Blockchain in the School

Over the past decade the narrative about Latin America has shifted from colors and hope to poverty and authoritarianism. This reality destroys families, businesses, and entire generations. The most vulnerable layers of society are especially impacted, robbing them of their ability to dream. At the same time, the web3 industry and blockchain technology emerge as tools to liberate, empower, and generate income for civil society. However, the lack of content in Portuguese and Spanish - especially in an accessible language, without so many technical jargon - has erected walls that prevent access to these tools. Community, innovation, and creativity are some of the scarcest resources on Earth, but are all abundant in Latin America. It was this combination of needs and available resources that led Marcelo to build a course on blockchain in a public school in a poor neighborhood in the city of Serra, ES.

And so Blockchain in the School was born. The initial course was very well received - for more details, click here -, which motivated us to start a new chapter in which we seek to make teaching about web3 scalable.

A New Approach

Analyzing the pilot project, we realized that the success of our course depends on:

• Possibility of reaching students' hearts. This is only possible using the bond between teachers and students
• Translating web3 to students' daily lives. That is why we seek to explain web3 through the issues it can solve around technology and money in today's society
• Hands on. Give students opportunities to apply in practice the knowledge we provide, either by interacting with dapps or with group activities
• Knowledge exchange and continuous improvement. Like any product, we need to get closer to the end user's reality to keep improving our content

In this new chapter of the project, we seek to train public school teachers to provide education about blockchain and web3. Our ambition is that our courses achieve a national reach and possibly expand to all of Latin America. This is only possible by reaching out to teachers who are linked to students. In addition to providing development opportunities for teachers, we receive continuous feedback from those who already live the day to day life of the public school. We want to give teachers this opportunity to co-create and make our content better. Finally, we believe that students need to understand why web3 is so important. Decentralization is not just the aesthetics of using a fox's digital wallet. It is the possibility of a paradigm shift from the current economic model. It is the empowerment of the user against the monopoly of the internet platforms. This gives us hope that web3 can have a huge social and environmental impact, especially in peripheral communities. Our goal is to transmit this vision to students so that they can become protagonists in the technology market, either as entrepreneurs or skilled labor.

Content and Afterschool Follow-up

We named the newly developed content HUM4NT3CH to symbolize the need for humanizing technological development. In the last decades, the Internet has enabled unprecedented technological progress. However, most of the wealth generated has been concentrated in the hands of a few companies, which exploit its users, creators, and/or sellers to maximize their profit for shareholders. It is precisely this scenario of exploitation that we are focusing on in the construction of our core course. As such, we dive deep into two main issues:

• How can blockchain democratize the internet?
• How can blockchain distribute wealth?

You can access the detailed content at: HUM4NT3CH: Humanized Technological Development.

After class, we can leverage the traceability of publicly verifiable blockchain records to provide post-class follow-up for students. We can track which of our modules they are doing to help guide them on their learning path. In addition, we are creating a network of mentors to assist our students in their continued development. We will also pursue certification opportunities for them through our partner network. That way we hope to make web3 the gateway to onboard these students to the technology market. Students are the best people to develop new products and services that can improve life within their communities. Blockchain in the School just provides the tools and connects the right people to accelerate this innovation process. Together we are stronger!

2023 Deliverables

First Semester

• HUM4NT3CH Course: Humanized Technology Development
• Learning tracks about web3 on the 101.xyz platform
• Online structure of the project (website, Discord, Telegram)
• Regular communication via Twitter, Instagram, Lens Protocol, Celo forum and Mirror
• Launch the $NOS token on the Celo network
• Referral of students to mentorships/specialization courses
• Certification process for teachers trained in the content
• Business model definition for educational content creation
• Strategic marketing planning (follower goals, engagement, etc.)
• Project expansion planning

Second Semester

• Onboarding first semester graduates to web3
• Hiring teachers to develop new courses
• Approach to municipal education secretariats for course institutionalization
• Implementation of content in 3 educational platforms
• Creation of an institutional structure for a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO)
• Deliver the first course in Spanish

2023 Success Metrics

First Semester

• Graduate 300 students in Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte
• Onboarding 100% of students to web3 (download wallet, add Celo network and receive $NOS token)
• Certify 13 teachers from different schools
• Identifying 10 mentors from different fields (e.g. programming, product)
• Host a hackathon focused on problem solving in student's communities

Second Semester

• Graduate 600 students in Latin America
• Prospect 5 partners to develop student projects
• 30 students certified in specialization courses in technology areas
• 10 students developing web3 projects in their communities
• Certify 30 teachers from different schools
• Present the project in a web3 or impact entrepreneurship event

Our Contributors

Ariel is an economist and product manager. He joined web3 looking for projects that fostered regenerative economies and social inclusivity through entrepreneurship, and today leads the coordination and product development at BnE.

Marcelo Silva is a researcher (PhD from UFRJ) with a focus on institutional analysis and design, social entrepreneur and writer for Blockchain and DeFi. He founded the project and today acts as an advisor due to his protagonism in ReFi Spring.

Gregory Azevedo is our brand and communications manager. Growth Marketing, expert in brand building and strategy, consumer behavior and trends. He leads social media strategies and partnerships with influencers and schools.

Verber Alves is a lawyer, coordinator of environmental recovery and humanitarian conflict projects, researcher in Blockchain and Web3, member and developer of educational and social impact projects in web3.

Our Contributors

• Ana Caroline, President and CEO of Educar+
• Lucas Pacheco, self-taught Full Stack developer and creator of the original BnE website
• William Caldeira, designer and creator of our logo and brand assets