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.
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), in combination with 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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
