The schools CEIP Costa Teguise and IES Alcalde Bernabé Rodríguez (Santa Cruz de Tenerife), have been selected as winners of the Canary Islands in the 42nd ONCE Social Group School Contest which, in this edition, has invited its participants to press the pause button to imagine, design and propose products
accessible with which all people can participate in equality within our society
Under the slogan ‘Innova Generation’, the School Contest has proposed to stop with the aim of reflecting, creating and acting as a team to improve the quality of life of people who have it most difficult. It has not tried to renounce technology, but to balance the time invested in screens with experiences that awaken imagination, empathy and critical thinking.
As part of this creative journey, each classroom has designed an accessible product and presented it in an image, including name, illustration, and description about what barrier it eliminates, who could use it, and how it works. The best works will be part of a digital catalog that will be disseminated as an educational and awareness-raising tool, showing the power of imagination as a driver of inclusion.
To this 42nd ONCE School Contest, 819 students and 26 teachers from 22 educational centers in the Canary Islands have joined and learned about it. The participation categories have been: A (3rd and 4th grade of primary school), B (5th and 6th grade of primary school), C (1st- 4th year of ESO and Basic Vocational Training) and E (Special Education). All of them have worked under the same conditions and presented the same project.
Creative and motivating tools
The participating students and teachers have been able to count on creative, easy, and motivating tools that have helped them go through the learning process necessary to activate imagination and foster empathy in the classroom. Among them, GuiONCE, a practical guide with dynamics, questions, and tips to stimulate students' creativity and help them in the design of their ideas.
Another of the novelties has been the ‘Great board of accessibility’, a digital game with real and experiential challenges that has allowed the educational community to put themselves in the shoes of people with disabilities who face different barriers in their daily lives.
They have also had support sheets from accessible product designers, inspired by the user-centered innovation methodology (design thinking), to help them shape their proposals collaboratively.
Juries and awards
The jury has especially valued the viability and focus on accessibility, the originality and the accessibility of the proposal itself, ensuring that any person, with or without disability, can understand and enjoy the presented work.
It has been composed by José Antonio López, delegate of ONCE in the Canary Islands; Yurena García, vice-president of the Territorial Council of ONCE in the Canary Islands; Natalia Afonso, head of the Dept. of Social Services for Affiliated Persons of ONCE in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Mª Carmen Laucirica, president of CERMI Canarias.
The winning groups in the autonomous phase and the finalists of category E, both students and teachers, will receive a prize of 300 euros to carry out an activity chosen by and for the classroom, thus fostering experiences that strengthen cohesion and leave a significant memory in the group.
In addition, they move on to the national phase whose jury will meet in the month of April. The winning classrooms in each of the categories will experience a transformative experience: the INNOVA Generation Hackathon, an educational campus in Madrid where they will work in a didactic and fun way together with accessibility experts to design real solutions.