VR@Geoparks Erasmus Project

Project Title

VR@Geoparks

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 : Partnerships for Creativity

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Open and distance learning; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Natural sciences

Project Summary

VR@Geoparks is a 24 months Strategic Partnership in the field of school education. VR@Geoparks focuses on promoting high-quality school education aiming to provide teachers all the necessary knowledge and VR tools to prove the benefits of e-learning and depict the situation of the awareness and usage of different methodologies and tools in school education. The project aims to create innovative resources for teachers and equip teachers with the necessary skills to include geoparks as educational points. In the consortium, there are 7 different institutions from 6 countries (IT,HU,PL,HR,TR,PT) that 2 geoparks (PL,IT), 3 schools(HU,TR,HR) that are located in geopark areas, 1 SME that will develop the VR@Geoparks App and a university(UNIRC, IT) that will work on creating 3D datasets from the geopark areas via Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems(RPAS)

Education today is in crisis. Even before the pandemic struck, in many parts of the world,pupils who should be in school aren’t; for those who are, their schools often lack the resources to provide adequate instruction. Investing in education is the most cost-effective way to drive economic development, improve skills and opportunities for young women and men, and unlock progress on all sustainable European goals(17 goals). With over 63 million teachers impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, close to 1.6 billion children and youth were out of school. To protect the well-being of children and ensure they have access to continued learning, UNESCO launched a coalition to provide education remotely and seek equitable solutions and universal access. Our goals in line with this UNESCO initiative:
1-to enhance student learning and engagement in geography, history, or literature by offering a deeply immersive sense of place and time
2-to create VR and AR resources, teaching materials for teachers as open educational resources(OER)
3-to get teachers/students awareness on geoparks in the sustainability of life in nature
4-to promote inclusive education.

There are many helpful distance learning resources used in geography but the sources not offering a deeply immersive sense of place and time. Geography lessons where you can visit any place on the globe is much more enriching than just reading about it or seeing the picture. VR creates an infinite set of possibilities that people can experience. But to create on launching virtual visits need to consider the expenses for these surveys that certainly significantly improve the interest of geoparks.So,organizations must think seriously about what works best and what works less well. VR@Geoparks project will provide the frame to meet the needed work by training the teachers and geopark staff on
*Madonie Geopark(C1,10-2021)in Sicily
*Holly Cross Geopark(C2,05-2022)in Poland
*VR Activities(C3,12-2022)in Portugal
The 3 TEs will provide the production of qualified IOs. Participants are 5 Science, History, and Geography teachers from schools, 1 representative from each geopark and 4 geopark trainers/paleontologist /ecologist/volcanologist/ geologists, 2 researchers/technicians from UNIRC.

Additionally, we will pursue two lines of actions to respond to the lack of knowledge, skills, methods, techniques, and tools used to plan and manage geography, science lessons in schools for school education. In the first line, we will design and realize a VR@Geoparks app(IO3 by Portugal) to help teachers bring geoparks in class/home. Through the virtual visits in geoparks, the essential aspects of flora, fauna, fossils, rocks, water resources, minerals, geological creations will be covered that will be saved under the database(IO1 by UNIRC) collected with RPAS systems. The VR application will be specifically designed to provide teachers a practical application of geographical, geological concepts so that their lesson starts and complete successfully. In the 2nd line, we will develop “VR @Geoparks guide” (IO2 by Turkey) which will include the parts of the IO1, a description for organizations on the approach to follow using this app in school curriculum to teachers/geopark staff in an activity-based way in chronological order and the e-learning methodology for teachers created during the project.
In the project,4 project meetings are foreseen with 1 technical staff of each partner and 1 institution official :
M1- Project Kick-off meeting (APRIL 2021, ITALY)
M2-1st Intermediate Meeting (SEPTEMBER 2021, CROATIA)
M3-2nd Intermediate Meeting (AUGUST 2022,TURKEY)
M4-Final Meeting(MARCH 2023, HUNGARY

The project is directly aimed to educators and geopark staff in the field of Virtual Reality and Geography.They will benefit from educational content to improve their digital skills regarding to school education. The VR@geoparks application will be a material/source for the teachers to bring geoparks in class/home, esp. for special needs pupils and home bonded pupils.In the future, our project will inspire other geoparks/shools to create their virtual geo-apps

Project Website

http://vrgeoparks.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 227801 Eur

Project Coordinator

ENTE PARCO DELLE MADONIE & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Osnovna skola Matije Petra Katancica Valpovo
• KUDRET DEMIR ORTAOKULU
• InteractIdeas
• Szechenyi Istvan Baptista Technikum, Szakképző Iskola és Gimnázium
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI MEDITERRANEA DI REGGIO CALABRIA
• Stowarzyszenie Gmin Geopark Świętokrzyski