Abstract:

Understanding climate and environmental change requires access to reliable observations and the ability to interpret environmental data. However, climate and environmental topics in schools are often taught through theoretical examples, with limited opportunities for students to engage with real-world measurements. Integrating environmental monitoring systems into school activities can transform climate education into a hands-on and data-driven learning experience.

This work presents an educational framework that connects schools to a distributed environmental monitoring network while simultaneously integrating sensor-based experimentation into STEM curricula. The approach combines the monitoring infrastructure developed within the EASE (Educate, Act, Sustainably Share for the Environment) project with the hands-on educational activities implemented through the STEAM EXPERIENCE programme.

The monitoring network integrates professional reference meteorological stations with low-cost DIY educational monitoring systems installed in schools. While professional stations provide high-accuracy environmental measurements, the DIY stations allow students to understand how environmental sensors and meteorological instruments operate in practice. Through assembling and exploring these systems, students learn the principles behind environmental measurements such as temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, and other meteorological parameters.

Both professional and educational monitoring systems transmit their measurements automatically to central servers, where the data are integrated into a shared environmental database. Students and teachers can access the collected information through an online platform that provides real-time visualization, historical data exploration, and basic analytical tools.

By accessing the database, users can download environmental datasets and perform their own analyses during classroom activities. This enables students to explore environmental variability, compare measurements from professional and school-based stations, and understand how distributed monitoring networks generate scientific datasets.

By linking DIY sensor systems, professional monitoring stations, and shared environmental databases, the framework allows schools to function as living laboratories where students not only learn how environmental monitoring instruments work but also contribute real observations to a broader environmental data network. The initiative also includes teacher training activities that support educators in integrating environmental monitoring and data analysis into interdisciplinary STEM lessons.

Acknowledgements:
This work was supported by the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research through UEFISCDI, within the National Plan for Research, Development and Innovation (PNCDI IV), Science in Schools Programme, project no. PN-IV-P10-SS-SC-2024-0042 (STEAM-EXPERIENCE), and by the EASE (Educate, Act, Sustainably Share for the Environment) project funded by the Erasmus+ KA220-SCH – Cooperation Partnerships in School Education programme.

Keywords:

Environmental Sensor Networks, School-Based Monitoring, DIY Sensors, STEM Education, Data-Driven Environmental Education.