The Edufinet Project, promoted by Unicaja Banco and Fundación Unicaja, has incorporated to its working tools a videogame for mobile devices, designed for secondary students to learn some basic financial and economic concepts. A learning guide will also be available for the educational community.
The videogame, which was presented on 5 October, on the occasion of the Financial Education Day, has been promoted Edufinet and by the Fundación de Cajas de Ahorros (Funcas), and it has been developed by Kaiju Games studio.
The presentation to the educational community took place today, at an event attended by the Head of the Edufinet Project, José M. Dominguez; the Head of the CSR Area at Unicaja Banco, José María López; the Financial Education Coordinator at Fundación Unicaja, Manuel Dorado; the Provincial Representative of Education, Sports, Equality, Social Policies and Reconciling of the Junta de Andalucía in Malaga, Mercedes García, and the Head of Kaiju Games, Miguel Ramos.
The event has also been attended by teachers from high schools IES Cartima, of Cartama (Malaga), Ítaca, of Tomares (Sevilla) and Severo Ochoa, of Granada, who have told their experience using the videogame as a teaching resource in the classroom.
The financial education videogame is based on the work of the Edufinet Project, a pioneering financial education programme, with 15 years of history.
‘This videogame is an excellent opportunity to reach the young, through digital channels, and to raise awareness on the importance of having the adequate financial literacy’, the Head of the Edufinet Project, José M. Domínguez, stated.
The story of the videogame arises from an original question: how will an alien sent to the Earth to study the human civilization act? The player is an alien from a barter society, and it will have to acquire certain economic and financial skills to perform in the complex human society.
The combination of sci-fi and some touches of humor is the basis of the history presented in the videogame, which takes place in the everyday environment of a city. ‘We are really happy for Edufinet choosing videogames as a financial education tool and media, and for the trust that they have always placed on the project’, the Head of Kaiju Games, Miguel Ramos, said.
Alongside the videogame, the Edufinet team and Kaiju Games have also prepared a learning guide to be used by the educational community in the classroom. This way, any educational center may incorporate it to its training activities and use the videogame as an additional working tool.
The videogame can be downloaded for free for Apple and Android devices on App Store and Google Play. The website of the Edufinet programme (www.edufinet.com) includes additional information about the game and a link to the learning guide.
Edufinet
The Edufinet Project currently has the support of 16 universities and more than ten business institutions and organizations. Since it was launched, more than 152,000 people have participated in the different seminars, workshops, courses and lectures organized. Its website has registered so far more than nine million visits, with access from nearly 180 countries.
Kaiju Games
Kaiju Games is a game developer and service studio from Malaga, founded by industry veterans with over 20 years of experience in all kind of interactive project. It has worked in national and international titles for PC, consoles and mobiles, with partners and companies such as Crytek, 505 Games, Pyro Studios, Yahoo!, Wanadoo, RTVE, 1C, Atari, Activision, Namco Bandai, FlowPlay, Grupo Planeta, Abysse Corp, WildTangent, BigFish or Strategy First.
