Earth Observation as a Facilitator of Climate Change Education in Schools: The Teachers’ Perspectives

Abstract

Climate change education (CCE) fosters the skills and behavioral patterns of students in regards to climate-related challenges and risks. Despite its importance, the integration of CCE in schools is challenging due to the interdisciplinary nature of climate science and the obstacles and demands of everyday school reality. Here, we examine the case of satellite Remote Sensing (RS) for Earth Observation (EO) as an innovative tool for facilitating CCE. We focus on Greece, a country that, despite being a hot spot for climate change, shows a low level of CCE integration in schools and awareness for EO-based educational resources. Based on interviews with in-service teachers, our research reveals the following: (a) there is a high interest in how satellites depict environmental phenomena; (b) EO is considered an efficient vehicle for promoting CCE in schools because it illustrates climate change impacts most effectively; (c) local natural disasters, such as intense forest fires and floods, are more familiar to students and, thus, preferable for teaching when compared to global issues, such as the greenhouse effect and sea level rise; and (d) educators are in favor of short, hands-on, EO-based activities (also known as “activity-shots”), as the most useful material format for integrating climate change topics in their everyday teaching practice.

Climate Change Education through Earth Observation: An Approach for EO Newcomers in Schools

“…In [16,17], authors have concluded that one of the largest concerns for the applicability of EO in schools is the content and how the materials can be adapted to the school curricula. Given that teachers are regarding EO as highly specialized and of a technical nature [18] and feel like they are stepping into uncharted territory, paying extra attention to how coherently the pedagogical content is presented should be regarded as a top priority.…”

“…It also enables them to interact with authentic scientific data for studying changes on Earth's surface, taking place at multiple temporal and spatial scales. Meanwhile, as emerging technologies are revolutionizing the use of EO, teachers and students have the opportunity to engage with cutting-edge scientific discovery and technological innovation and, thus, benefit tremendously from this new epoch of space data, e.g., [18] and references therein.…”

“…Erasmus+ projects such as EO4Edu [21] and GIS4Schools [22] that exploit EO in order to address the impacts of climate change; • Columbus Eye project by the universities of Bochum and Bonn, which brings the ISS closer to teachers and students through live and archived images and smart-phone Artificial Intelligence Applications [23,24]; • Geo:spektiv, an e-learning platform that promotes the integration of EO into the school curricula through environmental-and space-relevant topics [14] However, exploitation of EO in European schools is still limited mainly due to technical, motivational, or informational barriers alongside significant language barriers as most learning materials and applications are usually available in a limited number of languages [15,16,18,27,28]. For compulsory education to capitalize on EO, teachers need suitable preconditions, i.e., user-friendliness, reduced-complexity, and intuitive EO-based applications and learning materials, that require minimum-to-no training, minimum IT infrastructure requirements, and little lesson preparation time alongside a pedagogical content with curricular relevance that is based on real-life scenarios and well-established teaching and learning approaches [17,18,28,29].…”

Developing and Evaluating Simplified Tools for Image Processing in a Problem-Based Learning Environment for Earth Observation

“…The drawbacks of this approach are the high demand of personnel in relation to the pupils reached by the activity as well as the preparation time needed. A study on teacher motivation to use earth observation in their teaching of climate change showed that short and easy-to-use material is preferable (Asimakopoulou et al 2021). The benefit of using software is its independence from a high-speed internet connection which still can be an issue today in German schools (forsa Politik-und Sozialforschung GmbH 2019).…”

Experience of Using Planet Earth Observation Data in Retraining Courses for Educators in the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

“…This study has shown that it is extremely important to have adequate and appropriate resources available, as well as effective support, for the use of remote sensing in educational practice. The effectiveness of remote sensing use in education in Italy [11] and Greece was also discussed by Asimakopoulou [12], Mouratidis [13], in particular in the climate change effects research.…”