Abstract:

This presentation describes the main characteristics and evolution of the first 10 years of the application of the Educational Program (EP) of the Barcelona World Race (BWR). This is an unprecedented initiative in the methodology of project-based learning, and is the result of combining the goals of the official curriculum of primary and secondary education with the contents of a large-scale sporting event.

The BWR is a round-the-world sailing regatta that covers 45,000 km in a roundtrip from Barcelona, without stopovers or assistance, with two crew on board. The regatta is organized by the Fundación Navegación Oceánica Barcelona (FNOB) and, since its first edition in 2007-08, it considered taking advantage of the potential of a round-the-world regatta as an innovative training medium. Since then there have been three editions of the regatta and EP, and a fourth edition is being put together for the beginning of 2019, which will include a port of call in Sydney.

The original design of the EP is based on four basic approaches. Firstly, it has a broad perspective as it deals with all types of content and training competences grouped into three main points; the environment, technology/sailing, and a human dimension. Second, it uses the concept of an oceanic sailboat as an eco¬-friendly machine, a "clean" vehicle that can circumnavigate the globe with zero emissions into the atmosphere. In the EP the sailboat is seen as an autonomous system of systems in which many aspects of life and training topics of educational value are encountered, such as: coexistence, personal improvement, nutrition, physical preparation, knowledge of the environment, geography, new materials, mechanics, physics, mathematics, communications, sustainability, etc. A third element is the role it gives to new technologies and their use in education. Finally, a key component of the program is the trip: the adventure of following an extreme sporting event, in real time, from the classroom, during a period that can range from a few weeks to the whole school year.

From these principles the FNOB, in collaboration with the University of Barcelona and the Consorci el Far, developed in 2007 a first catalog of training materials that allowed students and teachers from primary and secondary schools to work on, in person and online, the contents of the curriculum applied to situations and challenges that arose during the race. In the subsequent editions of the BWR these training resources have evolved to set up a specific online platform that facilitates collaborative learning among different schools that have to face the same challenges during the course of the race.

The EP of the BWR has been developed in several languages, is free and open to the educational community. In the three editions held there has been a close follow-up of 50,000 students distributed in several hundreds of class-groups in various schools.

The presentation will show the results of the follow-up, the high evaluation from the participants, and the changes foreseen for the fourth edition. As a final reflection, the training potential of this methodology applied to other similar sporting events will be considered.

Keywords:

Educational program, Project based learning, meaningful learning, Barcelona World Race.