Xentinelas Xelulares: First prize at the Comkids Prix Jeneusse Iberoamericano international festival, Brazil 2013
13/06/2013
The educational videogame Xentinelas Xelulares, designed by The Eureka Program of Fundacion Ciencia & Vida, was awarded with the first prize in the “Games” category at the ComKids Prix Jeneusse Iberoamericano International Festival. This prize, awarded by Cartoon Network, comes after winning the first prize awarded last year at the XVIII International Competition of Medical, Health, and Telemedicine Cinema in Badajoz, Spain.
During the former, the game was introduced by Pablo Rosenblatt, Director of the Eureka Program and Professor at the Universidad Catolica de Chile, and Isabel Rosemblatt, who is also Director of this program. The picture depicts Pablo and Isabel receiving the award.
Xentinelas Xelulares, which was developed by a multidisciplinary team, allows elementary and high school students to playfully learn about immunology. This videogame has been used in more than 100 educational institutions throughout Chile and it will be also launched in Brazil. In addition, there is a plan for a further development of its English version and a 2.0 version that will include other applications and wider content.
In response to the great success of Xentinelas Xelulares, the Eureka Program has gathered a team comprising scientists, educators, scriptwriters, artists, graphic animators, developers, and communicators, which are currently working in novel scientific innovation projects applied to education. The first one will be introduced in August 2013, and it is related to a series of cartoons that tackle issues such as Immunology and Neurosciences through an original story called “Ursi y Magnogeek: exploradores de otro planeta.” Another project in progress is the videogame and Physiology and Anatomy simulator for elementary and high school education, being jointly developed by Fundacion Ciencia & Vida and the School of Biological Sciences of the Universidad Catolica de Chile.
“The success we got in Brazil encourages us to keep on this track, which will lead to an improvement of scientific education both in Chile and other countries of the region that share with us the same problems encountered in scientific education. Xentinelas Xelulares was invited to take part of the Japan Prize contest next October, in the “Innovation and Education” category. This prize, which is awarded by the Japanese public broadcaster NHK, is one of the most prestigious prizes of the world. The contest will be held in Tokyo from October 17 to 24. In addition, we have been invited to take part of several children’s festivals that will take place in Bolivia, Peru, and Uruguay,” explain Pablo and Isabel Rosenblatt.
This videogame was jointly developed by the Eureka Program of Fundacion Ciencia & Vida, the School of Biological Sciences of the Universidad Catolica de Chile, and the Universidad de Talca, with the financial support of the Fondef program, granted by Conicyt through its TIC-EDU program, and the sponsorship of Microsoft and Coffee Business enterprises.