SYNAPSES Evaluated Resources
On this page you can find all resources that have been identified and evaluated by the SYNAPSES consortium. Are you looking for resources specifically for you? Use the filtering system on the left.
For a description of the Aims and Learning Outomes (LO) refer to this page.
A Green School is a Healthy School
This learning scenario emphasizes the importance of the school environment for students’ health and well-being. Students measure air quality, brainstorm improvements, and implement nature-based solutions like green walls, fostering awareness of environmental impact and promoting biodiversity-friendly practices.
Discovery Trail Platform
Discovery Trail, through its “Avastusrada” app, streamlines outdoor learning by combining technology with exploration. This tool allows teachers to create engaging educational trails for various age groups using quizzes, open questions, and photo challenges. Real-time tracking, data download, and easy customization make environmental education more interactive and effective.
Teaching Sustainable Energy in Primary Schools
This resource is part of a series that integrates sustainable energy into the Primary School Science Curriculum and the Green Schools programme. Students can explore real-world energy needs and the importance of developing new solutions at every class level in a whole school approach.
Your Turn for the Teacher – Guide Book
The Your Turn guidebook is a step-by-step instruction for teachers (in training) to create and implement their own design projects for upper primary and lower secondary education.
SAILs Household Vs Natural Environment
The Household versus Natural Environment Strategies for Assessment of Inquiry Learning in Science (SAILS) inquiry and assessment unit focuses on the environmental implications of using cleaning agents. Students investigate the growth of cress in various conditions to determine the impact of household chemicals on the environment.
FoodShift Pathways: Open Learning Scenarios
Open Learning Scenarios (OLS) empower teachers to address food system sustainability by placing students at the center of learning. Using open schooling and living-lab methodologies, students collaborate with societal actors to co-create solutions for real-life community challenges. The resource includes 60 scenarios and 6 ready-to-use videos.
SEAI Energy In Action
This introductory resource is designed to support the teaching and learning of energy and sustainability with an inquiry approach to education. Along with the other resources in the series, it aims to enhance students’ scientific knowledge, skills and competencies, providing opportunities to consider and tackle future problems.
Google Earth Voyager
Google Earth’s Voyager is a showcase of interactive guided tours, quizzes, and layers that aim to help educate everyone about the world both near and far. This resource can used as a starting point to gain a global and place-based perspective of SC related challenges
Restless Earth
Explore Earth’s transformations through volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Reflect on their impact, study their causes, and design a citizens’ alert program to raise awareness. Develop problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration skills while becoming active citizens prepared to protect your community.
Marine Litter: “Searching for the usual suspects …at my beach”
Within this resource, students will address the marine litter problem by exploring sustainable consumption, waste management, and its impact on marine ecosystems. Collaborating across different islands, they will develop solutions to raise community awareness and implement measures to effectively tackle marine litter, enhancing environmental stewardship and protecting marine health.
OTTERS – Citizen Science for Water Stewardship
The OTTERS project promotes ocean and freshwater care through citizen science. It empowers people to create campaigns, focusing on protecting ecosystems, eliminating pollution, and supporting a sustainable blue economy. OTTERS offers toolkits to help organize co-creation sessions, enabling teachers and students to engage in real-world problem-solving and scientific research.
Nature Lab Virtual Field Trip – Responsible Forest Management
The resource builds from a virtual field trip on the importance of forest management, through a series of lessons and activities to a project-based learning approach where student make their own forest dioramas.
Endangered lodgers: Discover the world of building breeders
The handbook outlines a Mystery Game teaching method focusing on endangered building-nesting species. It combines problem-solving and group work to foster critical thinking, with students solving mysteries about species’ habitat challenges. The approach enhances engagement, conservation awareness, and scientific inquiry through interactive and adaptable classroom activities.
Active Classroom Strategies
The Active Classroom Strategies presented by the Junior Cycle for Teachers service in Ireland are student-centred active teaching methodologies designed to support the development of key skills and competencies in students such as ‘Managing Information & Thinking’ and ‘Working with Others’.
ASSESS – Assessing students in the 21st century
ASSESS offers a step-by-step guide and resources to ensure effective student assessment in the Era of diversity and competences. This new mindset towards student assessment aims to empower educators and students towards an education adjusted to the needs of the 21st century.
With Children Against Drought
The main idea of the With Children Against Drought methodology is to return water to the landscape, especially through the revitalisation of streams, floodplains and wetlands. The activities in the methodology guide span all areas of education, develop many key competencies and lead the pupils towards active citizenship.
Eco Friendly Bottles
The Glasgow Science Centre and Scottish Power developed this biomimicry-inspired resource focusing on reducing plastic waste. The Eco-Friendly Water Bottle resource includes teacher and student instructions, PowerPoint slides, and an accompanying video demonstration of how to make the water bottle from alginate from brown seaweed.
Passage of Water
Dive into the Passage of Water, a three-part interactive experience that vividly illustrates the alarming reality of our planet’s dwindling freshwater reserves. This resource serves as an introduction to the challenges of conserving fresh water in the face of climate change.
Climate Action and Light Pollution Threat (CliC-PoLiT)
The Climate Action and Light Pollution Threat (CliC-PoLiT) project tackles climate change, urban sustainability, and light pollution through interdisciplinary approaches. It empowers students to address real-world environmental issues, fostering problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills. Students share their findings with communities, enhancing societal awareness and engagement.
Green School Quality Standard
The Green Schools Quality Standard publication outlines four core areas for integrating sustainability principles and climate action into a whole-school approach: 1) school governance, 2) facilities and operation, 3) teaching and learning, and 4) community engagement.
