MonValu project

Hi! My name is Monica Edwards Schachter, founder of the project monValu.

MonValu is "the world of Valu islands" and is inspired by Tuvalu, one of the smallest countries worldwide located in the Polynesia that belongs to the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), whose islands rise less than five meters above the sea level.

Valu islands represents humankind as “an island travelling in space” and the value of ocean as the basis of life. Valu also reminds the word “value”, the value of sustainability and the value of all living beings. We are all Valu!

MonValu aims to empower children and teenagers (in particular girls) to be climate changemakers and to be prepared for the fifth industrial revolution.

The project was launched in January 2020 and involves a set of inspiring books, activities, and games to develop STEAM competences (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) integrated with green and ocean skills. Previously, I won a prize (an IBM award with a role-playing game "We are all Valu" in a Science Contest, Madrid, Spain). 

The project focuses on:

• linking a humanistic perspective of STEAM education with climate change issues and the global 2030 Sustainability Agenda. The project is aligned with the principles of the Decade for Ocean Literacy (2021-2030) and the four interrelated green competences areas: ‘embodying sustainability values’, ‘embracing complexity in sustainability’, ‘envisioning sustainable futures’ and ‘acting for sustainability’.

• the need to better integrate the socio-emotional dimension in STEAM education, including the A of Art, the development of empathy, creativity and communication

• the persistent gender bias and inclusion gaps in STEAM education, such as the scarce engagement of girls in STEAM careers

AND THE PRINCIPAL OBJECTIVES ARE...

• to ignite change in mindsets and action in children and teenagers as well as in parents and teachers

• to develop talents and capacities through inclusive STEAM and ocean learning experiences

MonValu includes four books for children (age from 6 to 11 years old), being “Guardians of the Sea” the first one published in August 2020. Each book contains tools (Kanban, mandalas, empathy and decision-making maps, canvas for kids).  

The publication of the other books will be next December 2022 (“Ku & Kala, a planet love”, “A brilliant business” and “The whale charmer”).

The project covers many actions with “sub-projects” and collaborative activities in formal and informal education for raising awareness, training teachers and students in order to develop the already described competences and “ignite change and action”.  MonValu and Guardians of the Sea has been part of many initiatives in formal education at primary, secondary and tertiary education, including undergraduate and postgraduate students.

METHODOLOGY

The project proposes a methodological framework based on systems and design thinking methodology, including critical thinking and combining various analytical and creative tools. The framework addresses the four competence areas of sustainability linked to STEAM competences and integrating the principles of ocean literacy (in order to understand “the ocean's influence on you and your influence on the ocean”).

The methodological framework comprises six interrelated phases:

1. strong focus on empathy and self-reflective action
2. definition of complex problems
3. ideation of creative solutions
4. prototyping and modeling of solutions
5. evaluation
6. self-assessment

Storytelling, communication and visual thinking techniques are embedded in all the phases of the methodology. Teachers can adapt and combine other methodologies according to the content and activities they want to develop. For instance: with more emphasis on scientific inquiry or engineering design, tinkering and hands-on, heuristic and coding tools, etc.

INITIATIVES & ACTIONS

To date the project developed the following activities, some of them developed previously to the publication of the book:

1. Tertiary education

As the founder/promoter of the project, I participated directly as trainer in courses for teachers-in-service and tertiary education students. In particular:

• in design thinking and gamification modules within a postgraduate Diploma in STEAM with Robotics and Coding. University of Burgos, Spain. I’m external lecturer in this program since 2017.
• Giving on-line masterclass about storytelling and ocean education to undergraduate students in the area of environmental education (19/11/2020 and 2/12/2021)
• integrating the methodology and activities in two modules in an on-line Postgraduate Diploma in STEAM Education with Robotics and Coding in the Dominican Republic (implemented in collaboration between IGlobal and the Education Government). In two editions, 2020-2021 (132 participants) and 2021-2022 (112 participants). Teachers developed final projects with issues on STEAM and green competences.
• Research: two participants at the Postgraduate Diploma at the University of Burgos realized their end projects with studies of storytelling and design thinking methodology with kids (in 2020 and 2021). One of them used Guardians of the Sea in bilingual education with the project “A journey on the beach”.

