Promoting a culture of recycling or preventing waste from going into the sea are the main objectives of the four Canary Island projects that are competing in the national final phase of the Educational Eco-innovation Awards, convened by the Endesa Foundation, including one developed by an educational center in Arrecife.
This competition, held in collaboration with the Europe Society and Education Foundation, has had the participation of 194 projects at the national level in this second edition. The objective of the initiative, aimed at secondary, high school and intermediate vocational training students, is to promote ecological culture and awaken social interest in the environment through entrepreneurial educational projects.
The four projects from the Archipelago selected correspond to educational centers in Arrecife (Lanzarote), Santa Cruz de La Palma, and Puerto del Rosario (Fuerteventura) and all compete in the category of 'My creative solution to an environmental problem'.
This week, the evaluation committee, formed by a team of professors and experts in environmental projects, will meet and will be responsible for choosing the 15 finalists who will compete for the seven awards in the three categories of the competition. In the first edition, the awards went to educational centers in Huesca (Aragon), Colmenarejo (Madrid), Oliva (Valencia), Guadalajara, Bilbao, Ronda (Málaga) and Cartagena (Murcia). The jury's decision will be announced on May 31.
'Educating in recycling' (Arrecife)
Through a new subject -Introduction to entrepreneurial and business activity-, the students of this center rely on a collaborative work method with simulated remuneration, creating companies that launch recycling projects within the center itself to improve the environment. Project-based learning, corporate and collaborative methods and the imagination of schoolchildren coexist.
The students are grouped into companies with a manager around a project and the companies have workers (students) who receive a salary with a simulated currency. The teacher commissions work to these companies related to the center's teaching projects or to manage events that improve the life of the center and the results of the project are part of the evaluation.
'The seabed' (Puerto del Rosario)
The students who have worked on this project have carried out expeditions to the seabed and the beach to discover all the waste that man throws away and that ends up in the sea and on the sand, carrying out cleaning days, exchanging experiences, also developing an educational game and an animated short.
'Reciclarduino' 1.0 (Santa Cruz de La Palma)
It consists of the development of a mechanical system with sensors, automatically managed to separate materials for recycling, which they propose to install in educational centers to raise awareness and encourage students to recycle cans, plastic wrappers, bottles and aluminum foil in exchange for prizes, which are determined by identifying individual scores for the total material contributed for recycling.
'Pass your mobile 2.0' (Santa Cruz de La Palma)
The students have considered finding a solution to the problem generated by the high consumption and disposal of mobile phones, creating a company that starts from awareness campaigns, collecting mobile phones to promote the circular economy, recycling and reusing parts of its components to create new products, such as bags or solidarity glasses.
Commitment to the environment and education
The works presented are now in an evaluation process that places special emphasis on the criteria of innovation, originality, quality, cooperation and development of environmental values among students. All the information about the contest is available on the website ecoinnovación.fundacionendesa.org.
In this second edition of the Educational Eco-innovation awards, the Endesa Foundation renews its commitment to the environment and education and demonstrates its firm commitment to spreading good practices in terms of responsibility, energy efficiency and environmental commitment, covering the gaps in knowledge among young people in this area that were revealed in the study "Ecobarómetro Fundación Endesa. Ecological culture and education" published in 2016.
The call for these awards aims to motivate and promote innovative practices in energy, environment and care and preservation of the environment in the educational projects of the centers. It is a key opportunity to demonstrate that there are good practices of ecological culture, promoting and selecting school environmental education projects that reflect the commitment of teachers, centers and students.
About Endesa Foundation
Endesa Foundation, chaired by Borja Prado, demonstrates a clear vocation for social development through its educational projects, training for employment, commitment to the environment and cultural initiatives.
It promotes educational projects through initiatives that transform and innovate education at all levels and promoting academic excellence in the university field through aid, scholarships and chairs.
It develops training projects for employment, with a focus on promoting talent, aimed at people at risk of social exclusion, young entrepreneurs with limited resources and professionals over 50 years of age.
It promotes environmental initiatives linked to education in ecological culture and promotion of energy efficiency. In addition, it is committed to projects to reduce the environmental impact of industrial areas as another of the commitments of the Endesa Foundation.
Finally, the Foundation continues to promote the lighting of historical-artistic heritage assets and the promotion, recovery and conservation of art and culture.
More information at: http://www.fundacionendesa.org/