EduStation
(FreeStation for Educators)
Introduction
EduStation aims to increase the use of measurement and monitoring in geography, STEM, engineering and environmental education from primary, through secondary, sixth form and university by:
reducing the challenges to build, deploy and use low cost sensing techniques based on Arduino and Internet of Things technology. This will also help to develop research-ready, high density and long-term environmental monitoring networks based in schools. Such networks are critical to better understand our changing environment whilst, at the same time, enabling valuable information technology and environmental training for the next generation of environmental scientists.
making existing in situ environmental monitoring data available for use in schools using interactive and easy-to-use dashboards, see FreeStation data for Education
The global distribution of schools according to Open Street Map
How EduStation works
Create: The school or university builds the monitoring station(s) using our low-cost, open source DIY-build designs, in Computing and Technology classes
Use: The stations are used for in class demonstration and to support field-trips, fieldwork and independent investigations (coursework and dissertation) by providing additional data collection capacity and training in environmental monitoring
Collect: The school or university installs and maintains some of the station(s) on a flat roof or other suitable space within the grounds to collect data on weather, climate, air quality and anything else of relevance to the site. The station writes data to freestation.org where it is accessible to all alongside a suite of online tools for in -class demonstration and analysis.
Learn: In Geography and Environmental Science classes, the school uses the data from their station(s) or data from other EduStations around the world
Network: A station in even 1% of schools would be an unparalleled network of environmental monitors. This would help to counteract the global decline in ground based monitoring networks that is occurring at exactly the time we need them the most. Such a network would also cover the (largely urban) areas that host the majority of the world's human population and thus monitor the conditions in which the majority of us live in a way they are just not monitored currently
Longevity: With successive classes maintaining and rebuilding the monitors over time this network can also be one with longevity beyond an individual project
A video introduction to FreeStation for Education
Before you start building
Do you want to build stations or use data from the existing FreeStation network. To use existing data skip straight to FreeStation data for education. If you do want to build, consider the following:
What are your sensor requirements i.e. what do you want to measure?
Will the sensor be located indoors or outdoors (i.e. will a weather shield and solar power be needed)
How will data be read from the station:
direct connection via GSM or WIFI (FreeStationLive) or
read by tethering to mobile phone or Freelay (FreeStationLocal)
or swap of SDCARD
Go through the documentation and training materials so that you:
find the right FreeStation for your needs
avoid ordering incorrect or insufficient components
avoid mistakes in construction
Building your first FreeStation will be time consuming and error prone. After the first, others will be easy.
The EduStation classroom demonstration unit
Our EduStation classroom demo datalogger is the cheapest and easiest build for classroom teaching. It has no enclosure and is for indoor (classroom) use only
100+ FreeStation research questions for fieldwork investigations and non-examined assessments
Our FreeStation fieldwork project ideas document provides ideas for how FreeStations can be built and deployed to answer >100 research questions for dissertations, field course projects, fieldwork investigations and non-examined assessments (NEAs).
Non-examined assessment (NEA) support documentation (GCSE and A level)
These support documents provide information on research questions, data collection methods, analysis instructions and further context for a range of research studies using self-build FreeStation hardware relevant to non-examined assessment relevant to the GCSE and A level specification. Development supported by EC H2020 ReSET project.
Biology lesson inserts
These lesson inserts provide GCSE or A-level curriculum references, a learning objective and teacher and student instructions for using FreeStation equipment or data for topics in Biology. Development supported by EC H2020 ReSET project.
Chemistry lesson inserts
These lesson inserts provide GCSE or A-level curriculum references, a learning objective and teacher and student instructions for using FreeStation equipment or data for topics in Chemistry. Development supported by EC H2020 ReSET project.
Computer science lesson inserts
These lesson inserts provide GCSE or A-level curriculum references, a learning objective and teacher and student instructions for using FreeStation equipment or data for topics in Computer science. Development supported by EC H2020 ReSET project.
Design and technology lesson inserts
These lesson inserts provide GCSE or A-level curriculum references, a learning objective and teacher and student instructions for using FreeStation equipment or data for topics in Design and technology. Development supported by EC H2020 ReSET project.
Geography lesson inserts
These lesson inserts provide GCSE or A-level curriculum references, a learning objective and teacher and student instructions for using FreeStation equipment or data for topics in Geography. Development supported by EC H2020 ReSET project.
Mathematics lesson inserts
These lesson inserts provide GCSE or A-level curriculum references, a learning objective and teacher and student instructions for using FreeStation equipment or data for topics in Mathematics. Development supported by EC H2020 ReSET project.
Physics lesson inserts
These lesson inserts provide GCSE or A-level curriculum references, a learning objective and teacher and student instructions for using FreeStation equipment or data for topics in Physics. Development supported by EC H2020 ReSET project.
Weather and climate data for education: FreeStation
Existing FreeStation data can be accessed for educational use directly from the FreeStation database links below and our less plans above or via our EduStation clusters, which are our station clusters most suited to educational use, which can be visualised and analysed through our EduStation dashboard. Key EduStation clusters are linked below. Guidance is provided with the dashboard :
Climate resilient schools cluster (London, UK) - weather stations for climate resilience throughout London.
ReSET Bologna cluster - urban heat stations in Bologna.
Weather and climate data for education: other sources
The recent/climate and future/climate tools provide education-friendly access to global weather and climatre data.
recent/climate helps visualise, understand and use global weather station data from the Global Historical Climatology Network daily datasets (GHCNd). The GHCNd data set is a comprehensive collection of daily climate observations from thousands of weather stations worldwide.
future/climate open-access, global, dashboard-based interface for visualisation of climate futures. It supports understanding and analysis of national and watershed-level climate projections.
recent/climate number of precipitation records by UK meteorological station
recent/climate daily maximum temperature anomalies for Rothamsted station, UK
future/climate rainfall projections by country for SSP370 to 2030s
future/climate rainfall projections for UK under different climate scenarios
Lesson inserts using recent/climate
These lesson inserts make use of the recent/climate tool. They are designed for for KS3 and KS4 (KS3 covers years 7, 8 and 9, the first three years of secondary school. KS4 covers years 10 and 11, when students work towards GCSEs). Development supported by EC H2020 ReSET and GLA Climate Resilient Schools projects.
Lesson inserts using future/climate
These lesson inserts make use of the future/climate tool. They are designed for for KS3 and KS4 (KS3 covers years 7, 8 and 9, the first three years of secondary school. KS4 covers years 10 and 11, when students work towards GCSEs). Development supported by EC H2020 ReSET and GLA Climate Resilient Schools projects.
Lesson inserts using FreeStation analyse (Climate Resilient Schools cluster)
These lesson inserts provide GCSE or A-level curriculum references, a learning objective and teacher and student instructions for using FreeStation analyse on data from the London Climate Resilient Schools cluster. Development supported by EC H2020 ReSET and GLA Climate Resilient Schools projects.