Promoting active citizenship through innovative geoparticipatory methods to tackle wicked-environmental problems Erasmus Project

Project Title

Promoting active citizenship through innovative geoparticipatory methods to tackle wicked-environmental problems

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 higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Civic engagement / responsible citizenship; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

Man-made Climate change has been more visible than at any time before. From bush fires in Australia to rising ocean temperatures and melting the North-pole sea ice. Surveys conducted among high school students in Amsterdam showed that most youngsters are now convinced that Climate change is actually occurring and caused by humans. However, young people vary widely in their opinions about the severity of the effects of Climate change, and many think that Climate change is more a problem for other places and for the far future. Our project builds upon our experience from EduChange project, where we observed that students in teacher education used a lot of mobile and web tools, and other means of ICT (e.g. Geographical information systems and derived software) to create their own teaching activities about climate change. We plan to continue our collaboration promoting active citizenship through innovative geoparticipatory methods/tools to tackle the environmental issues. This proposal also introduces a new partner to our team – Finish start-up company Seppo who is creating a new kind of pedagogy that combines social learning and versatile ways of using mobile technology. Via the strategic partnership, we will foster our abilities and skills in creating geoparticipatory mapping platforms and usage of gamification mobile app platform, that will be made available to our students for their awareness-raising campaigns.

The key objectives of the project are:
1) use approaches of active citizenship, gamification and geoparticipation to help our students to become the agents of change, regarding the climate change issues
2) teach students about climate change effects related to wicked problems and how to teach/communicate it in a way that sets people up for action (through blended mobility within interdisciplinary and multinational ECTS course),
3) assess and frame the potential of playful and geoparticipatory approaches in education
4) help students to develop and apply playful and geoparticipatory activities for high school students, university students and general public
5) bring scientists with different background and representatives of edutainment start-up together in order to boost research in the field of playful and geoparticipatory methodologies in higher education and Climate change education
6) to disseminate and exploit unique project result in the field of playful and geoparticipatory activities to a wider audience.
7) improve students skills and allow them to realise their own projects with keeping the project values in mind (Environmental ethics, ecological citizenship, digital literacy and critical approaches)

All participating students will take part in blended learning activities (virtual telecollaborative parts (mainly before the Springschool) and physical mobility at the Springschool) and, as a result, it is expected that the project will educate and train 24 students per year (72 in total) to become specialists in using geoparticipatory tools and gamification in Climate change education.
Besides, at least nine academic staff members and one representative of Seppo company will form an international and interdisciplinary group striving to derive new approaches, playful learning methodologies and knowledge in the mentioned fields.

The EduChange 2.0 project results are expected:
1. The innovation of the participating institutions’ curricula by the development of Annual EduChange 2.0 courses (ECTS credit-rated).
2. EduChange 2.0 learning and teaching materials (handbooks, manuals, guides, e-learning, virtual lectures, telecollaboration, multimedia etc.)
3. Research results (papers, conference appearances, posters etc.)
4. Popular-scientific articles about the EduChange 2.0
5. For each year of the cycle, Interactive StoryMap will be created
6. Students´ actions/events for school students, university classmates and/or general public described in template worksheet
7. Infrastructure for educational material
8. Conference proceedings

The main outcome of the project is a unique annual EduChange 2.0 interdisciplinary and international programme producing educated experts in the fields of Climate change education, geoparticipation, participatory mapping within the context of playful methodologies in these fields.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 172701 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERZITA PALACKEHO V OLOMOUCI & Country: CZ

Project Partners

• NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET NTNU
• UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT
• Lentävä Liitutaulu Oy
• UNIVERSITA TA MALTA