<< Background >>The responsible management of natural resources, including land, water, air, minerals, forests, and biodiversity has a direct impact on the preservation of the natural environment and the quality of life of present and future generations. It creates a balance between social, economic, and environmental factors. It leads to the well-being of people and communities, the preservation of jobs, and the protection of biodiversity. Sustainable natural resource management is of high priority in the 21st century as it can contribute to the avoidance of land degradation, the avoidance of desertification, the mitigation of climate change, and more. It is included in UN sustainability goals, such as sustainable cities and communities, responsible production and consumption, climate action, life in land, and life under water.Achieving sustainable natural resource management starts with awareness-raising and education. Society is faced with climate change, the rise of temperatures, and the destruction of habitats with direct consequences on biodiversity presentation as well as the long-term health of natural ecosystems. In this environment it is imperative to develop educational initiatives that prepare the young generation to become responsible, active adults in relation environmental sustainability in all aspects of life in the industry and communities.Raising a young generation that adopts responsible natural resources management behavior requires the development of scientific and technical knowledge on the function of ecosystems and the life supporting effects of those. It further requires critical and analytical thinking, innovative mindsets for designing environmentally sound solutions, and ability to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams. While digital tools do exist for contributing to natural resources management more can be done for enriching environmental education through digital technologies. NATURE will develop an experiential learning intervention for building the capacity of higher education students to adopt responsible behavior on natural resources management and to design solutions for environmental sustainability in everyday and professional activities. The proposed learning intervention will:-Build awareness on the importance of sustainable natural resources management for the well-being of communities and plant and animal species.-Develop theoretical knowledge and practical skills that empower students to become active citizens designing environmentally sustainable solutions.-Develop soft skills that foster innovative mindsets that help students become the problem-solvers of tomorrow towards sustainable practices in the industry and society.Digital learning games will enable students to experiment with scenarios inspired by real-life. Through digital applications students will be encouraged to undertake the role of stewards of natural ecosystems in a manner that would not be possible in an off-line physical laboratory. They will be challenged to design solutions that maintain the balance of environment preservation, economic activity, and quality of life. The learning games will introduce clear learning objectives, interesting roles, and rich actions that students may undertake to design environmentally sustainable solutions. They will provide real-time, immediate feedback on the consequences of their choices, thus developing awareness and knowledge on the effects of human activity to natural ecosystems. They will be designed for deployment in broader learning offerings that combine theoretical knowledge and hands-on practice.The impact of the proposed environmental learning intervention will be an updated scope and increased relevance of environmental education, modernization and enrichment of environmental education through emerging learning design and digital technologies, development of green skills, and enhanced dialog towards societal change on responsible natural resources management.<< Objectives >>NATURE introduces an experiential learning intervention that builds awareness , knowledge, and skills on responsible natural resources management through digital experimentation that engages higher education students in scenarios that they would not be able to be exposed to through off-line activities.The project aims to achieve the following objectives:-Educating students: building theoretical knowledge and soft skills applicable on responsible natural resources management.-Training instructors: supporting the seamless integration of the proposed experiential learning design and digital learning games in existing instructional practices through reference material in diverse media.-Modernizing higher education through digital technologies: developing an open digital games developed specifically for learning purposes that promotes interactive exploration, fosters motivation in learning, promotes long-term student engagement, and helps students understand the link between actions and effects on the environment.The outcomes of the project will be:-An active, game-based learning methodology for environmental education through exploration, collaboration, and experimentation.-A digital serious game that challenges students to engage in scenarios related to responsible natural resource management inspired by real-life.