Using an Educational IoT Lab Kit and Gamification for Energy Awareness in European Schools

TL;DR

This paper explores how an IoT-based educational lab kit combined with gamification can promote energy awareness and sustainable behavior among students in European schools, demonstrating positive acceptance and engagement.

Contribution

It introduces a novel integration of IoT infrastructure, maker activities, and serious gaming within school curricula to enhance energy awareness and sustainability education.

Findings

High acceptance among school communities

Successful deployment of IoT in real-world educational settings

Positive feedback from workshops and activities

Abstract

The use of maker community tools and IoT technologies inside classrooms is spreading in an increasing number of education and science fields. GAIA is a European research project focused on achieving behavior change for sustainability and energy awareness in schools. In this work, we report on how a large IoT deployment in a number of educational buildings and real-world data from this infrastructure, are utilized to support a "maker" lab kit activity inside the classroom, together with a serious game. We also provide some insights to the integration of these activities in the school curriculum, along with a discussion on our feedback so far from a series of workshop activities in a number of schools. Our initial results show strong acceptance by the school community.