Minerals in your daily life: a game for science education

Quality education is one of the Sustainable Development Goals defined in the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Since traditional, purely expository, and transmissive teaching is neither attractive nor encourages students' attention, teachers must be able to meet current educational challenges, such as making teaching more attractive and motivating for developing multidisciplinary skills. Critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication are highlighted as innovative and primordial skills for students of the 21st century. The curricular guidelines for the Natural Sciences discipline in middle school in Portugal emphasize the relevance of Science in everyday life and its application in technology, society, and the environment. The teaching of Geology can be based on methodological diversity and strategic pluralism, using experiences of daily living to highlight the presence of this Science. Game-based learning promotes changes in conceptions about the value of Geology in society, often undervalued and misunderstood by students due to its inherent complexity. To overcome this constraint, contextualized teaching enhances the understanding of the content, fostering interest and relevance of its knowledge. In this teaching perspective, students are faced with real situations perceived as meaningful to them, allowing these students to relate Science to their daily lives, namely to social matters and technological innovations. The game is a valuable didactic resource in the educational context, enhancing learning of Geosciences. Our poster presents the board game Minerals in your daily life, designed to explore the content Rocks and Minerals, transversal to the sub-themes External Dynamics of the Earth and Geological Science and Sustainability of Life on Earth, defined in the curriculum of the Natural Sciences discipline of middle school in Portugal (K7). The purpose of this resource is to allow the identification of minerals associated with students' everyday objects. Hence, the information described on the game cards will be used to guide them autonomously in the construction of knowledge. The students are organized into teams with the objective of winning the game by "collecting" the largest number of minerals from their identification. In sum, game-based teaching promotes meaningful learning among students, prompting their enthusiasm, motivation, and active participation throughout the activity. These positive results are illustrated by some of the students’ comments, "I like learning by playing" and "Learning this way helps me acquire knowledge". In addition to fostering autonomy and collaboration among peers, communication is stimulated by discussing and reflecting on the information displayed on the game cards.