-Educator support content in the form of learning activities, videos, and a reference guide that facilitates the integration of project outcomes into teaching practices..Project outcomes will be validated and disseminated widely to promote adoption:-The NATURE learning intervention will be validated in practice through piloting activities with higher education students in in Latvia, Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. Evaluation activities in diverse academic, cultural, and economic environments will ensure the European relevance of results.-Multiplier events will be organized in Latvia, Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy for community-building and promoting the adoption of project outcomes.-Project activities and outcomes will be disseminated widely through digital channels, press releases, scientific articles, informational material, a periodic newsletter, and more.The desired impact of the project is:-Enriched awareness, knowledge, and skills of students on natural resources management.-Increased relevance of environmental higher education.-Enriched learning opportunities on environmental aspects, with long-term effects.-Updated scope of environmental higher education.-Development of green skills.-Contribution to societal change in relation to responsible natural resources management.-Strengthened communities that have the capacity to act towards environmental sustainability.-High quality educational practices on responsible natural resources management.-Deployment of digital technologies in environmental education.-Modernization of higher education through emerging learning design.-Promotion of cross-themed education, as environmental learning requires the integration of knowledge from diverse fields.-Linking higher education outcomes to the needs of society and industry. -Enhanced interaction among higher education institutions on environmental education at the regional, national, and European level.-Enhanced interaction among higher education institutions and authorities at the regional and national level.-Improved practices, strategies, and policies on environmental education and responsible natural resources management. -Development of soft skills desired by industry and society, including critical, analytical, and entrepreneurial thinking.-Good practice development and exchange between countries on responsible natural resources management.<< Implementation >>A.Methodological learning design:Focus will be on the design of an innovative experiential learning framework that is based on serious games and challenges students to develop awareness, knowledge, and skills on responsible natural resource management through activities that are inspired by real world environmental sustainability practices. They will include:-Analysis of the stakeholder groups that stand to gain from the project.-Analysis of current practices and initiatives related to responsible natural resources management.-Analysis of related digital tools deployed in environmental education.-Analysis of learning needs of students on building knowledge on responsible natural resources management.-Analysis of the instructional skills needed by educators for designing and delivering engaging environmental education activities that deploy emerging learning design and digital technologies.-Design of an experiential methodological learning framework that promotes learning by doing through experimentation in the context of digital learning games. B.Implementing a digital learning game and learning scenarios for responsible natural resources management:-Design of the basic game functionality common in all learning scenarios, such as tools for designing the scenario surrounding environment, setting scenario goals, defining student roles, and facilitating collaboration. -Software development of the NATURE digital learning game.-Design of learning scenarios on natural resources management that will be integrated into the digital learning game.-Evaluation of the digital learning game with external groups of students in Latvia, Greece, Estonia, Portugal, Spain, and Italy and integration of input into project outcomes.C.Activities on instructor support content development that promotes the seamless integration of project results into existing educational practices:The activities will produce reference material that instructors will use for directly deploying in their classrooms the project experiential learning design and NATURE digital learning game. They will further support instructors on designing and integrating into the NATURE digital learning game their own scenarios that address specific learning objectives related to the interests and needs of their students. They will include:- Development of a reference guide for the NATURE digital learning game on responsible natural resources management.- Development of learning sheets that describe end-to-end educational activities based on the NATURE digital learning game that instructors will be able to use in their classrooms.- Development of videos that demonstrate the functionality of the NATURE digital learning game. D. Dissemination and adoption:Multiplier events will be organized in Latvia, Greece, Estonia, Portugal, Spain, and Italy during which audiences will be exposed to the proposed experiential, game-based learning design and will use the digital learning game hands-on. The events will demonstrate the benefits of the proposed learning intervention and will promote the uptake of project outcomes beyond the consortium.Dissemination activities will use a wide range of channels for effectively reaching higher education stakeholders, including students, educators, authorities, policy makers, educational organizations, industry, and the general public. They will include:- A project web portal.-Informational leaflet.-Newsletter.-Internet and social media presence.