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Love Earth to the Moon and Back : Development of E-Curriculum on Climate Change and Environmental Education for Secondary Education Students in Online Learning Platform

Funder: European CommissionProject code: 2021-1-CZ01-KA220-SCH-000034484
Funded under: ERASMUS+ | Partnerships for cooperation and exchanges of practices | Cooperation partnerships in school education Funder Contribution: 352,263 EUR

Love Earth to the Moon and Back : Development of E-Curriculum on Climate Change and Environmental Education for Secondary Education Students in Online Learning Platform

Description

"<< Background >>The Czech Republic’s largely coniferous forests are facing the worst bark beetle infestation . The lower house of Parliament has discussed both emergency and long-term measures to combat the voracious insect, which kills spruce trees. The amount of spruce wood damaged by bark beetles has risen ststeadily in the past few years, from 2 million cubic metres of spruce wood to more than 5.5 million cubic metres in two years from2015 to 2017. Experts warn that the nation’s forests could be wiped out unless some actions are taken .For Czech Republic the problem is the forests' getting smaller and for somewhere it is the ice getting thinner but the fact is whatever the problem 'storm is brewing' for all of us. In its summary for policymakers of the fifth assessment report ,the IPCC stated that it is “extremely likely that more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature” from 1951 to 2010 was caused by human activity. It is also stated that human actions have all sorts of triggering effects on environmental consequences from flooding to disappearing lakes. Regarding that information supplied by IPCC, we also made a survey to understand how responsible high school students, who are the scientifically explained optimal group for environmental education, feel for their environmental actions. During following group discussions we asked: 'Do you need environmental education and Why?' The discussions ended up with a general remark of :' Yes, because we can’t appreciate what we don’t know about .' That project is based on the high school students' need to know much more about environment and aims to provide the necessary knowledge, skills and values to inspire positive behavioural change.EU clearly suggests that an effective environmental education is all important factor in fighting climate change and solving environmental problems. Unless an effective environmental education is provided to all segments of the society, environmental problems will continue to be the most crucial problems of the 21st century specifically for those who are at risk of not being able to rebuild their lives after environmental disasters due to their poor conditions.Despite the need for that education , great majority of schools include environmentally-related topics in some school subjects, and a minority have stand-alone lessons on environmental studies (OECD, 2006) Le_MOON aims to develop an online environmental education for all individuals to understand the ecological balance and their roles in this balance. It is also aimed that individuals gain sustainable perspectives on a correct environmental management and the necessary skills to be active participants who report higher levels of concern for environmental issues. Le_MOON will design its education programme with some high concern in the 21st century must- acquire skills of ""life and professional skills"", ""learning and innovation skills"" and ""information media and technology skills"" in a lifelong learning perspective as traditional education system has become unable to meet the educational needs of today's technology generation. To this end, more particularly teachers and teaching professions but the other professions as well will be supported to promote their digital competences besides their other key competences and to develop digital contents through trainings and practical actions implemented by Le_MOON.Le_MOON, as an engage - understand - impact project, recognises the need for engaging with pupils, parents, and the wider community on the changes to become climate neutral by 2050, the need for the global understanding that 1.5℃ is the socially, economically, politically and scientifically safe limit to global warming by the end of this century and recognises the need for an efficient education which will provide that engagement and understanding to inspire impact and has been designed so as to fulfill that recognised needs.<< Objectives >>According to the data of the International Environmental Education Program, the education level at which individuals can receive environmental education most efficiently is specified as secondary education. Individuals at secondary education level are open to learning, have a strong sense of motivation and a readiness to absorb environmental education. Those data naturally make our target group the secondary school students especially the 15 year-olds as the majority of 15- year-olds in countries participating in Pisa, regardless of family background, gender or immigrant background, report that: ''they feel a strong sense of responsibility for environment''and according to the data supplied by Pisa ''Students’ sense of responsibility for environmental issues appears to have no association with their performance'', though. The students would love to