Open school project fosters science cooperation on challenges faced by cities
In an increasingly complex world, science education is paramount to prepare young people for a future with challenges related to modern technology, environmental and climate issues. To improve learning processes beyond school walls, scientists believe that engaging communities can lead to knowledge becoming action. This open school concept was explored in the EU-funded project PULCHRA, which aimed at creating new partnerships in local communities to foster science education for all citizens. The project involved 12 partners and focused on ‘cities as urban ecosystems’, developing a programme that encompassed environmental and socio-economic topics. “The process of learning must integrate the different environmental and socio-economic data and be holistic in terms of a continuous endeavour, which is not limited to learning situations set in schools. It should be augmented by opportunities to explore, test and even implement science concepts in real life,” argues Constantinos Cartalis, PULCHRA project coordinator.
Putting problem-solving skills into practice
To encourage participants to become agents of community well-being, PULCHRA was organised around pilot themes. Named city challenges, these are projects developed by students on six topics linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals: powering cities without harming the climate; buildings for the future cities; regenerating urban space to connect people in a healthy environment; from waste disposal to resource efficiency – circular economy at the city scale; mobility patterns that support community development and innovation for social and environmental benefit. “While these are complex challenges requiring interdisciplinary approaches, students alongside their community achieved fantastic results. They designed the regeneration plans of their local areas, giving weight to nature-based solutions and the greening up of urban space, changing mobility patterns to reduce CO2 emissions, promoting energy efficient buildings, and raising awareness of resource efficiency. In practical terms, they managed to approach the cities as urban ecosystems,” says Cartalis. Divided into science teams, students had the support of PULCHRA members and exterior stakeholders, such as universities, research centres, public and private companies and central and local government bodies as well as NGOs and families. The projects were then presented to the local communities through open workshops. The city challenges successfully involved 2 834 students aged from 12 to 18 years old, 235 teachers and around 300 stakeholders in ten EU countries – Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Sweden.
Open schooling benefits
The project was fruitful in its multidisciplinary approach, covering 21 different teaching subjects. The city challenges adopted a series of education methods, such as problem-based and experiential learning. Students had the opportunity to collect data in the field and in a lab environment, to use different tools, questionnaires and chemical analysis kits, to perform descriptive research and to promote interactive experiences with the communities. PULCHRA’s open schooling method was positively seen by all participants. “Students emphasised that ‘learning by doing’ should be one of the prime teaching methods, while they heavily appreciated the contribution of experts and stakeholders to increase their knowledge and motivation,” states Cartalis. Teachers also highlighted that both experts and stakeholders enhanced the know-how, creativity and interest of the students. According to these results, educational systems in Europe should further integrate the open school concept. “An additional recommendation is to link educational practices and products to the Sustainable Development Goals to provide the educational community an integrated framework for action,” adds Cartalis.
Keywords
PULCHRA, education, open schooling, sustainable development goals, urban ecosystems, science learning