-Press releases.-Scientific articles.-Presentations.-And more.<< Results >>The following outcomes are expected:Result 1: An experiential, methodological learning framework for building awareness, knowledge and skills on responsible natural resources management. The framework will be based on an analysis of stakeholder groups that stand to gain directly or indirectly from project activities on environmental education. Direct stakeholders The learning framework will be designed based on the results of a learning needs analysis of students and educators in relation to building knowledge on natural resource management. It will further take into account existing practices and policies in environmental education as well as related activities, initiatives and projects, ensuring that the learning framework can be effectively integrated into existing educational practices.The analysis will inform the design of an experiential methodological learning framework that promotes learning by doing through experimentation in the context of digital learning games. The methodology will follow an open science approach that will complement formal educational practices. Through the proposed learning design, students will have the opportunity to build knowledge and skills by exploring environmental education scenarios inspired by real world challenges. Game-based approaches will foster students’ internal motivation for engaging in learning through gaming elements such as clear goals, rewards, recognition, social interaction, and more. Result 2: A digital learning game and educational activities on responsible natural resources management.The game will challenge students to engage in learning scenarios inspired by real-world challenges on natural resources management. It will follow an open science education approach through open ended activities that will foster student creativity and critical thinking. In addition to scenarios that will be prepared by the consortium, the game will offer rich functionality through which users will be able to design scenarios of their own. Educators will be able to define the objectives of a learning activity as well as student roles; they will be able to structure the scenario surroundings for addressing specific educational goals related to a particular scenario using buildings, public services, business, recreation areas, natural resources bodies such as water bodies, forests, and mineral sources, and more; they will further be able to overlook student work. Students will be provided similarly rich opportunities for introducing environmentally sustainable solutions to the given challenges through terrain formatting, city building, design of technical infrastructures, and more. Result 3: Instructor support content that will build the capacity of educators to adopt the proposed experiential learning design for environmental education.The content will act as reference material that will support educators in the use of the NATURE learning game and will inspire them for creating their own learning activities. It will use a variety of channels including:-A learning game reference manual.-Learning sheets describing end-to-end learning activities.-Videos that demonstrate the game functionality.

"The worldwide surveys show that EU students often lack mathematical competences and key basic competences in science and technology. Situation confirmed also on the Eurydice publication (2017). Even if Estonia and Finland are the two highest performing OECD countries, the most recent PISA results (2015) have shown a drop in the Finnish averages in scientific skills. Thanks to the digital development and education quality, Estonian students achieved both high levels of performance and greater equity in education outcomes. The most critical problems of the Estonian education system are, instead, related to teachers. A recent review by the OECD (2016) identified some policy priorities to improve the effectiveness of the Estonian school system: consolidate school networks, promote professionalism of teachers and school leaders, and make vocational education a more attractive option. Concerning both Belgium and Italy, they are above or on OECD average. Negative trends are emerge by Belgian students who obtained a score in science 502 on OECD average of 493 (-3), in mathematics 507 on OECD average of 490 (-5). In Italy, students obtained a score in science 481 on OECD average of 493 (+2), in mathematics 490 on OECD average of 490 (+7). Even if the scores are getting better, the changing is very slow and difficult. In this context, the specific common national needs are emerged among the countries involved: 1.emphasizing the attractiveness and joy of learning 2.improving social inclusion and gender equity in education. 3.developing schools as learning communities - Favouring a more interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary teaching and learning in European schools, which will lead to a better collaboration among teachers from different subjects. 4.reinforcing school and teachers networks to share resources and best practices. Therefore, G.A.STEM project aimed at: 1.improving motivation in scientific study through the use of “Art-works” as supporter in student creativity development and more awareness of their applications in everyday life. 2.utilizing the attractiveness of the art and technology (in terms of mini-games design and game assets) to improve social inclusion and gender equality. 3.supporting STEM skills (vertical and horizontal skills) useful for professional careers for both teachers and students. 