STS Education models to transmit to society the challenge of global change in the ocean Erasmus Project

Project Title

STS Education models to transmit to society the challenge of global change in the ocean

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Research and innovation; Environment and climate change; Pedagogy and didactics

Project Summary

The EDUCO2CEAN project is promoted by Portuguese Association for Environmental Education – ASPEA (PT), the University of Vigo, through the International Campus of Excellence – Campus do Mar (SP), the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology of Scotland- MASTS (UK), the Portuguese National Agency for Scientific and Technologic Culture – Ciência Viva (PT), the secondary education centres IES Virxe do Mar and IES Ribeira do Louro (SP) and the CARETAKERS OF THE ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL (PL).
The plan was to experiment with STS education models, elaborated to be applied across the EU to achieve the transference to society of the results of researches related to the impact and mitigation of climate change in the seas and oceans. The project has a special focus on the Atlantic Ocean and the Baltic Sea and takes advantage of transfer the knowledge to the society, being able to be adopted by the EU in this area of knowledge.
EDUCO2CEAN has the objective of promoting student’s interest for knowledge and to study about the topic of oceans, to support their ability to communicate their personal commitment to the challenges of sustainable management of the seas, climate change and reducing the impact of CO2, giving them an active and leading role. These objectives were sought through the direct involvement of young people in the process of creating educative contents and furthermore, to transfer this knowledge to general society via non-conventional channels, using for this multimedia and artistic means. These students, because of their youth, creativity, formative stage of life, enthusiasm and commitment to a better future, provided a fresh and involved look at the challenges of conservation and sustainability of the seas, thereby contributing to people’s awareness raising.
Through the involvement of the students in a process which will improve their knowledge and communication skills, the project aims to transfer to general society the idea of the importance of researching on the impact of climate change in the ocean and the need of adaptation and mitigation of the impact, meanly at the levels of secondary education, and promoting collaboration and synergies between all stakeholders in the education system and society in general.
The project promoted the setting up of a collaborative international network of educators, students, NGOs and public authorities working together on the impact of climate change in the oceans and sees.
The EDUCO2CEAN project included several teacher training courses, giving innovative strategies and methodologies, helping attendants to increase their knowledge related to the cutting-edge science related to climate change and oceans and to improve their skills to transfer this knowledge to the students and these to the general society. It made available for educators abundant and up-to-date materials to implement this education in the schools. They are available in the project Web Platform (www.educo2cean.org) and in the E-book.
The E-book, first Intellectual Output, is a tool to be used in or outside the classroom, with innovative content created from the knowledge generated by the universities and research centres of the project, which have produced scientific articles, which then have been adapted by the pedagogic partners for easy understanding by a secondary education student and the society in general. This innovative approach, together with the wide use multimedia resources (infographics, videos, animations and illustrations) give an important value to the e-book. It include also workbook activities, laboratory experiments to be carried out by the students, field activities. The didactic units of the E-book include a flexible and adaptable didactic proposal, able to be transferred into any European curricular area of secondary education.
The Project Platform (www.educo2cean.org), second Intellectual Output of the project, serves firstly as a meeting place for the professionals, teachers, students NGOs staff and other relevant stakeholders. It brings together the entire project, including all products and activities developed under the project.
The Web Portal is also an important tool for the dissemination, transferability and sustainability of the project and its products. This platform is innovative because it presents a number of audio-visual and artistic resources developed not only by the project partners, but also by the students of partner and associated schools, in close collaboration with professors and researchers of universities and researching centres.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 238989 Eur

Project Coordinator

Associação Portuguesa de Educação Ambiental & Country: PT

Project Partners

• IES Virxe do Mar
• IES Ribeira do Louro
• CIENCIA VIVA-AGENCIA NACIONAL PARA A CULTURA CIENTIFICA E TECNOLOGICA
• UNIVERSIDAD DE VIGO
• Marine Alliance for Science and Technology -Scotland
• CARETAKERS OF THE ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL – POLAND