do someTHING Easy Simple and Quick to save the planet but the reality is that ''We are so past that point.''It is clearly stated that although students are familiar with basic environmental issues, they need to gain more comprehensive and complex knowledge to understand and interpret sophisticated scientific theory and evidence. It is all- important to provide young people with an environmental education that will enable them to define environmental problems, collect relevant information and make correct decisions (Uğulu, 2011).It would not be wrong to say that our partneship has mainly been established to achieve to supply an experiencial education for young people which enables effective environmental management. According to the OECD report, ''in most countires environmental topics appear as a part of natural science courses; most schools also include them in geography lessons. The least common way of including environmental science is to have a stand-alone course fully dedicated to this topic.''The current environmental education, either as a part of other subjects or as a stand-alone subject vary considerably across countries in means of teaching hours , teaching topics, teaching methods and sources . Working transnationally and analysing each other's current environmental education with its pros and cons , Le_MOON wants to define the most relevant and commonly applicable environmental curriculum with sound teaching hours, topics , sources and methods . There are, to our knowledge, no materials available that are pedagogically well built, co-designed with the target group, and tested on a relevant scale: Le_MOON wants to develop pedagogically well built and co-designed materials whose learning outcomes will be measured with valid and reliable assessment tools. This quality will make the teaching of environmental science well suited for “hands-on learning” and meaningful to the end users which will provide more inclusion.Environmental issues have got a relationship with Policy, Economics, Culture and Science. Project partners from different sectors with some expertise in different fields need to explore those bonds. As one of the Le_MOON's buried objective is to promote STEAM approach in education through interdisciplinary teaching in cultural, environmental, economic, design and other contexts, Le_MOON wants to support the partners and all other interested organisations to gain a deeper understanding of that relationship. We , the teachers, students, workers, policy makers of any any age - some 40 years old, some 15 or maybe 7 from Czeck Republic, France or Turkey share the same Earth and the same enviromental problems but not the same concerns and perspectives. We need to exchange our knowledge,skills, experience and and ideas . Le_MOON wants to make it happen and offer a common e-platform where we will promote intergenerational, intercultural and interdisciplinary dialogue.<< Implementation >>The project will consist of three phases which will ensure the active participation of the participants at each phase. Each phase will have interrelated activities to achieve the project objectives and create the results - the intellectual outputs. The intellectual output planned for the first phase is e-Curriculum. The second phase intellectual outputs are the e-Learning Platform and the e- Modules including Learning Teaching Training activities and their technologically enhanced material sets.The third phase is generally dedicated to the pilot studies of the co-designed intellectual outputs and their corrections and improvement through the feedbacks and according to the assessment tools. Third phase is also dedicated to the culturally adaptations of the outputs and their translation and localization studies with a unique importance in dissemination and sustainability of Le_MOON. Those studies will also benefit the disadvantaged group as they will remove the lingual and cultural barriers and provide more inclusion in all fields ( = Proudly we have partners from all fields - education, training, sports and youth ) . The intellectual outputs' transcription in Braille Alphabet will also support our most crucial concern, the inclusion.In all three phases there are transnational project meetings (four) , online meetings (six- each January and July ), learning teaching training activities (five) scheduled to achieve the project goals. Below is the summary of the tasks.Phase 1 (Year 1) Tasks: a)Preparation activities before the actual project activities ( press release...etc)b) Desk research to review available insights into climate change and environmental issues of secondary education students, what they do to address these, and the kinds of activities that schools have put in place to address them. This will include, in the first instance, reviewing academic and some non academic (grey) literature. c) Focus group discussions with young people, teachers, youth workers, policy makers and wider community to explore needs and experiences. d) Integration of literature reviews and needs and experiences into a framework that offers guidance on the e-curriculum and activities / materials that will be developed in Phase 2. e) Digital competence development training for teachers and others to create open digital resourcesPhase 2 (Years 2 and 3) Tasks:a)Selecting and Building the e- learning platform b)Workshops with students, teachers, and youth workers to creatively co-develop the teaching and