4.improving the collaborative sense among teachers and schools through the exchanging of experience, best practices focusing on the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach. 5.increasing the community sense and citizenship awareness through the discovery of European Cultural heritage constituted of (past and present) art-works produced in the partner project countries. Target groups of the project were Secondary school teachers (as the primary target group) and 13-16 years old students (as the secondary target group). The main results of the project are: - IO1: The report ""Framework to integrate Art in STEM using digital games"" - IO2: The teachers' online course ""ART and Mini-Games"", and - IO3: The report ""Outputs and Recommendations on arts and mini-games in STEM Education"" The results' percieved impact on the target groups is: - concerning students: A total of 153 students responded and participated in the preliminary- and follow-up questionnaire of the project's piloting phase.Students perceive and better understand the real applications of the concepts studied by using the arts in mathematics and science study. This has been confirmed by 64% of students who stated that the contents learned to seem more concrete and practical than before. The method proposed to support the creativity and originality development even if 11% of students have had some difficulties in the development of their mini-game concept idea.The students (77,4% against 15,7%) feel comfortable using the G.A.STEM method and tools. The students revealed an increased motivation and interest (63%) in the mathematics and science study by using the art-works as learning tools. Comparing these data with the initial ones, the results demonstrate an increase of 12,6% in both interest and motivation in the current study with a decreasing of -9,7% in the neutral position. - concerning teachers: A total of 61 teachers responded and participated in the pre-and-post piloting questionnaire of the project's piloting phase.All teachers involved in the piloting phase are more convinced about the effectiveness that the tools developed could support the achievement of students’ learning objectives in STEM education. This was confirmed by a change in the attitude of teachers towards “arts” before the G.A.STEM training. Some of the teachers recognize the use of the art-works in the curriculum as an instrument to favour students’ learning by doing and further facilitation of the learning process.The use of the mini-game concept design can support students’ learning in STEM education and be productive. Very positive feedbacks (95,1%) towards the effectiveness and usability of the methodology proposed. Major attention is required for the teachers' preparation in the use of the G.A.STEM methodology and tools and for an extension of the subjects to be studied through it, for example including science or chemistry."

<< Background >>The BIG GAME project addresses the three common needs identified at the European level, which are 1) to promote the STEM approach in learning, 2)to support digital transformation, and 3) to support the fight against climate change. Moreover, the project continues the previous STEM learning related developing work of part of the project consortium, by noticing its weak points and tackling the critical issues with a new pedagogical approach in cooperation with the strengthened partner team.The context of these European-wide needs can be described in detail as follows: Firstable, as interest in studying science subjects has declined across Europe and, according to research findings, learning outcomes have deteriorated, there is perceived Europe-wide recognition of the need to promote and increase the STEM approach in teaching. Although, awakened by this need, quite many individual STEM or STEAM subjects have been created into the secondary school level curriculum e.g. in the Nordic countries, this does not meet the need for extensive and multidisciplinary learning and combining of different subjects for examining various phenomena in the context of sciences. Secondly, as part of digital transformation and the recognition of digital skills being crucial for citizens of current and future society, everyone should gain sufficient basic skills in basic education to master various ICT tools and working methods (e.g. Teknologiateollisuus.fi). Schools and teachers have a tremendous role in this task, as it is impossible to influence the equipment and practices of homes in large populations. However, according to OECD (https://www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/), gaps in the digital skills of European teachers have been identified, as they often do not have the time or the opportunities offered by the work environment to adopt new technology-based ways and methods of learning. There is often too much confidence also in young students' digital skills because they use a lot of technology, especially mobile applications. However, the use of new technology alone does not guarantee the versatile accumulation of digital skills. Those who spend a lot of time on games may still need instruction e.g. in critical information retrieval. (E.g. Valtioneuvosto.fi: Digiajan peruskoulu II loppuraportti 2020).Thirdly, the BIG GAME project deals with the issue of climate change and fighting against it. The values considering the climate are common and shared deeply between the Europeans of any age. Recent international surveys of values for young people (e.g. 2017 Eurobarometer/Flash Eurobarometer 455; the 2017 World Economic Forum Global Shapers Survey) show that climate change, environmental protection and ecological issues are the youth’s key concerns and the most serious questions about the future. Also, the fight against climate change, alongside education, was seen in the eyes of the EU youth as a key task for the EU. As part of the EU climate action and the European Green Deal, the EU itself is fighting against climate change through cooperation with international partners, in the level of its programmes' priorities and actions.