Lugano as a laboratory for the study of digital data
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Monitoring the state of Lugano's health to obtain information on temperature, humidity, air quality, brightness and noise, involving citizens in the collection of digital data and promoting their understanding. It is from this assumption that the project Technology Environment Skills (TAC) started, which from 2020 to 2021 involved a number of fourth and fifth grade pupils. TAC introduced innovative teaching on the topic of digital data to bring the youngest children closer to the use of digital technologies, and at the same time encouraged a sense of active citizenship, aimed at developing sustainable and environmentally friendly behaviour.
Researchers from SUPSI and seven teachers from Lugano's municipal schools devised teaching activities with integrated notions of science, environment and technology to collect and analyse the five identified parameters. To support the project, a simple device was built, with an intuitive interface, that allowed pupils to collect and measure data affecting the quality of life in different areas of the city. From this project came lesson proposals that can now be used and adapted by other teachers or in other educational contexts. Activities that have been collected in a syllabus, an open document accessible to all and continuously updated.
Serena Cangiano, researcher at SUPSI's Institute of Design and project leader, explains that "it was certainly interesting for the boys and girls to discover that computers are not just those with a mouse and keyboard, but can also be tiny devices, so much so that they can be incorporated into small objects. The design of our devices aimed to reduce the complexity of technology with a simple and attractive interface, objects that the pupils used as if they were games. Play, as we know, promotes learning, and with regard to the educational activities carried out to collect environmental data and to understand it, Serena Cangiano points out that "the children first explored the environment around them, from the gardens to the interior spaces of their school premises, and then interpreted the value of the data to relate it to the scientific and mathematical notions discussed in class and set out in their curriculum".
On the perspectives on the use of technology in computer and environmental education: 'as interaction designers, we are very interested in creating models of open innovation, where collaboration enables the generation of new lines and design innovations. We would like these models to be adopted in education to make technology more accessible and more human. Not just a product that teachers and learners - or the institutions themselves - consume passively. Our interfaces are born from research that aims to enable the user, and to generate technological development with a social impact,' Serena Cangiano concludes.
On the perspectives on the use of technology in computer and environmental education: 'as interaction designers, we are very interested in creating models of open innovation, where collaboration enables the generation of new lines and design innovations. We would like these models to be adopted in education to make technology more accessible and more human. Not just a product that teachers and learners - or the institutions themselves - consume passively. Our interfaces are born from research that aims to enable the user, and to generate technological development with a social impact,' Serena Cangiano concludes.
The project was conducted by SUPSI's Institute of Design and the FabLab, both of the Department of Environment Constructions and Design, in collaboration with the School Institute of the City of Lugano. The researchers involved were Serena Cangiano, Iolanda Pensa, Marco Lurati and Daniele Murgia. Two other institutes of the Department for Environment, Construction and Design collaborated: the Institute for Earth Sciences and the Institute for Applied Sustainability in the Built Environment with researchers Massimiliano Cannata, Milan Antonovic, Francesca Cellina and Roberta Castri. TAC is promoted by Lugano Living Lab.
The project was also realised thanks to the support of two companies, Swisscom and Arduino, which contributed by providing the communication infrastructure needed to develop the kits. These kits exploit the LoRa network, a low-power technology that simplifies the creation of Internet-connected devices.
The project was also realised thanks to the support of two companies, Swisscom and Arduino, which contributed by providing the communication infrastructure needed to develop the kits. These kits exploit the LoRa network, a low-power technology that simplifies the creation of Internet-connected devices.