The Gis4Schools project is a strategic partnership in the field of School Education aimed at introducing new methodologies based on the use of GIS technologies applied to the impact of climate change on the environment in order to improve STEAM’s learning by pupils. Improving STEAM education is one of the strategic priorities of the EU in the field of Education and training. However, although progress has been made in this area, according to the 2018 (PISA) results more than one in five pupils in the EU has insufficient proficiency in reading, mathematics or science. To improve STEAM’s learning, it is fundamental “to find better ways to nurture the curiosity and cognitive resources of children” by linking science with other subjects and disciplines. The purpose is to enable students to better understand and tackle the environmental and societal challenges, even at local level. In this approach GIS is a precious enabling tool for the engagement of pupils in analysis related to their environment and community. Objectives In this context, the project intends to promote a new approach for the involvement of pupils in STEAM disciplines’ learning by introducing the teaching of the GIS technology which is not yet (or rarely) adopted in secondary schools, and by applying it to the thematic area of “Climate Change” which is receiving increasingly attention by young people. Partnership The Gis4Schools project is based on a transnational and multi-stakeholders partnership composed of 4 Secondary Schools, 1 University, 1 Training Teaching Center and 4 European and national Associations active in the field of Education, Space, Resilience and Climate change for a total of five Countries involved. 11 associated partners have been involved. A total of about 24 teachers and 180 pupils will be directly involved in the project’s activities. About 200 teachers and 1000 pupils will be indirect beneficiaries. Outputs The activities will lead to the development of five Intellectual Outputs. O1 Development and implementation of the Training Package (TP) - composed of skills analysis, the programme of the training course, the actual content, methodology, pedagogical approach, remote - support tools i.e. video, webinar. Thanks to a short-term learning event of 4 days, teachers will be trained to transfer to pupils the TP contents. O2 Suite of open source GIS products co-created with pupils involvement. Pupils will be exposed to the practical application of the newly acquired knowledge about GIS and the underlying science, technologies and data, by familiarising themselves with data manipulation as well as with the design and development of the required software and procedures to obtain GIS products. The IO2 consists of open training material based on case studies (examples: increase in surface temperature, desertification, forest fires, flooding, etc.) O3 - Pupils-led final report based on GIS Products. Pupils and their teacher will take stock of all they have learned throughout the project and build upon it to produce an evidence-based report. A video-report and written report will be produced by each school. O4 - E-Learning platform and Open Source Repository. The E-learning platform with open source repository is the unifying technological tool that keeps all the different components of the project together and that assure the transferability of the overall process. O5 Monitoring and evaluation analysis report and policy guidelines. It is a key component for the transferability of the learning outcomes. One intermediate report and one final evaluation report will be delivered. The reports will allow a final evaluation of the learning process and the actual achievement of the project’s objectives. Methodology. The methodology of the project will combine Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) and Problem Based Learning (PBL) approach to an interdisciplinary contextualization of the science’s topic. Impact Increase STEAM’s knowledge of pupils and acquisition of new skills in analysis and managing GIS data, open data statistics and related technologies for the analysis of environmental, economic and social phenomena and by consequence higher propensity for pupils to choose STEAM subjects in their university career. Increase of pupil’s environmental awareness, civic engagement and responsible citizenship; Validation and adoption of the Training Package by other teachers and Schools thanks to the cooperation with the associated partners (10 in each Country for a total of 50 in Europe); Increase of teachers’ knowledge and acquisition of new skills in STEAM disciplines teaching, both in terms of content and of methodologies; Adoption in the schools of innovative pedagogical modules focused on a matter (GIS and climate change) not yet covered by the traditional school’s curricula, but with a high educational and civic value.
The overarching objective of the project was to encourage pupils in STEAM learning through their active engagement in interdisciplinary projects related to an important environmental and social challenge while raising their awareness on climate change and its impact on the local environment. To achieve the general objective, the following specific objective were foreseen: To develop a secondary school reusable training package focused on EO, GIS applied to Climate Change; To engage pupils in the development of open-source GIS products focused on climate change; To make pupils exploit the GIS output to analyze a case study concerning the impact of climate change on their local environment; To increase the quality of STEAM's training, by providing teachers with a training package combining virtual learning and a short-term training event; To engage pupils in storytelling actions; To strengthen cooperation between Schools, Local Authorities, Academia, NGOs and other stakeholders. In the mid-term, to contribute to promote pupils’ employability by enhancing their analytical abilities in a high growth potential sector and their propensity to choose STEAM in the University paths.
The project aimed to introduce the teaching of GIS (Geographic Information System) technologies in European secondary schools in order to improve STEAM education. The aim was to develop new teaching methodologies and engage students in creating GIS outputs focused on a specific local climate challenge and its replication in a developing country. GIS was selected because of its high educational value, which requires an interdisciplinary knowledge base in the digital, green and social sectors. The project addressed pupils' needs to maintain and increase their interest in STEAM disciplines, to increase knowledge and skills in data analysis applied to climate change through teaching GIS technologies, and to engage students in project-based learning. Teachers needed pecific training in Earth observation, data analysis and GIS technologies, the secondary schools needed to increase the number of specialized teachers and to develop cooperation with universities, local authorities and the private sector to integrate GIS into the school curriculum.