This document discusses the GIS4Schools project which aims to introduce geographic information systems (GIS) into primary and secondary education. It seeks to fill gaps in specialized GIS training for teachers and familiarizing students with processing geospatial data. The project will develop a training package for teachers on GIS tools and earth observation data. It will also involve students in creating open source GIS products on climate change case studies in their own countries and adapting them to developing countries. The goals are to enhance students' abilities to understand, capture, use and exploit georeferenced data and empower teachers to incorporate these skills into their classrooms.

1. GIS4Schools
Maria Antonia Brovelli, Daniela Carrion and Marco Gianinetto
Politecnico di Milano
Erasmus Days 2020
16 October 2020

2. 2019
Politecnico di Milano
46,324
1,430

3. Politecnico di Milano team
Maria A Brovelli
Professor of GIS
Daniela Carrion
Professor of
• Fundamental of GIS
• Geospatial data
processing and
mapping for crisis
management
Marco Gianinetto
Professor of Remote
Sensing and Survey
https://www.gisgeolab.polimi.it/
ACEO

4. Daniele
Carlo
PostDoc
Gorica
Katarina
Lorenzo
JuanFernando
Doc
Chiara
Alberto
Vasil
Maryam
Lorenzo
Matteo
Rodrigo
The GIS-EO GEOLab team
Renata
Federico
Francesco

5. • Open Source GIS
• Earth Observation
• Big Geo Data
• Geospatial Web
• VGI and Citizen
Science
• Geospatial Science
• GIS for Environmental
Applications and
Sustainable
Development
• Land Cover
Research topics

6. • ‘Shaping Europe’s Digital Future’ (European Commission)
under the heading ‘An Open, Democratic And Sustainable
Society’ eight key actions and one is called: Destination
Earth.
• Destination Earth: initiative to develop a high precision
digital model of Earth (a “Digital Twin of the Earth”) that
would improve Europe’s environmental prediction and crisis
management capabilities (Timing: from 2021)
• Earth Observation and Geospatial Information (GIS) will
become fundamental tools in creating and using the Digital
Twin Earth.
• https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/communication-shaping-europes-digital-future-feb2020_en_4.pdf
The Framework

7. • The familiarisation of GIS related technology and techniques into
primary and secondary education’s programme is still low.
Secondary education is not enough involved in this knowledge
process, since the school's system suffers from a shortage of
specialized trained teachers and difficulties in establishing a
dialogue with the industry sector while the pupils are digital
native but not necessarily acquainted with processing these type of
data.
• The Geographic Information System (GIS) for Schools project aims
at filling this gap by bring together teachers, pupils, industry and
local authorities in co-creating new methodologies to enhance
student's abilities in understanding, capturing, using and exploiting
georeferenced/georeferenciable data and GIS tools for climate
actions.
The aim of the project

8. Output 1:
Development and implementation of the Training Package (TP)
Main Risk: difficulties in transferring the contents of the TP to pupils in
classrooms.
Mitigation strategy: To enable the TP fully understanding and utilization
with pupils, teachers will participate in a joint short-term training
event and a helpdesk system will provide remote assistance to teachers
through videos, webinars and on-demand training contents.
Outputs – O1

9. • The content of the training package will be designed according to
the didactic problems and objectives, the learning environment
and learners’ existing knowledge and skills.
• The following competences are expected to be trasferred to the
teachers and then to the pupils:
- GIS & Analysis tools
- Data visualization with QGIS
- Earth Observation and Imagery Analysis
- Geospatial Data Management related to climate change and
hazards, with specific focus on Copernicus platforms
Outputs – O1

10. The training package will be constituted by a 100 page interactive
document. The document will take advantage of hyperlinks to allow a
more effective browsing.
During a training workshop of 4 days teachers will be prepared to
transfer the TP contents to pupils. A long support activity will follow.
After that, the learning activities carried out by the teachers will involve
180 pupils for a total of 30 hours.
Outputs – O1

11. Summary of DELIVERABLES, produced in cooperation with the
involved partners:
• 2 webinars attended by all partners involved in the IO’s realisation (one
before and one after the teachers’mobility);
• 2 videos as learning material for teachers;
• 1 helpdesk consisting in a dynamic platform where all the training
materials will be uploaded with an updated FAQ section;
• 1 Training package - Handbook of 100 pages translated in 6 languages.
The TP will be delivered in English and the narrative text will be
translated into five languages: (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian
and French);
• 4 Learning activities (each one of about 30 hours) implemented in the 4
Secondary Schools involved in the project.
Outputs – O1

12. Output 2 - Suite of open source GIS products co-created with pupils
involvement
Main Risk: inadequate level of pupil’s knowledge and technical abilities.
Mitigation strategy: the GIS projects will be customised on the specific IT
skills of the class.In addition, to reduce any kind of barriers (thematic,
linguistic, technological, etc.) pupils, guided by Politecnico di Milano, will
be provided with in presence support ensured by the partners
organisation based in the same Country.
Outputs – O2

13. Outputs – O2
• The suite of open source GIS products (i.e. case studies on climate
challenges) will be co-created by the pupils with a learning-by -
doing approach.
• Pupils are expected to acquire the following competences:
- Data manipulation
- Design and development of the required procedures to obtain GIS
products
- Developing of open training material on climate challenges
application using GIS and the underlying science and technologies.

14. Outputs – O2
The open source GIS products will consist of open training material
made of maps, tables, graphs and a report conceived as a hand-on
training to be reused by other students who want to repeat the same
processing in other zones.
During this task, pupils will first develop a case study related to their
country. Then, they will analyze how to readapt their project for
investigating the same problem in one developing country.
Each school will involve 2 classrooms for a total of about 180 pupils and
24 teachers.

15. Outputs – O2
Summary of DELIVERABLES, produced in cooperation with the
involved partners:
• 2 webinars organized by Politecnico di Milano (each one of about 3
hours) addressed to pupils and teachers;
• 2 video – training material addressed to pupils;
• 4 GIS project’s outputs related to a local climate challenge;
• 4 GIS project’s outputs transferring the case study in a developing
Country;

16. Thanks for your attention!