On Friday 17, 2012 we were present at the Da Vinci College in the city of Leiden for the final presentations of the 'Lopend Leren' ('Learning while walking') project initiated by Technolab Leiden. For this project, five teams of first grade pupils (age 12 and 13) had developed interactive and educational tours for the kids in the age of 11 and 12 in primary school.
Goal of the project
Goal of the project was to develop tools that use location based experiences in an educational way, so that we would end up with an educational method that can be used in primary schools and that can be adapted for different subjects. The pupils were instructed to design tours that would take others back in time and tell about the history of Leiden. During the project they thought about storytelling, gaming elements and how to mix those with educational content.
Members of the jury
At this event the five teams could pitch their concepts for a professional jury. Members of the jury ranged from managing directors of a primary school, employees of Museum Boerhaave and teachers of the Da Vinci College. 7scenes was spontaneously made part of the jury as well. The winning concept will eventually be developed as a scene and will be played in May by 30 pupils.
We were instructed to judge the concepts based on originality (in terms of storytelling and characters); feasibility; the educational value of the questions to be asked and the 'wow-factor' of the concept.
The pitch
Team Alpha's concept was about bouncing ball Kees-Jan, a very nice and playful character that bounced through the streets of Leiden. With every right amount of answers, pupils would receive a key that would eventually open the door to the historic city of Leiden. Very nice concept in terms of rewards, originality and storytelling and the questions were already very well thought-out.
Team fatboy created the character Hans, a key that misses his familiy members. Users would go on a hunt to help Hans find the others keys (his family members) by answering the questions. Nice story and great visuals.
Team Cluedo adapted the famous murder game to fit the 7scenes platform. A dead girl was found in the streets of Leiden and there are three suspects. A detective will take you through the city to reconstruct the murder. Very original perspective from which to tell the story.
The next team had created an exciting story around James Bond. A secret weapon and the missing girl Denise Richards were central to the story. Very nice visuals!
Team Take Five took the perspective of a little pig called Rembrandt, that was eaten during the liberation of Leiden in the Second World War. The ghost of Rembrandt still wanders through the city and will give you clues to find his descendants. At the end of the tour, the kids should be able to complete his familiytree. Very nice closure and perfect reward!
The jury will now elaborate on which team is the winner. The winning concept will be actually developed on the 7scenes paltform. More info will follow on this blog!