Link: https://www.ubu.es/noticias/historias-para-empoderar-ninos-y-ninas-ante-el-cambio-climatico

b) Secondary school

As part of monValu the initiative “Our ocean, our life” was developed with teachers at the IES Orriols (Valencia, Spain) with the aim of integrating principles and content on ocean literacy and sustainable competences in the Computer Science subject. The project started the 2/04/2020 in three courses (2º, 3º and 4º).

The activities promoted the reflection among students on the relevance of ocean for life, constructing empathy maps to understand the connection between the land and oceans and the influence of humans on the ocean health. They realized activities using digital tools such as Mentimeter and Gimp, searching information about the sea inhabitants and learning about their characteristics and functions within the marine ecosystem. Students created collages and "marine mutants" working digitally with the Gimp software.

Some students in each course participated in a contest organized by Mundus Maris (a Non-Profit organization) with their contributions for a Book of Marine World. Each student received a certificate of participation.

These activities were relevant as the school is in a deprived neighborhood with the challenge of inclusion of students of many nationalities.  

“Call for schools: Join developing the Book of the Marine World together”

https://www.mundusmaris.org/index.php/en/projects/projects-2020/2374-book-en

c) Primary school (formal education)

The principal action lies in the collaboration with the European Project Selfie (STEAM Educational Approach And Foreign Language Learning In Europe), which developed educational units and work with training of teachers in Spain, Malta and Poland.

• Teacher teams worked in several primary schools and developed numerous projects integrating STEAM competences with green and ocean skills. Many schools realized exhibition of their projects, including a diversity of activities at the school and extra-curricular initiatives based on Guardians of the Sea. Schools also show videos and post in social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. See examples:             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl1c0JvYyfQ&t=5s&ab_channel=VRTelevisi%C3%B3n

• Teachers at the Colegio Virgen de la Rosa organized an on-line class with children of different levels and they prepared an interview and questions about the sea. They send lot of letters written in English (second language) about the Vanora ancient mermaid and Kai, characters from Guardians of the Sea). 

 Interview with children, answering questions about the sea in a TV program organized by them (18/4/2022) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdwgRtETtaM&t=783s&ab_channel=VRTelevisi%C3%B3n

• MonValu participated with a workshop in the International Workshop “Long-life ScienceL2: a training course for teachers about STEM and CLIL for bilingual education”, with teachers and other education agents from Spain, Malta and Poland (6th July 2022)

Other collaborations and initiatives

1. Monvalu work collaboratively with many people and Non-Profit-Organizations such as Mundus Maris (Belgium) and the Barafunda Association (Portugal, which was interrupted by the COVID-pandemic).  

2. Collaboration with the Institut Français Valencia (French Institute of Valencia, a foundation). Despite of the pandemic, we jointly organize an on-line workshop for kids, with collaboration of Sandrine Serra “Natur-art et bric-à-brac” for children (from 5 years old) in April 2021.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ-DevRvhM4&ab_channel=Institutfran%C3%A7aisValencia

1. Teachers also contributed to the diffusion of the project, for example with storytelling in Youtube channels, in particular during the COVID pandemic. Examples: Guardians of the sea storytelling – 27/12/2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCsW6fO5WSo&ab_channel=AnaProfe

2. With a group of children and parents we build a giant mandala for the World Ocean Day at the Patacona beach in Valencia (Spain) -

Other diffusion activities

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ-DevRvhM4&ab_channel=Institutfran%C3%A7aisValencia

1. Teachers also contributed to the diffusion of the project, for example with storytelling in Youtube channels, in particular during the COVID pandemic. Examples: Guardians of the sea storytelling – 27/12/2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCsW6fO5WSo&ab_channel=AnaProfe

2. With a group of children and parents we build a giant mandala for the World Ocean Day at the Patacona beach in Valencia (Spain) -

Other diffusion activities

• A Telegram group was created in March 2022 to share initiatives and resources with teachers and parents. https://t.me/monvalu

• MonValu recently launched their presence in Instagram (September 2022)

• A Telegram group was created in March 2022 to share initiatives and resources with teachers and parents. https://t.me/monvalu

• MonValu recently launched their presence in Instagram (September 2022)