ETBI Journal of Education - Vol 2:1 - June 2020 (Sustainable Development Goals 2015 -2030)

ETBI Journal of Education June 2020
5*S: Space, Surveyors, Students, STEM & the
Sustainable Development Goals
An SFI Discover Award Project - By the 5*S team
As students become increasingly interested
in and concerned about climate change,
teachers are looking for ways not only to
teach about the UN’s Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) but to engage with practices that
help to fulfil them. The 5*S project has recently
been created to support teachers to do just that.
The 5*S project was awarded a prestigious
Discover Award from the Science Foundation
Ireland (SFI) in January 2020. As its full title
shows (Space, Surveyors, Students, STEM and
the Sustainable Development Goals) a number
of scientists, surveyors and educators have come
together to share their expertise with teachers
and students in second level schools. The project
aims to promote STEM education and careers to
students, particularly to girls and will support
teachers to make links from the curriculum to
real-world technology and ‘big’ data sources such
as the Copernicus Satellites from the European
Space Agency. The project will also prioritise
schools in remote and/or disadvantaged areas.
Although the 5*S project was developed prior
to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, our
preparatory work continues with a view to
providing workshops and mentoring online. The
5*S team will be ready to link with schools in the
coming academic year and we would like to hear
from schools interested in becoming involved.
WITH THE ACCESS TO
INTERNATIONAL SATELLITES,
5*S WILL QUITE LITERALLY TAKE
TEACHERS AND STUDENTS TO
NEW HEIGHTS.
As the past few months have shown, technology
can support social and educational connections
very effectively. With the access to international
satellites, 5*S will quite literally take teachers and
students to new heights. It is a project where you
could say the sky is the target not the limit!
Satellites are often thought of as tools suitable
only for large-area mapping of the environment.
But satellite data informs so much of our daily
lives. It is used in agriculture, forestry, marine
activities and other industries, business, urban
and rural planning, monitoring health and
education and other services provision. Very few
people know how exactly this works and fewer
still understand how the data can be used to
shape new practices that are more sustainable,
kinder to the environment and promote equality.
In other words how can big data help Ireland
meet the commitment to the SDGs?
The overall 5*S project has a number of
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