<< Objectives >>Referring to the background, the needs, and the context mentioned, the project's objectives are:1) Promoting interest and excellence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) approach to education through multidisciplinary learning and problem-solving related to environmental context, in a form of a serious learning game;2)Supporting digital transformation in schools by providing an online and hybrid learning model as well as digital storytelling approach based methodology and tools to be used in learning and cooperation in digital environments;3) Supporting the versatile accumulation of digital skills of both teachers and 11-16 year old students;4) Raising awareness of environmental and climate change issues and engaging in the fight against climate change through impressive and attitude-shaping immersive learning experiences.<< Implementation >>In detail, during the progress of the project, the following activities will be implemented:During IO (Intellectual Output) 1:1. Defining the BIG GAME game concept and the game world;2. Analysing of the environmental problems/issues addressed; 3. Development of the imaginary game world of the BIG GAME;4. Development of the STEM learning model, game rules and the competition of the BIG GAME;5. Mastering of the game during piloting in the digital game environment.During IO (Intellectual Output) 2:1. Defining the BIG GAME digital storytelling approach;2. Analysing the existing experiences and good practices on how to construct digital storytelling scenarios in STEM education;3. Analysing the existing experiences and good practices on how to assess digital storytelling scenarios in STEM education;4. Development of a set of story-driven STEM learning scenarios on environmental issues;5. Development of the handbook and the toolkit on Digital Storytelling Approach in STEM Education.During IO (Intellectual Output) 3: 1. Setting of the digital bank for the environmental STEM learning objects designed and developed in the project;2. Defining the planning and piloting organisation and the criteria for assessment of the BIG GAME competition;3. Definition and implementation of the training campaigns for the european contest implementation;4. Organisation and management of training events to assist the participating teachers with the project activities;5. Continuous updating and increasing of story-driven learning objects in the digital bank.<< Results >>The main results will be as follows:- The BIG GAME Learning Concept and Model- Handbook and Toolkit on Digital Storytelling Approach in STEM Education - Digital Bank of Environmental STEM Learning ObjectsThe envisaged impacts on the target groups are as follows: Concerning 11-16 year old students: - the interest and excellence in (STEM) approach to education has increased through multidisciplinary and game-based online learning model and digital storytelling approach- the versatile accumulation of digital skills has increased via participating in the project’s activity- the awareness of environmental and climate change issues has increased- the immersive learning experiences have affected the attitudes towards climate change issues in the positive wayConcerning secondary school teachers:- the interest and excellence in (STEM) approach to education has increased by the teaching method provided by the new pedagogical multidisciplinary and game-based online learning model and digital storytelling approach- the ability to respond to the digital transformation in school has improved by the new pedagogical model of online and hybrid learning and easy-to-use, versatile digital tools for learning, teaching and co-development- the versatile accumulation of digital skills has increased via participating in the project’s activity

Project Summary is in English.

"<< Objectives >>Our project is aimed at reducing the early school leaving of students by supporting the teachers professionally with learning difficulties by using digital techniques based on multi-sensory learning model and storytelling technique.By making the educational environment more attractive,students who drop out of school due to this anxiety and negative attitude make peace with the education environment again<< Implementation >>Our project includes 5 work packages and the activities in these work packages. Our work packages under general headings are as follows;WP1: Project ManagementWP2: ""Digital Storytelling Techniques "" Training ProgrammeWP3: Online interactive learning/teaching platformWP4 : ""Recommendation Programme"" to promote digital story telling techniquesWP5 : Evaluation Programme (Conferences and Workshops)<< Results >>We aim at creating following following results via work packages;- Decreased dropout rates of students with learning difficulties- Increasing the professional development of teachers with new tools and methods- Active use of the ""Recommendation Program"", which also includes the Digital Storytelling curriculum- Developing the professional capacity of teachers thanks to the online learning platform-Increasing the capacity of educational institutions"