The programme, which was developed by SmVaK Ostrava and experts from EduLudus, an association providing innovative forms of education, will be available from the second semester onwards  as a new version which concentrates more on the social context and responsible handling of waste water.

Ostrava, 21 January 2019. In April 2016, The Tree of Life, the educational programme focused on importance of water for people and environment, was launched in grammar schools in the Moravian-Silesian Region. Since then, the game has been played approximately 90 times by about 2,200 children from the 5^th up to 7^th grades in the grammar schools. In the past period, the game has become so popular in schools that all terms for the respective school year were booked and unavailable. Experts spoke highly about quality of the Tree of Life and the programme ranked among the twelve best and most innovative educational programmes in the prestigious competition Eduina (www.eduina.cz).

Now, SmVaK Ostrava and interactive education experts have developed the version for older pupils from grammar schools and students from high schools. This version emphasises more the social responsibility in source management when those who colonize the Planet of Oxidan  understand that no society can develop without cooperation and sustainable management of water sources and produced waste water.

“The adventurous story in The Tree of Life is very pressing. First, the children compete with each other in the game, but later they have to work closely together in order to maintain sources of water on the planet. During the game they obtain general information about chemical and physical properties of water. This reflects the ongoing social discussions about sufficiency of water sources in our country and highlights the changes in social, medial and political attitudes towards this issue. The topics deserved to be shifted one level above so we have decided to focus on older pupils and students in high schools. That is why we have prepared another game for students in locations where our company operates", says Anatol Pšenička, Managing Director of SmVaK Ostrava.

The educational game is based on the education live action role playing – Edularp. An advantage for schools is that the programme is provided free of charge and the organisers arrive to the children in schools. This advanced learning is so different from memorisation of dry data. Attention is paid to active involvement of each child in the educational process which, in fact, does not look like a learning process.

 “Those who play the new game attempt to colonize the Planet of Oxidan. It is very abundant in resources and offers exceptional welfare. Two expeditions are on their way towards the planet. They compete heavily with each other and try to gain control over resources and, in turn, over the entire planet. A competition starts – who will be the one able to use the resources as fast and as effective as possible in order to build the richest society? Then, first problems with contamination start appearing – it is mostly water which becomes contaminated. This has direct impacts on quantity and availability of usable water. And this makes the both teams to look for a solution to the tricky situation. Because only then it is possible to survive as a mankind. Factors influencing the game include money, wealth, disinformation and manipulation of the public and public opinion surveys by leaders", says Josef Kundrát from EduLudus about the game background.

Beginning from the second semester, the children in schools in the Moravian-Silesian Region may play two educational games which focus on water topics.