Attiità proposte in classe
OPEN DATA AT SCHOOL FOR PROMOTION OF SOFT AND TRANSVERSAL SKILLS AND DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITAL AWARENESS
Flavia Giannoli
LS A. Volta, Milan (Italy)
Abstract
Innovating the teaching-learning process must answer to several diverse objectives. This paper presents a Project implemented as part of a scientific high school's Civic Education vertical curriculum for second grades as an example of effective strategy aimed to transform educational paths in welcoming ecosystems, able to support a full and safe development and promotes psychological and social well-being of future citizens starting from the very early stages of development.
Keywords: Open Data, STEAM, Civic Education, #SCUOLAFUTURA, Data society.
Introduction
In recent years, a great many projects have been carried out in Italian schools of all levels, which have contributed to the formation of students as competent, informed people, skilled in the use of technologies and the Web. In addition, informal tools and processes have been introduced through the adoption of cross-curricular activities within the educational system so that they contribute to the awareness of the unity of knowledge. Impetus has been provided by the recent introductions of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematis) teaching and Civic Education (on the topics of: Constitution, 17 Sustainable Development Goals and Digital Citizenship). This paper presents a Project implemented as part of a scientific high school's Civic Education vertical curriculum for second grades.
Materials and Methods
The Project involves the following five steps: addressing a social or sustainability topic in Civic Education by teachers of Geo-history, Italian, Science; dividing students into working groups to explore different critical aspects of the topic; researching and selecting meaningful Open Data regarding those aspects (Math teacher); processing data using appropriate online software(Math teacher); publishing the research results online for public sharing (including in the form of a short article); giving back to peers in a final classroom debriefing.
Dealing with Open data provides formidable opportunities for educating about digital citizenship about many related topics. In fact, the term Open Data refers to certain types of data (information, numerical data, etc.) that can be freely used, reused, and redistributed, according to the indications present in the license of use (Italian Open Data License v2. 0). Moreover, thanks to Open Data, administrations can promote transparency and citizen participation, but also optimize their resources and improve their efficiency provided, of course, that the citizens themselves are properly informed and involved in the processes. The use of Open Data allows the creation of online services and mobile apps, both by other public entities and private companies, research, and analysis, by research institutes and universities, publication of "data journalism" articles by traditional and online newspapers.
We start by teaching simple open publishing of graphs obtained in self-produced Google sheets and then publishing datasheet in CSV (Comma Separated Values). Subsequently move on to more sophisticated creations: many typical opensource apps for STEAM, allow us to process and publish found data online in open form. We used U-map and Datawrapper. U-map allows you to create maps or routes with OpenStreetMap layers in few times and place them on a site or share them online. Steps are simple: Select a layer for your map; Add markers, lines, polygons (POIs); Choose colors and icons of POIs; Add options to the map (overview map, geolocation of a user on loading ...); Automatically import geostructured data (geojson, gpx, kml, osm …) Choose the license for the data; Include in its site or share the created map. Datawrapper allows three different types of maps to be made from large online datasheets (statistical and institutional opendata) or from manually reported data. One can create Choropletic Maps, Symbol Maps (proportioned and colored according to the data) or Location Maps, where indicators are added into a map to show specific locations or where something happened.
The entire process was implemented by assigning successive activities through Google Classroom, assessed through evaluation rubrics (Google grids). Peer assessment was done through appropriately prepared google forms.
Results
The planned STEAM and Civic Education learning objectives were met, and the production of the final papers was marked by creativity. U-map is great for leading an educational field trip by markers on the Google Map, but it also allows you to collect data in real time, via a Google form on filled out on a smartphone on an open sheet, to report geo-structured information about interesting places; as my students did last year, when hosting Ukrainian students, to suggest them where to go in the neighborhood: Dear Friend I suggest you (in Italian). Datawrapper is most useful for enriching and documenting research, such as in the following examples of creating any articles on civic education topics (in Italian): Emigrazione in Italia; Survey of Mafia victims in Italy; Water.
Activity monitoring, coping and problem-solving skills and peer evaluation showed active participation and enjoyment of the innovative Project, which will be replicated.
Conclusions
The success of this educational pathway highlights how it is possible to apply innovative techniques in schools in accordance with National Directions. It is desirable for schools to use PNRR resources and #SCUOLAFUTURA training to bring their educational offerings up to date.
References
Aliprandi S. (2014). Il fenomeno open data. Indicazioni e norme per un mondo di dati aperti, Ledizioni
Francesco Piero Paolicelli (2022). Corso #SCUOLAFUTURA, (Blog) https://www.piersoft.it/category/opendata/,
http://umap.openstreetmap.fr/it/