Science in the City: Building Participatory Urban Learning Community Hubs through Research and Activation

Project Information

PULCHRA

Grant agreement ID: 824466

DOI

10.3030/824466

Project closed

EC signature date 18 June 2019

Start date 1 September 2019

End date 31 December 2022

Funded under

• Encourage citizens to engage in science through formal and informal science education, and promote the diffusion of science-based activities, namely in science centres and through other appropriate channels

Total cost

€ 1 489 925,00

EU contribution

€ 1 489 925,00

Coordinated by

ETHNIKO KAI KAPODISTRIAKO PANEPISTIMIO ATHINON
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PULCHRA (Science in the City: Building Participatory Urban Learning Community Hubs through Research and Activation)

Reporting period: 2020-12-01 to 2022-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In a world that’s becoming increasingly complex, there is a need to prepare especially young people for a future that will require good scientific knowledge, a solid understanding of the opportunities and challenges arising from modern technology and the willingness to actively participate in shaping the future. Current environmental issues such as air quality, restoration of our greenery and water bodies and climate change adaptation and mitigation culminate where most people live: in cities. At the same time, the gap between the need for participation and the actual activation appears to be especially large in cities. While schools provide a particularly effective starting point to teach students about cause and effect relationships, putting knowledge into actions requires the engagement of the communities at large including parents, families, neighborhoods, universities, local authorities, businesses, etc. Thus the process of learning must integrate the different societal data, must be holistic in terms of a continuous endeavor, which is not limited to set learning situations in schools or universities, and which should be augmented by opportunities to explore, test and even implement some of these concepts in real life situations.

The Science in the City: Building Participatory Urban Learning Community Hubs through Research and Activation - The PULCHRA project explores the open schooling concept in the theme “Cities as urban ecosystems” and in view of creating new partnerships in local communities to foster science education for all citizens. The open schooling concept provides an open and inclusive learning environment. It supports the development of innovative school projects and establishes points of access for all members of the society. Student projects meet real needs of the community by drawing upon local expertise and experience. Schools, in cooperation with other stakeholders form Science teams and become agent of community well-being, taken the theme to be explored encompasses the natural environment, the built environment and the socio-economic environment in cities.

The PULCHRA project targets the exploitation of the concept of open schooling in view of bringing new scientific knowledge for the city as an urban ecosystem, by facilitating participation of citizens of all ages in scientific discovery, by building a learning, exploring and activation network, by developing knowledgeable, innovative and participatory communities and by exploring common issues related to the city as an urban ecosystem through specially designed City Challenges.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

From the beginning to the end of the (1/9/2019 – 31/12/2022) the followings actions and results achieved.
Twenty four deliverables have been submitted.Furthermore key actions, as connected to the milestones, for the progress of the project were completed:
MS1: The Kick-off meeting took place in Athens on 12-13 September 2019.
MS2 and MS12: Data management plan and Communication plan were prepared.
MS3: School Network was established, consisting of 51 schools.
MS4 and MS9: educational materials and open learning course courses developed for the City Challenges (CCs) and are available at the PULCHRA platform https://platform.pulchra-schools.eu/
MS5, MS6, and MS7: City Challenges platform, necessary for the City Challenges preparation and implementation, and PULCHRA app were developed.
MS8: CCs platform was populated during the entire duration of the project (51 schools and over 200 stakeholders are registered in the PULCHRA platform).
MS10 and MS11: First and second CCs were implemented and successfully completed in all partner countries.

The main results achieved so far are the following
1. The PULCHRA school network was established consisting of 52 schools and the City Challenges themes were selected.
3. City challenges supporting educational resources (open access) and open learning courses
4. The City Challenges Platform was developed aiming among others to support the development of the school projects in the field of urban ecosystems and the interaction among stakeholders.
5. 1st and 2nd City challenges rounds were successfully implemented, resulting in 100 projects that are available at the PULCHRA platform.
6. Three international Workshops were organized.
7. PULCHRA with other Open Schooling H2020 project created a collaboration called Open Schooling Together. Find their latest guidelines, best practices, research outcomes, and upcoming events by following @OStogether

In terms of exploitation, the PULCHRA project aimed towards the utilization of its results in further research activities other than those covered by the action concerned. In particular the project a) created the product “City Challenges Platform” acting as a Hub for registered parties as far as educational material and learning activities are concerned and b) developed and provided an advisory service in support of open schooling projects.To this end, PULCHRA results that can be exploited are:
a)The developed educational material, courses and guidelines (D6.1 D6.2 D8.1 D8.2 D9.1).
b)The Plan for the schools’ network, including the methodology for the selection of the schools (D4.1)
c) The Requirements and Operational Patterns of the Science Teams (D5.1)
d) The Design and operational patterns of the City Challenges Platform (D7.1)
e) The PULCHRA app (D7.2).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project resulted in multi-stakeholder’s partnerships with the capacity to recognize and get acquainted with breakthrough science for cities as urban ecosystems. For the two years of the implementation phase of the project, science teams were formed developing 100 CCs projects with the participation of 235 teachers, 2834 students and 299 stakeholders during both CCs rounds. Furthermore, PULCHRA occupied a unique niche due to its capacity to link science and science education by considering cities as urban ecosystems. Young students brought new knowledge to their families and friends and got credit for this. According to the evaluation results all aspects of the project (CC, open learning courses, platform, website, educational material) were positively evaluated as contributing to the advancement of students as citizens, learners and experts in urban ecosystems. Since, PULCHRA is in line with several EU strategies or policies, young students got acquainted with the short term, medium term and long term EU plans for improving the quality of life in the urban environment, for protecting the climate and for linking science with policy decision making. Additionally, through cooperation on the local/city scale the project actively contributed to address the pressing issues of societal fragmentation, lack of participation and adaptation to global change. A momentum towards science and research was developed, thus supporting the EU objective towards increasing the numbers of scientists and researchers in Europe.
Taken the high replication potential of the project and its open structure (open source materials, shared City Challenges Platform and app), other schools, youth groups, civic organizations, etc. may also take advantage of the products for their own districts

Science Teams

PULCHRA