About
CS4ESD is a three-year Erasmus+ project and is a collaboration between high schools and universities in Greece, the Basque Country in Spain and Wales in the UK. We aim to develop global citizens in our teaching, students that understand what sustainable development means and how we all, as global citizens, can contribute; the project is founded on education around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
CS4ESD aims to enable learning and develop appreciation around the importance of environmental data, how we collect it, how we share, what we can do with it and how we can re-use it to better understand our planet, to better manage our planet to leave it in a better state for the next generation of learners. A key component of CS4ESD will be the use of mobile devices as part of the learning experience – these can be smart phones or tablets for example and are great for engaging with young people, in the outdoors as they learn about the natural environment and the data needed to understand and manage the environment in way that reflects the SDGs.
CS4ESD will develop tools for educators to use and for learners to adapt and develop themselves, as well as an online platform that can be used to share resources, share ideas, share data, knowledge and understanding between the user groups in all three countries. Young people and educators will learn from each other and about each other and their respective natural environments as study tours will take place in each country. Our focus work on the study tours will be within the Biosphere Reserves in each country, they are Dyfi Biosphere Reserve, Mount Olympus Biosphere Reserve and the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve.
Project Rationale
Increasing number of mobile devices
The growth in the number and popularity of mobile devices offers new opportunities. Many devices are now equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) sensors, and available with Internet connectivity. Their ease of use and ubiquity opens up possibilities for education and extending public participation in environmental decision making.
Importance of Citizen Science
The proliferation in mobile devices has had significant impact on citizen science in recent years, ordinary members of the public now have daily access to computational resources once the preserve of professional scientists. This has led to an increase in citizen science activity, the formation of organisations such as the European Citizen Science Association.
Sustainable Development Goals
During 2015, the countries of the UN adopted a set of goals to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. The 17 SDG’s cover a broad range of social and economic development issues; including, poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, gender equality, water, sanitation, energy, environment and social justice. Widespread citizen support and participation is essential if the SDG’s targets are to be met by the target date of 2030.
World Network of Biosphere Reserves
UNESCO’s WNBR consists of sites of excellence to foster harmonious integration of people and nature for sustainable development through participation, knowledge sharing, poverty reduction and human well-being improvements, cultural values and society's ability to cope with change. Since 2016, the vision of the WNBR has been aligned with the SDG’s.
Aims & Objectives
- Develop ICT tools that allow educators to easily create SDG related citizen science surveys that can be used on a wide variety of commonly available mobile devices.
- Ensure the resulting mobile apps can be easily adapted to local conditions, eg, present information in the appropriate language, allow incorporation of support photos, documents, etc.
- Open interoperability standards based so that maximum value may be gained from the data generated. For example, some of the data generated may be of use for environmental decision making
- Provide a demonstration of the toolkit being used in education in 3 different countries under different socioeconomic, geographic and cultural conditions with associated open educational resources that can be easily accessed and repurposed
- Provide case studies showing how the WNBR can be used to facilitate greater cultural understanding within the context of education in sustainable development
- Ensure that the individuals involved in using the toolkit gain through an increased level of digital competence, participation in society and an increased sense of initiative