<< Objectives >>The general objective of “EUthmappers” is to leverage hands-on projects to enhance teachers' and pupils' STEM knowledge by training them in data processing and stimulating their civic and environmental engagement through the introduction of open and collaborative mapping in 5 Secondary schools in EU.<< Implementation >>Development of 1 training package on open geo-spatial tools, data analysis, climate change and its transfer to the teachers through 1 international training and then to pupils Development of 5 pupils-led open mapping projects and of 1 Humanitarian Collaborative project with UNMappers;Development of a Web-based enhanced platform as a digital repository of pupils projects and for future schools,Development of evaluation report and policy guideline for the adoption of the TP in 50 Schools in EU<< Results >>Enhancement of 200 pupils’ environmental awareness on SDGs, digital skills, STEM proficiency and understanding of web-based technologies Improvement of the quality of 30 teachers training Strengthening of 30 teachers' linguistic, pedagogical and managerial skills Adoption in the 5 Schools of the TP developed by the project into the School's curriculum and in other 50 EU Schools through official letters of commitment by the end of the project

The Gis4Schools project is a strategic partnership in the field of School Education aimed at introducing new methodologies based on the use of GIS technologies applied to the impact of climate change on the environment in order to improve STEAM’s learning by pupils.Improving STEAM education is one of the strategic priorities of the EU in the field of Education and training. However, although progress has been made in this area, according to the 2018 (PISA) results more than one in five pupils in the EU has insufficient proficiency in reading, mathematics or science. To improve STEAM’s learning, it is fundamental “to find better ways to nurture the curiosity and cognitive resources of children” by linking science with other subjects and disciplines. The purpose is to enable students to better understand and tackle the environmental and societal challenges, even at local level. In this approach GIS is a precious enabling tool for the engagement of pupils in analysis related to their environment and community.ObjectivesIn this context, the project intends to promote a new approach for the involvement of pupils in STEAM disciplines’ learning by introducing the teaching of the GIS technology which is not yet (or rarely) adopted in secondary schools, and by applying it to the thematic area of “Climate Change” which is receiving increasingly attention by young people.PartnershipThe Gis4Schools project is based on a transnational and multi-stakeholders partnership composed of 4 Secondary Schools, 1 University, 1 Training Teaching Center and 4 European and national Associations active in the field of Education, Space, Resilience and Climate change for a total of five Countries involved. 11 associated partners have been involved. A total of about 24 teachers and 180 pupils will be directly involved in the project’s activities. About 200 teachers and 1000 pupils will be indirect beneficiaries.OutputsThe activities will lead to the development of five Intellectual Outputs.O1 Development and implementation of the Training Package (TP) - composed of skills analysis, the programme of the training course, the actual content, methodology, pedagogical approach, remote - support tools i.e. video, webinar. Thanks to a short-term learning event of 4 days, teachers will be trained to transfer to pupils the TP contents.O2 Suite of open source GIS products co-created with pupils involvement. Pupils will be exposed to the practical application of the newly acquired knowledge about GIS and the underlying science, technologies and data, by familiarising themselves with data manipulation as well as with the design and development of the required software and procedures to obtain GIS products. The IO2 consists of open training material based on case studies (examples: increase in surface temperature, desertification, forest fires, flooding, etc.)O3 - Pupils-led final report based on GIS Products. Pupils and their teacher will take stock of all they have learned throughout the project and build upon it to produce an evidence-based report. A video-report and written report will be produced by each school.O4 - E-Learning platform and Open Source Repository. The E-learning platform with open source repository is the unifying technological tool that keeps all the different components of the project together and that assure the transferability of the overall process.O5 Monitoring and evaluation analysis report and policy guidelines. It is a key component for the transferability of the learning outcomes. One intermediate report and one final evaluation report will be delivered. The reports will allow a final evaluation of the learning process and the actual achievement of the project’s objectives. Methodology. The methodology of the project will combine Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) and Problem Based Learning (PBL) approach to an interdisciplinary contextualization of the science’s topic.ImpactIncrease STEAM’s knowledge of pupils and acquisition of new skills in analysis and managing GIS data, open data statistics and related technologies for the analysis of environmental, economic and social phenomena and by consequence higher propensity for pupils to choose STEAM subjects in their university career.Increase of pupil’s environmental awareness, civic engagement and responsible citizenship;Validation and adoption of the Training Package by other teachers and Schools thanks to the cooperation with the associated partners (10 in each Country for a total of 50 in Europe);Increase of teachers’ knowledge and acquisition of new skills in STEAM disciplines teaching, both in terms of content and of methodologies;Adoption in the schools of innovative pedagogical modules focused on a matter (GIS and climate change) not yet covered by the traditional school’s curricula, but with a high educational and civic value.

SPADES’ mission is to develop, test and implement soil-inclusive spatial planning strategies to support the transition towards soil health in Europe. Soil health is highly under pressure and the soil’s ability to perform essential ecosystem services should be improved to cope with pressures such as climate change and need such as a healthy living environment. Spatial planning and design are practices that, when enriched by soil care, can enhance the current status of soils and support societal challenges and needs, while avoiding unwanted trade-offs towards other areas, generations or functions. SPADES will therefor provide a comprehensive state of the art on both planning and design practices, as on soil instruments. To be able to make a transition in spatial planning and design towards healthy soils a fundamental understanding of the current mechanisms is key. SPADES will develop integrative instruments and improve the information basis and brokerage to bring the spatial planning and design field and soil sector together. This will contribute to the methodological basis. SPADES will work in 17 pilots in 10 member states, covering a broad range of land uses (urban, peri-urban and rural areas), time and spatial scales, and soil and planning challenges. This is done together with local practitioners and policy makers to develop fit-for-purpose soil-inclusive spatial strategies to support different goals such as land degradation neutrality and no net land take. The SPADES instruments will be presented in such a way (manual and navigator) so that they can be found by the right user, at the right phase of the planning and design process, and for the right purpose. SPADES supports soil literacy (by capacity building and communication, dissemination and exploitation activities) to a broad range of target groups to enable current practice to improve. To make this most effective, SPADES case partners are involved in these CDE and training activities.