LOCAL WINNER
Beginner Awards: Social impact
PlayTec
Solution details
PlayTec: A Gamified Digital Learning Ecosystem
Aims to boost STEM education for students aged 12–18.
PLAYTOPIA: Gamified learning on platforms like Roblox, featuring videos, simulations, challenges, and Learning Points (LP) redeemable for rewards.
THE HUB: Links students to global competitions, courses, and networks, integrating LP for enhanced engagement.
MVP debut: Dec 2024 at an educational fair in Mexico.
Tweet / Slogan
PlayTec is a gamified digital ecosystem for ages 12-18, focused on STEM education. Its core, PlayTopia, is a virtual learning space on a gaming platform. Students explore topics, complete mini-game Challenges to earn Learning Points, and trade them for in-game rewards.
MindWave
Resources
Resources: Unity development, AI for student monitoring, blockchain for micro-credentials, cloud servers to data, and initial investment for project development, logistics, and marketing.
Context
Attention deficit issues will create problems for a person of any age, but especially for children who are still in school learning.
We are addressing the issue of decreasing attention spans among children, exacerbated by the constant use of social media platforms. As social media usage increases, attention spans tend to decrease, which raises numerous concerns about children's development and learning abilities.Our solution directly confronts this challenge by leveraging the engaging nature of games to enhance learning and provide accreditation.
Who Benefits?
Our target group includes learners aged 12-19, educators, and society at large.
Learners benefit by experiencing a shift from traditional methods to gamified, interactive learning, which improves attention spans, promotes interest in STEM subjects, and develops essential skills for future careers. Micro-credentials provide tangible recognition for their progress.
Educators gain access to a powerful tool to enhance teaching effectiveness, ensuring higher student engagement and better knowledge retention. Society benefits as this solution addresses critical issues like declining attention spans and provides inclusive education, preparing a skilled future workforce.
Environmental benefits include reduced dependency on physical learning materials, promoting sustainability. This innovation bridges the gap between learning and entertainment, ensuring students thrive in an increasingly digital world while fostering a culture of lifelong learning.
Impact
Our solution will focus on changing education by transforming traditional learning methods into interactive, game-based experiences that engage students aged 12-19 and improve attention spans affected by social media.
By incorporating gamification, we promote interest and knowledge retention, providing micro-credentials and global opportunities to develop essential skills. Socially, this encourages inclusive learning and prepares students for future careers, while environmentally, it promotes digital learning, reducing the need for physical materials. For example, using tailored Unity games we can captivate students in STEM subjects, integrating seamlessly into school curricula and adapting for different age groups. We plan to launch our first MVP in schools across Tlaxcala and expand its implementation to the mechatronics program at the Tecnológico de Monterrey.
Team work
We are PlayTec, a team composed of two mechatronic engineers with extensive programming and project development experience, two biotechnology engineers with sustainability expertise, and an entrepreneur with the vision to scale the project successfully.
This balanced mix of engineering and entrepreneurial skills ensures diverse perspectives essential for success. While some members focus on software development and emerging technologies, others bring leadership and strategic direction with a focus on sustainability. Our expertise spans AI, blockchain, big data, project development, and sustainability, making us well-equipped to execute this project. We plan to continue collaborating as a team to drive this vision forward, leveraging our combined strengths for future growth.
Innovativeness
PlayTec is distinct for its open-access platform where learning meets fun. It uses AI to track student progress and provides teachers with valuable insights. PlayTec ensures secure credentials that validate and track achievements. While many educational games lack engagement, transparency, or are costly, PlayTec’s approach is accessible, affordable, and impactful, bridging the gap between fun and meaningful education with real-time tracking and credentialing innovation.
Transferability
Our solution is versatile and can be scaled for various educational contexts. Although currently aimed at children aged 12-19, it can be adapted for younger children with engaging, age-appropriate games or for university students with more advanced, discipline-specific content.
For example, platforms like Roblox capture young audiences, but using Unity, we can create tailored educational games—such as anatomy simulations for medical students or robotics assembly games for engineering courses.
Sustainability
For the future development of the proposal, we are looking for collaboration with different schools in order to reach a wider audience, as well as looking to develop our own platform if it is considered to be more successful.
In addition to collaborating with schools, we are also looking for collaboration with different micro-certification (inside of Blockchain) services and courses so that the student has a greater choice based on their needs and the direction they wish to take.