Tag Archives: Sustainability

Our Green App: Coding and Artificial Intelligence for Sustainability

Posted on by

By Theodora S. Tziampazi

Welcome in our green app!

A virtual assistant will guide you through the buttons of the application and remind you some tips for an environmentally-aware lifestyle. Reuse, reduce, recycle… and let the demo videos speak for themselves.

Our green app: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aedHiYDr7NQ&t=58s

Demo of the English version of the app: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9HindPjHaM

Motivation sparks

The introductory part before the coding lessons was supported by some thought-provoking content I discovered in the “Terra Mission MOOC: Teaching Sustainability for Action”, a course supported by Scientix. It was the section on Circular Economy (English, Greek) that was most relevant to our work. Circular Economy is also the topic of the 4th Open Technologies in Education Competition organized by GFOSS – Open Technologies Alliance, Hellenic National Scientix Contact Point , while the mobile application is the submission of our school to this competition. I spent many hours with …apps and downs 😉 exploring App Inventor’s cappabilities until I came app with an idea that could meet my teaching expectations and goals and help students gain and app-ly knowledge. The only side effect was an app-etite for puns.

Level App in Digital Literacy

This mobile app was developed in MIT App Inventor 2 programming environment https://appinventor.mit.edu/. The virtual assistant hopefully makes the app more interactive and chats with us thanks to a capple of Artificial Intelligence Components included in App Inventor 2: the Speech Recognizer and the TexToSpeech. Since App Development is a multidimensional task that requires UX/UI (i.e. User eXperience/User Interface) considerations, a few more digital tools and resources were used. These materials are open and free, but there is attribution in the “About” screen of the app.

Think global, act local!

The pilot courses I designed were first implemented in Primary School of Fourni Korseon, Samos, Greece in 2022. As you have seen in demos, the result is adap(p)ted to our local context and it reflects our effort to make a “green” contribution to our remote island. The slogan behind this work is “think globally, act locally!”. I assumed that a particular context could be more meaningful in the sense that it is likely to engage members who identify as members of a school or a local community. But, it is not exclusive to those members; there is an English version of our app for the island (and this blog!) visitors.

Coming …app next! Customize the context

After the pilot courses, which took place in the spring of 2022, I have re-arranged and improved the lessons in order to create a constructive learning scenario for App Inventors- even beginners. The code is open source and will be published soon along with the learning scenario in Greek and English. I am currently refining the tutorial… so that more green apps pop app!

I will show you how to make such an application yourself and how to tailor it to your hometown, place etc. if so desired. In other words: After the pilot…we take off to any context!

I will keep you appdated on the course. Stay tuned!

Until then, smile, learn and protect our planet! 🙂

STEM wishes,

Theodora S. Tziampazi

Primary School Teacher, Scientix Ambassador (Greece)

Every child is a tree, every tree is a forest!

Posted on by

Date Of Activity :21-26 March 2022

Ibrahim Aydin /Kovancilar Haci Ahmet Ozbagi Primary School

I am a primary school 4th grade teacher from Turkey and the age range of my students is 10-11.

In this activity, the importance of forests in worldly life, humanity’s need for green will be taught, and children will be encouraged to plant trees.

Erosion, flood and forest fires have increased in our country in recent years. The efforts of the state and voluntary organizations are insufficient. Conservation and reproduction of trees should be one of the most important lesson topics. Unfortunately, humanity is very insensitive to this issue. As teachers, we need to take more responsibility and involve people more actively in these kinds of issues. After these activities, we decided to plant trees with my students every year. Doing something good for the world made us very happy. every child = lots of trees

We had planned our activity as a classroom activity first. When all the classes in the school were interested, we decided to involve the whole school in the activity. We planted the saplings we bought from the Ministry of Forestry in our school garden. We will plant more trees next year. I used Life-Terra’s online course and the gynzy website when planning the event. Our environment is poor in terms of forest cover. Our summers are very hot and dry. We started tree planting around the school. I think we have taken a good step for the coming years.
Before the lesson, students are informed about the planting processes of the tree. Students watched videos on the subject. Important details were specified in the tree planting. A pit was dug to plant trees in designated areas. The students planted saplings in the designated areas around the school under the guidance of the teacher. Each tree belongs to a student and is given a name. (They can also give the trees their own names.) The photographs taken and the poems written after the tree planting event are displayed on the school board. Irrigation and maintenance of the planted trees are done by the students.

We got our saplings. We took it to school.
Students dig the ground to plant trees.
Our little pine tree sapling.
Our kindergarten class also planted a small sapling.
Another scientix ambassador in our school, Birsen Aygul BULGURCU, also planted trees with her class.

Our news about the subject on our school website.https://haciahmetzbagiortaokulu.meb.k12.tr/icerikler/orman-haftasi_12799537.html

Zübeyde Hanım Kindergarten Learning with STEM

Gallery

Posted on by

In 2021, Denizli Zübeyde Hanım Kindergarten received the STEM School Label. This year, we participated in the 2022 STEM Discovery Campaign with the “Zübeyde Hanım Kindergarten Learning with STEM” event we organized throughout April in order to bring the STEM … Continue reading →

The water bridge of tolerance

Posted on by

Nicoleta Livia Barbu

Key words: STEM, Tolerance, Water, Pollution, Awareness

Activity duration: 04-08.04.2022 (5 days)

Summary

The topic of marine animals and water pollution provides students with knowledge and real-life problems for them to experience, discover, explore. It also puts an accent on tolerance and its close values towards a sustainable, clean environment.

