to technology developer BTG. There they will be given some presentations and a tour.
The Advisors of the Future project will be concluded with a final event at the Province of Overijssel government building in Zwolle. Here all participating classes from all over the province will have the opportunity to present their business advice. They can set up their own stall from where they can give a short pitch. After listening to all the presentations, a jury will choose three finalists. They will battle in the final for the prize for the best Youth Consultancy of 2024. Who will that be? That's up to the audience!
BTG plans to further promote the most interesting game designs (inter)nationally. Nationally, e.g. during science festivals in the autumn of 2024. Internationally through the activities of the GenB project partners in other countries.
To find out more about this concept, please contact John Vos, vos@btgworld.com.
