In a practical and eventful learning environment, a pedagogically trained team of moderators works with students to develop content around the topics of safety, sustainable energy use, mobility and career choice. The school and adventure train creates its own educational path, which not only transmits knowledge in a versatile way, but also provides food for thought on various topics. The rolling classroom is not stationary, but travels throughout Switzerland, from one location to the next, where it stays one week at a time. This innovative approach aimed at inspiring students not just about current topics, but also about the future, has been enjoying great popularity for years. As a school class, you can sign up for a supervised visit free of charge.
The school train has been travelling through Switzerland since 2003, and during this time it has undergone constant change. It keeps up with the times, follows trends and looks to the future – particularly in the module dedicated to “Mobility in the Future”.
The “Mobility” module needed revising and redeveloping. SBB came to us with the idea of developing it into something that highlights both knowledge transfer from the past to the present day and the mobility needs of young people in the future. Retaining the pupils’ attention throughout the visit to the school train requires varied, exciting and interactive elements. The client was therefore looking for a new way to combine the knowledge transfer with a playful approach. Another criterion was the timeline, which provides for a seven-minute window for the “Mobility of the future” module. Furthermore, an opinion poll was to be integrated, inviting participants to share their needs and reflect on mobility behaviour. The overriding criterion for all requirements was the desire to make the module futuristic and equip it with inventive technology.
With the new module, a section was to be integrated into the SBB school and adventure train, providing historical to contemporary mobility knowledge as well as confronting pupils with the question: What matters to you when you think about your future? And further: What will mobility look like in the future?
SBB wants to use the rolling classroom to convey as much essential knowledge as possible in a short time. The ludic approach to “Mobility of the Future” ideally demonstrates that the students themselves should decide on their future and should therefore consciously make this decision. Furthermore, the survey provides exciting insights into the current perception of mobility from the point of view of youth and shows what this collective thinks the future will be like. Valuable insights can be gained from this.
The goal of redeveloping the “Mobility of the Future” module with the focus on sensitisation has been implemented with the following measures:
Room design
The room design has been completely rethought to meet the formulated requirements. The compartment was divided into two sections.
Voting mechanism
Each of the two tables has six voting stations. Questions on the topic of mobility appear on the screen in front of the students. By means of a voting prism, a geometric construct that behaves as if it contained a luminous liquid. Participants can make their selection by means of a tilting movement to the left or to the right. Once the selection is logged in, it is transmitted to the large screen via a futuristic animation, where the result is visible to everyone.
Development of the voting prism
As is well known, attention is always higher if there is an element of the unknown that arouses curiosity, and when different senses are addressed. For these reasons it was important for the interactive survey to develop a tool that sets itself apart from the familiar touch screens and buttons. The voting prism was the result of a cooperation with our partner company Naut GmbH, which supported us intensively during its development. The prism consists of darkened Plexiglas, on which several film layers were applied at different distances. The ingenious construct creates an effect which could be described as “extraterrestrial”. The colourful light, which appears to be a luminous liquid, flows through the cylinder and finally lands on the screen.
The development of a prototype was followed by a long and elaborate optimisation phase, which ultimately led to the unique end product.
“You hold your future in your hands”
The prism not only serves as a tangible voting tool, but also actively contributes to conveying the central message of the “mobility of the future” module. The aim is to playfully show the young people that they hold the future in their own hands – in the form of their vote, which they can exercise with the voting prism and also by “weighing” their opinion.
Content production
The content for the screens, their presentation as well as the sound effects were created, designed and produced by us. The aim was to transport the youngsters to an inspiring world for a few minutes, in which they want to participate and with which they are willing to interact.
Interactive data collection
Thanks to the interactive voting mechanism, SBB is not only able to act as an innovative and target-group-aware company, but also to gather data in an entertaining and anonymous way. These data are particularly valuable as they give an indication of how and what moves the young people – and thus the future.
Multimedia installations
We equipped the “Mobility of the Future” module with the necessary technology. This included the integrations of a sound system, the various screens and the tables and targeted light installations.
In 2018, the SBB school and adventure train travelled around Switzerland for 30 weeks, visiting around 20 locations. Along the way, over 1000 school classes visited it, comprising over 20,000 young people.
A special challenge was the development of the voting cylinder. It is a very complex construct that plays with perception. To produce something like this under time pressure was a great challenge for us in many ways. In addition, there was only a very short test phase and the module practically had to be put into operation right away.
