Faro puts students to play Minecraft to educate them for heritage

Project will involve 3rd cycle students

Faro will put the popular game “Minecraft” at the service of heritage education, through the project “MI.MOMO.FARO”, which will challenge students from 3rd cycle schools in the municipality to recreate emblematic buildings of modernist architecture in the city on the Minecraft: Education Edition platform.

This initiative, launched within the scope of the Application for Faro to the European Capital of Culture 2027, «is an interdisciplinary initiative involving more than 150 students aged between 13 and 15 years, 7 schools in the municipality of Faro, more than 20 professors, including professors and prominent figures linked to architecture and heritage».

The project was developed with the support of Microsoft Portugal and the National Art Plan.

«The teachers involved in MI.MOMO.FARO had access to specific training that will allow them to explore pedagogical approaches in a classroom environment, and also have the scientific support of architecture, urbanism and heritage technicians from the Municipality of Faro. As an example, the open online classes on the Modernist Movement and its specificities in Faro and in the Algarve took place this month», according to the candidacy of Faro the European Capital of Culture in 2027.

«This is a project that aims, on the one hand, to enhance heritage education through the use of new technologies, empowering students, teachers and schools through contact with new learning dynamics (game based learning) and, on the other hand, to contribute to the enhancement of cultural heritage of the county, in this case modernist architecture, motivating all those interested in this project to discover the modernist movement in southern European cities», explains Bruno Inácio, head of the Culture division of the Municipality of Faro and coordinator of the application of Faro the European Capital of Culture 2027.

Given the restrictions imposed by the pandemic and in the absence of in-person classes, «an Online Forum was included in the project, where teachers and students involved in MI.MOMO.FARO, can debate the city's heritage in the light of new pedagogical approaches».

 

 

According to Sara Brighenti, deputy commissioner of the National Plan for the Arts, this project “is a proposal that provokes the student's critical and aesthetic view of urban heritage and develops learning that gives broad meaning to the notion of building/house/place. The project recruits the sensitive eye (which goes beyond the visible) and, through pedagogical and playful dynamics, shows students the value of heritage assets, later transforming it into raw material for creativity and innovation».

The Minecraft Education Edition «allows teachers, in an interdisciplinary way, to lead students to explore the game and computing for the benefit of the acquisition of knowledge such as heritage, culture, regional identity and the history of their community, becoming agents of construction and transposition in an interactive virtual environment', according to Faro 2027.
Sandra Martinho, director of Education and Philanthropy at Microsoft Portugal, refers, in turn, that «at a time of great transformation in teaching and learning, projects of this nature highlight the importance of using solutions that combine play with teaching, enhancing a active learning and putting hybrid teaching into practice».

"Actions like this demonstrate the importance of bringing tools like Minecraft to stimulate new ways of learning and teaching," he added.

The MI.MOMO project.FARO it also intends to promote public discussion on major themes of the Candidacy of Faro the European Capital of Culture 2027: the city in the digital age, the enhancement of cultural heritage as a legacy for future generations and institutional cooperation in urban regeneration.

«In this sense, several communication actions open to the public are planned, namely, the holding of three live round tables on the Facebook page of the Faro2027. The first - "Faro, Modernist city in Southern Europe” – takes place on March 25, at 18:30 pm, and counts on the participation of the renowned architect Ricardo Agarez.

«THE MI.MO.MOMO.FARO it is a project with an international dimension, as it intersects with other European projects on modernist heritage. In Lithuania, Kaunas, the city that will be European Capital of Culture in 2022, has also integrated this theme in its artistic program», concludes the structure of the application for Faro the European Capital of Culture in 2027.

 

Photos: Candidacy of Faro the European Capital of Culture in 2027

 



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