Topics: Water animals, Water pollution, Tolerance & values, Protection of natural environment

Aim:

By the end of this Learning Scenario, students will be able to identify forms of marine animals, to explain water pollution. Students will be able to link tolerance and values with protection of surrounding environment.

Teaching materials necessary:

  • Communication & Literacy: “The bridge – a story about tolerance”, different images
  • Science: microscope, glass recipients, magnifying glasses, salt, pepper, oil, paint, seashells, sea star
  • Technology: laptop with microphone and camera, papers and pencils, printed Quiver sheets, tablet or smartphone
  • Social Studies: “The hedgehog story”, A2 white cardboard, paint of different colors, little cardboard stars
  • Art: “The Little Mermaid” fairy tale, printed coloring sheets with different types of fish, colored pencils, scissors, glue, blue A4 cardboard
  • Free Play: selected images, pictures, books, encyclopedias, coloured pencils, colouring sheets,microscope, recipients in different shapes and colours, magnifying glasses, seashells, sea star, pencils, papers, colouring books, different construction sets, electric fishing game, magnetic fishing game.

I used the following resources:

When eTwinning & Scientix are friends…

The activities designed and implemented in this Learning Scenario are part of the eTwinning Project S.E.C.H. Sustainable Education and Cultural Heritage.

The most important step in the implementation of the Learning Scenario was to design the activities. So I started from a set of driving questions that triggers curiosity and a sense of purpose to the students while at the same time enhance their focus in the process of learning.

I encouraged my students to take decisions, think unconventional solutions and collaborate. Instead of being afraid of making mistakes, they were motivated to take the lead, share and exchange knowledge and ideas with their peers while I was a supporter and a facilitator.

I designed and planned the Learning Scenario and together with my students. We created a schedule, selected activities, explained the working process and decided the final output and the evaluation criteria.

The activities provided within the Learning Scenario contribute to the development of students’ mind and allow students to be involved and make a difference.

The Learning Scenario’s topics allowed students to develop the 21st century skills. All students benefit from the knowledge and learning in a more attractive way.

When learning never stops…

A variety of pedagogical methods were used to engage students into learning. Observation, conversation, brainstorming were great ways to discover and explore the new topics. The activities were student-centered, were interesting and fun. Learning became more attractive, students developed imagination, creativity and raised their self-confidence. The activities offered learning support by allowing students to become scientists, researchers, artists.

The visit to the Science Museum was a great way to actually see for real what we discussed inside the classroom. They were really curious and asked the museum curator a lot of questions. Museum curator was astonished by the multitude of information the students acquired so far.

Link to Learning Scenario: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b0cwXFT3hwmIjVwLYErfk-4mBtc7D6oy/view?usp=sharing

Link to photo presentation of the implemented activities:

https://www.canva.com/design/DAE_R8HLxuo/IQMgrEN_oQlagBwX7rFDUw/view?utm_content=DAE_R8HLxuo&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Plant a tree, love nature!

Image

After almost 2 years of online teaching, we had the chance to organize an outdoor learning activity in a more extended school project dedicated to environmental protection. This project is named Plant a tree, love nature! and has more learning goals as follows: to raise awareness of the effects of environmental pollution and the risks associated with climate change, knowledge, and access to information related to local/regional climate, specific fauna, and vegetation, involvement of students in reforestation activities, especially in areas with high risks of landslides, floods, construction and installation of birdhouses and bird feeders, collecting soil, water, plant samples, and performing analyzes in school, in biology, chemistry, and physics laboratories, making an exhibition with photos, collages, drawings, short film, following the activities carried out, monitoring of reforested areas in order to observe the beneficial effects in soil consolidation, return of wild species, etc.

This first activity in this project was held on April 2nd, 2022, and was carried out in collaboration with the Pitesti Forest District. The students met a forestry engineer, Mr. Sorin Balas, who explained to them the importance of the forest in an ecosystem, and how they can help to keep the balance between human activity and nature. The students asked questions about the tree species, when they are planted, how they keep track of the planted trees, and how they decide the places where the trees are planted. Mr. Sorin Balas also talked about the history of Forestry science in our country and its predecessors amongst which notably is a woman, Mrs. Aurora Gruescu, the world’s first female foresty engineer, as well as the first Romanian person in the Guinness Book.

One goal was to raise awareness among the students about environmental issues, and how they can act to fight for a healthy environment. Observing nature, and paying attention to the interconnections between the ecosystem components like soil, water, air, plants, and animals on one side and humans on the other side is the starting point of the learning trail.

The students were instructed by the forestry workers on how to plant the seedlings.

The second part of the activity consisted in observing the plants and the animals in the forest. The students took photos and recorded the songs of the birds. By using different phone apps they recognized different species of plants as well as the birds in the place. The stroll into the forest was a wonderful way to enjoy the physical effort, the clean air, and the beauty of nature.

They recorded their observations in the project journals.

The feedback from the students was very positive. They appreciated the quality of the activities, and the satisfaction of a good job such as the preservation of the forest, the beauty of nature, and working together.

This activity was a great success after such a long period of isolation, after online and indoor activities. The students felt the joy of being together, being active, aware of what is around them, ready to learn and observe more, and decided to contribute actively to the fight against climate change and global warming.

Iuliana Roman, Physics teacher, National College Zinca Golescu Pitesti