Climate Action and Light Pollution Threat

<< Background >>CliC-PoLiT had two main ambitions: a) targeting the upskilling of educators and learners with the necessary competences to use digital technologies to improve the learning process and to enhance the science capital of students and their communities; b) addressing the growing (and very silent) problem of light pollution and its effects in the fauna, flora, human health and energy consumption. Students in this project were involved as researchers in their location, and acted as change makers to promote awareness to the problem and proposing useful solutions. They engaged with robotics and with active debate to achieve both purposes in ways that their schools and teachers were able to link to the relevant national curricula. << Objectives >>The main objective was to engage school communities with climate change actions, linked to both academic knowledge and practical skills with a digital technology focus. We sought to enrich existing school practices with suggestions for curriculum enrichment that incorporated current threats and opportunities that need to be addressed in our current daily lives in order to reach a more sustainable style of living. We aimed to develop educators’ and learners’ key competences, integrating digital tools and resources as a means to promote deeper learning and opening schools to their local communities, building bridges and enabling mutually beneficial collaborations. We wanted to raise in students the awareness about the impact that technological developments can have in the sustainability of our planet. We sought to involve the research community in relevant conversations with students and policy makers as part of our Student Parliament. << Implementation >>Our team carried out numerous diverse activities to achieve its goals. Implementation started with setting the standards with regard to partner collaboration and project implementation to ensure the smooth roll-out of the project and delivery of high-quality outcomes.The pedagogic framework for climate action and light pollution within schools was established in the first year of the project and used to guide the implementation planned with schools and non-formal educators. The implementation guide includes sections on Robotics and Student Parliaments. The first summer school, held as a learning, training and teaching session in summer 2022 used an early draft of this with partners and teachers. This draft was then reviewed and used in the second summer school in September 2023. Digital light pollution tools were identified and used in learning scenarios, referencing the Green Competency framework. A full set of toolkits that can be directly used by teachers were prepared and tested. The Green Comp framework was also incorporated into our innovative assessment tools and approach, these were shared at both summer schools, through our website and with teachers at national training events. Pilot schools were invited to attend multiplier events and training sessions and were assisted by project partners to engage their students in the wide range of activities within CliC-PoLiT. Two robotics competitions were held that included a CliC-PoLiT Open Category. Student teams designed innovative methods of battling light pollution issues and created robotic solutions. Student debate on issues related to light pollution formed the core of the Student Parliaments, with parliaments being held at local school level, across countries and finally in an English language international event. Resolutions that were passed by this Parliament formed the Resolution booklet presented to European Commissioner Designate Michael McGrath at the final Symposium. << Results >>In the project various important topics have been addressed. A) The urgent need to upskill educators' competence profile to use digital tools to enrich students' learning experiences. B) the importance of empowering students with the necessary competencies to become change agents in their community. C) Promoting fruitful collaboration between researchers and schools with mutually beneficial support, where students learned how to handle data with their hands in real research experiences. D) Involving the community in general but in particular policy makers in discussions and debates related to the wellbeing of the members of the community. Our project was divided into 4 Project Result areas with the following specific Project Results: 1. A Pedagogical Framework and Implementation Guide that integrated into the curriculum real-world problems and materials that use digital content and technologies. This framework encompasses innovative teaching strategies based on phenomena, project- and inquiry-based approaches and STEAM hands-on activities. 2. Education Toolkit that includes digital tools that support learning about light pollution, practical activities for educators, and also offers references and research overviews. 3.CliC-PoLiT Assessment Tools that promote varied assessment approaches, including summative and student self-assessment for encouraging constant communication between teacher and students. These included detailed rubrics built on the foundation of GreenComp, the European sustainability competence framework from the Joint Research Centre. 4. Supporting material, tutorials and guidelines were produced specifically tailored to the competences and skills needed for the students and the educators to engage with the Robotics Competition and Student Parliament. 5. A structured set of recommendations as the reference for a European Roadmap It was also the aim to generate awareness about the growing problem of light pollution and its impact in climate change. As shown in the final Symposium, students had a significant role in promoting and conducting these conversations, with the proper support of their teachers. The toolkit of the ISS images from the bright Earth at night have played an important role in engaging young people with striking images of human impacts on the environment at night.