Human health is deeply intertwined with the health of the planet. However, teaching students the necessary skills related to sustainability and environmental awareness is often a challenge for educators. In collaboration with Blue Marble Health GmbH and the First Mover health insurance providers Audi BKK and Pronova BKK, iteratec has developed a method for teaching these concepts in a playful way and, based on a four-week sustainability project for students, created an app.
How can educational content be presented so that students are motivated to engage with these topics voluntarily and enthusiastically even outside of school? iteratec developed an app that leverages gamification.
The content is presented in a playful way, and what students learn can be applied directly in everyday life. Short videos, interactive quizzes, daily missions, and a points system with class rankings make using the app entertaining. This makes learning fun and reinforces skills where they will be needed later on. The app’s guidance is a strong unique selling point for the lesson series. As a result, the project has already been successfully implemented at several schools and has received very positive feedback from teachers and students. Now the app, which is fully accessible, is being rolled out nationwide.
A healthy diet, sufficient exercise, and sustainable lifestyles are not only essential components of a balanced and healthy lifestyle, but are also socially indispensable in the context of climate change. To preserve the health of all systems, Blue Marble Health GmbH developed a series of lessons for students based on the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
It equips students in 9th grade and above with the necessary skills to make healthy and sustainable decisions independently in the future. To encourage more interaction and practical application in daily life, iteratec developed and implemented the idea for a companion app. The Blue Marble Health app is the centerpiece of the lesson series.
At the start, students choose a mission: riding a bike to school, eating fewer animal products, or throwing away less food. Then the four-week challenge begins.
The Blue Marble Health app is designed to convey learning content in an engaging and easy to digest way. Through gamification, learning becomes a game where users can earn points. Students stay active through daily missions, are rewarded with new points, and can even compete with their classmates. This boosts motivation.
When designing the app, special attention was paid to accessibility so that everyone can truly participate. This includes the readability and color scheme of texts and components, as well as the adaptation of the screen readers' text-to-speech function for people with visual impairments. In this way, iteratec has succeeded in developing a fully accessible app to promote greater inclusion in education.
Another important aspect is the protection of minors’ data. To this end, an access code solution was developed that requires only minimal information.
Technically, the app was built using the Flutter framework. This allows a single codebase to support multiple platforms, such as Android and iOS. Doing so not only saves time during development but also provides greater flexibility in designing features. For the backend service, iteratec chose Appwrite. This lightweight backend solution enables fast and secure operation of the application.
Since the solution is also open source, it can be hosted on German servers, thereby ensuring independence from major U.S. providers.
Blue Marble Health GmbH worked closely with iteratec’s student lab (SLab) right from the start. Together, they developed the idea into a complete app concept. The students also created a design that defined the app’s layout and functionalities.
The app has been available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store since early 2023 and has already been tested by several school classes, which have provided very positive feedback. The topics are very much on trend, and the app is the ideal platform for presenting the content in a way that’s relevant to everyday life. This is precisely why the app is of interest not only to schools. Several company health insurance plans, such as AudiBKK and PronovaBKK, have recognized its potential for businesses and added the app to their portfolios. Additional features for further developing the app are already in the works.
The development of the Blue Marble Health app with iteratec was a very dynamic process. Ideas were implemented quickly and effectively. The developers themselves contributed ideas on how to further improve the app.
Managing Director of Blue Marble Health GmbH
A healthy planet and healthy people—that is Blue Marble Health’s vision! Blue Marble Health GmbH is a young company dedicated to promoting planetary health. At its core is a healthy, climate-friendly, and environmentally sustainable lifestyle. The company supports schools in implementing the prevention project of the same name and, through its team, is available to answer questions from teachers, students, and their parents.
If you have any concerns or questions about a project for your company, please send us a request and we will get back to you.