learning materials. c)Planning the piloting studies of the developed activities and resources with a sample of learners/teachers and enriching the activities and materials technologically d)Developing e-module for in service teacher training on 'responsible use of technologies'Phase 3 (Year 3) Tasks:a) Developing a Guidebook on the culturally-specific translation of the e-curriculum developed (in Phase 1) and activities (in Phase 2) with a recommendation on how non participatory schools should translate them into their own particular contexts.c) Developing a Handbook with extra curricular activities (sports activities, artistic activities and scientific activities / traditional games, storytelling...etc) and a scenario book complemented with a glossary and manual for mobile learning (how to integrate mobile devices and applications; web based tools and other online services deemed compatible with the scenarios)d) A summary (recommendation) for policy makerse)Multiplier eventsThroughout the project Le_MOON will carry out a campaign with the title of '1,5 ' including a range of local and international activities such as an online photovoice exhibition followed by participatory dramas, virtual mobility prior to the international forum where young people will create a Solutions' Proposal on environmental issues for policy makers, some sport events, online /Intalksessions with invited speakers...etc<< Results >>The Environmental Education provided by Le_MOON , will increase both secondary education students' and all the others' environmental knowledge and performance; It will be ensured that project target groups and the wider community as well, are raised as citizens who are aware of the problems facing the world, know how to solve these problems and volunteer to do so. Thanks to the cooperation of partners ( almost all working in different fields) suggestions will be made to include environmental management in each country's strategic plans. Concrete outputs that will reveal the widespread impact of the project in line with this purpose are as follows; 1. e-Curriculum Program: Le_MOON will design a future oriented climate change and environmental education e-curriculum to be implemented through online educational technologies which will better meet the needs of individuals.The achievements of the current programs will be tailored into our e-curriculum according to our target audience and changing environmental conditions.2. e-learning platform: It is a digital platform where the project works will be implemented and the outputs shared (information, trainings, deliverables and resources). Anyone interested will be able to easily access that digital environment and use it as an OER (open educational resource). This platform will both serve as a digital portfolio to share and keep project actions and results (ecurriculum program and e-modules...etc) and as an interactive communication tool for the project stakeholders and the wider community3. e-modules: E-modules will be developed in accordance with the e-curriculum program. These modules will be goal-oriented and will contain activity and material sets to reach those goals. Learning Teaching Training activities and their material sets co-created by teachers, researchers, youth workers, students and third sector persons will be included in e-modules. Those e -modules will bridge the gap as a great number of teachers suggest that the materials and resources are too limited to provide an efficient environmental education (see at : https://www.schooleducationgateway.eu/en/pub/viewpoints/surveys/survey-on-climate-education.htm) Added benefits: Le_MOON will bring about some positive changes in attitudes and behaviors and some competences built on the knowledge and skills acquired through Le_MOON. Of all the target competences, Le_MOON primarily aims to improve the digital competences of individuals as to fit for 21st century education; While doing the project actions and creating the outputs , secondary education students and other target audience (teachers, youth workers, 3rd sector employees, volunteers, parents, employees of the institution) will make use of the 21st century skills and have a unique chance and motivation of promoting their competency over digital , ecological , information and media literacy . They will also promote their language ,communication and organizational competency. Thanks to the outputs of the project, all stakeholders, especially secondary education students, are expected to grasp the ecological elements of environmental science and the impact of human activities on climate change. Environmental practices that do not cause global warming (ecotourismbased rural development, organic agriculture and nature sports ... etc) will be included; The target audience will be ensured to be environmentally sensitive individuals with a ""zero waste"" understanding by those environmentally- friendly practices. As statistically known, advanced environmental education includes more science and less attention by the disadvantaged and female students. Accordingly there are less females and the disadvantaged in that study field. Le_MOON aims to change that statistic in favour of females and the disadvantaged through inclusion ; Being included, the students will increase their career and entrepreneurship skills and more young people will become environmental scientists."

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