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The chronicles of Volarela:a new way of learning

The chronicles of Volarela:a new way of learning

It was by spending whole hours on their educational video games (Adibou, L'Oncle Ernest, Carmen Sandiego, etc.) that Nicolas Fines, 26, and Guilhem Mallet, 31, developed this taste for learning through play. Childhood friends, they had the opportunity for several years to develop this appetite during the summer camps they did as BAFA animators. This is where this crazy idea germinated at the time:combining the video game with real elements to transmit learning .

The chronicles of Volarela:a new way of learning

Imagine, your child receives at home a mysterious plan, sheets full of information... Accompanying these objects, gathered in the explokit - the kit of the perfect detective - there is a letter. It was written by PIAT, a strange robot-dragon who offers your child to become a DiZ detective; the Inter-Zone Division. Immersed in the world of Volarela and its flying islands, the child will have to solve investigations on the border between the real and the virtual, going to get his information in his explokit to advance in the game.

Today, video games are considered the first pastime for young French people . And the use of screens (television, computer, smartphone, etc.) has now become obvious in our societies. But more than 2 out of 3 parents say they are worried about the place occupied by these screens in the lives of their children . Faced with the attractiveness of these media and the games offered there, many of them still spend on these hobbies. How to reassure them then?

The chronicles of Volarela:a new way of learning

The founding duo is convinced that new technologies, digital and video games can be used as vectors of learning . The game is according to them the best channel to motivate children to learn. A source of pleasure, it offers an informal setting where learning is implicit and attractive.

They are convinced that learning is effective if the child is active . Thus, to progress in the game, the child is encouraged to find the knowledge he needs on his own. By investigating, he actively participates in his own learning.

Finally, they defend the place of digital tools in the development of children, while ensuring that these same tools are not sufficient alone. They are a vector allowing the child to build his reasoning.

That's why they developed The Chronicles of Volarela.

The Chronicles of Volarela is an educational experience for 8-12 year olds, between video game and escape game . Immersed in the flying islands of Volarela, the child embodies a detective from the Inter-Zone Division. To solve his investigations, he alternates between phases of exploration on a video game and manipulation of his explokit, made up of road maps, index cards and puzzles. After receiving it directly at home, the player then has access to a new virtual survey each month. This explokit is designed to develop skills taken from the cycle 3 school program such as:

  • Location in space
  • The analysis of complex problems
  • Finding information in a text

The explokit is also validated by their network within the National Education. Indeed, from the start of their reflection, they wanted to surround themselves with researchers and primary school and college teachers to validate the educational content of their game. Even if today, the targeted buyers are the parents of children between 8 and 12 years old, they make no secret of their desire to subsequently develop an offer for schools. A demo on Windows and Mac is already testable and downloadable for free, the explokit being to print yourself.

The chronicles of Volarela:a new way of learning

They will create their company, CrossQuest Studio, next November. Les Chroniques de Volarela will be their first product, marketed from April 2019. To finance it, they have launched crowdfunding on Ulule.

Go to Ulule to support Les Chroniques de Volarela