ROBOTICS 2019
Using Creativity, Arduino sensors and meditation to combat climate change
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Rationale of this project:
The impacts of climate variability and extreme weather events are becoming a concern to the Republic of Mauritius including Rodrigues, St Brandon and Agalega islands. According to the World Risk Index 2018 report, Mauritius is ranked 16th amongst the most vulnerable countries to climate change and 10th amongst the ones with highest exposure. In line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 for climate action which requires countries to improve education on climate change mitigation, this project aimed at engaging students of Camp De Masque State College in a number of activities to increase their awareness and resilience to the changing weather patterns of the island.
As an initial part of this project, students were trained to develop their creative thinking skills by manufacturing science based artifacts during their chemistry classes. Thereafter, they were requested to apply creativity in building electronic circuits with Arduino boards and sensors to conduct climate based measurements. Online classes were setup on a Learning Management System(LMS) for out of school practice on coding with Arduino IDE as well as basics of electronic circuits and sensors. Readings of temperature, air humidity, heat index, dew point temperature, rainfall and air quality index were recorded over time and at different locations to follow up with climate change. Preliminary findings showed elevated Heat Index during the months of March and April which may be related to the increased meteorological events over the island. Records in the initial days of May showed a significant decrease in the Heat Index due to the start of the Winter season with lower temperatures. Furthermore, with the anticipated rise of peak temperatures during the summer season coupled with high humidity, it was found that alarming levels of heat index may occur in the coming years in Mauritius. The information were compiled and shared in the school community for further educational interventions.
The importance of maintaining an ecological friendly environment to mitigate climate change was also enhanced by meditation sessions. Students practiced visualization exercises, with the help of a certified yoga practitioner, on respecting the five elements of nature. They were also introduced to the African philosophy of “Ubuntu” and the need to live in a sustainable way to protect planet Earth.
Climate Change
The impacts of climate variability and extreme weather events are becoming a concern to the Republic of Mauritius, including Rodrigues, St Brandon and Agalega. The climate of the South West Indian Ocean (SWIO) small island states is influenced by large ocean-atmosphere interactions such as trade winds. They are often affected by tropical cyclones and other extreme weather. Some of them like the Saint Brandon or the Cargados Carajos Shoals and Agalega Islands are threatened by sea-level rise as well.
Sea levels in the southwest Indian Ocean based on reconstructed tide gauge data and Topex/Poseiden altimeter for the period 1950-2001 shows a rise of around 1.5 mm/yr at Port Louis and 1.3 mm/yr at Rodrigues, (Church et al., 2006). Analysis of Port Louis data for the period 1987-2007 gives a mean rise of 2.1 mm/yr for the last 10 years. Students at CDMSC need, hence, to be aware about the varying climatic conditions in Mauritius or their village in order to be convinced about environment friendly behaviours.
UNESCO Sustainable Development Goal – Target 4.7
Target 4.7: “By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.
The school community at CDMSC is very much concerned about UNESCO’s ESD target and acquiesced to the objectives of this project by giving a helping hand in this direction.
Creativity
Many researchers see creativity as a vital 21st century competency. While researchers have not settled on a single definition of creativity, Jackson and Messick (1965) suggest that “unusualness, appropriateness, and transformation in varying combinations characterize a large proportion of those things we are willing to call creative.” Creativity is organic and is characterised by its divergent and nonlinear nature. It is expressed as intuitive and emotional forms of expressions of the learners. Through this, learners get the opportunity to express and develop their individual modes of expression. It enables us to discover the multiple intelligences of the learners. Using creativity to combat climate change is an entirely novel approach which is expected to raise interest and awareness amongst the youth generation of CDMSC.
Meditation for sustainable living
"If we want to live in a truly sustainable world, a shift is needed in all our hearts and minds"
This initiative encourages greater understanding of the role of consciousness and lifestyle in environmental issues, through dialogues, partnerships, and local initiatives. In particular there is the importance of:
Sustainable Lifestyle: Adopting a less materialistic lifestyle and increasing the use of clean energy saves the planet's resources and brings greater well-being.
Meditation: Spending time in silent reflection or meditation helps us to connect with our deeper values and find the strength to live by them, enabling us to be more mindful of the impact of our choices.
In that respect, Mrs Preesheila Ujoodha, a yoga practitioner as well as our Art and Design Educator, volunteered to help in this project by empowering the students on meditation.
Learning Management System(LMS)
A learning management system (LMS) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of educational courses, training programs, or learning and development programs. An LMS delivers and manages all types of content, including video, courses, and documents. LMS can enable teachers to create customized tests for students, accessible and submitted online. Platforms allow different multiple question types such as: one/multi-line answer; multiple choice answer; drag-and-drop order; essay; true or false/yes or no; fill in the gaps; agreement scale and offline tasks.
A short course on the use of the Arduino board and sensors was set up on the Canvas Instructure LMS for students to follow up or reinforce their knowledge on electronics at home. Since the teaching of electronics and open source codes do not have an established time period at school, it was a worth endeavour to flip these instructions for after school hours.
Arduino Open Source Codes
The open-source-software movement is a movement that supports the use of open-source licenses for some or all software, a part of the broader notion of open collaboration. The open-source movement was started to spread the concept/idea of open-source software. Programmers who support the open-source-movement philosophy contribute to the open-source community by voluntarily writing and exchanging programming code for software development. The coding of Arduino boards and sensors were entirely done through open source codes worked out from GitHub website which is a well known assembling volunteer coders around the world. Students would be exposed to the concept of open source, collaborative partnerships and creative commons licenses which, in extension, will help decrease the cost of their future schooling needs.
