The Briefcase project is a new educational tool that uses hands-on learning strategies to teach students about the important role of mineral raw materials in everyday life and how our choices concerning these materials can shape the world. Through innovative learning experiences, students engage directly with the raw materials they are learning about, improving retention of the content and challenging them to consider their place as European and global citizens.
The game of “The Briefcase of mineral applications” aims to familiarise the player with minerals that are used in the manufacture of everyday objects. Given the era of a growing prevalence of online teaching and learning, we believe tools such as this one could prove to be effective and beneficial for the education of young people. After all, it is now that their sense of responsibility and consciousness is forming.
The Briefcase Project explores innovative ways to attract the general public to minerals and mining. It is a funded EIT Raw Materials Project that is orientated for Wider Society Learning (WSL). It aims to transform issues around mining – such as conflict minerals, sustainability and environmental consequences of mining – into more relatable and tangible concepts for the everyday person, namely our young students. Using a number of innovative methods, it teaches students to identify minerals they use in their everyday lives and encourages them to reflect on the problems and topics surrounding the mining industry.
Our main objective is to point out the indispensability of minerals and mining, focusing on their wide range of uses, as well as their consequences for society and the environment. Our project addresses production systems, sustainability questions around mining operations, and the importance of the consumer’s behaviour, namely as it pertains to consumption and approach to activities such as recycling.
Without sufficient exposure to and knowledge of the industry, young people are growing up disinterested in the professional fields that keep the industry operating. The Briefcase aims to foster greater interest and knowledge about minerals and mining through engaging, interactive learning methods. This will both create more informed citizens while also building positive associations with the industry in students’ minds.
Our project partners recently created five new thematic Briefcases: Gold, Cobalt, Tin, Platinum and Secondary Raw Materials, and the project team is currently working on developing a 3D/Augmented Reality Briefcase Tool, which aims to appeal to older students as well as the general public and prompt them to take deeper interest in mining by visiting places such as museums and science centres.
You are invited to join hundreds of people already using this engaging learning tool. We encourage you to learn more about the project or read about the versatile ways to utilise both the physical and digital tools. For more information, please visit the Project website and The Briefcase game website.
