Eduspace

Eduspace is the web site for Earth Observation (EO) enabling secondary schools to bring EO into the classroom for teaching and learning. The content is structured with relevant projects based on EO data, analysed with the help of appropriate tools and guidelines for both students and teachers.
The content is developed with the co-operation of EO specialists and experienced teachers to ensure that the projects are both scientifically correct and relevant for the classroom. Eduspace projects can be used in the teaching and learning of several subject areas such as human geography, physical geography, environmental sciences, physics, biology and computer science. Many projects can form the basis for cross-curricular work involving two or three subjects.
Each project concentrates on a specific theme such as weather systems, climate and climate change, glacier dynamics, deforestation, a national park, a world heritage site, urban expansion and agricultural patterns. There are examples from almost all continents.
The goal is to put the students in the centre of the learning process, working with real EO data using semi-professional tools, guided by the project description with more or less detailed exercises and questions.
In the classroom, access to relevant data is important. Eduspace has collections of data from Europe, Africa, South America and the Himalayan region covering both landscapes and city areas. In many cases the study can be based on a series of images of the same location, to study changes over time. The Eduspace Image Catalogue has full coverage of Europe with ERS, Landsat 5 and Landsat7 images, with MERIS and ASAR data to come. Registered Eduspace users can search and download images of 1000x1000 pixels size. These satellite data can then be visualised and analysed using the image processing software LEOWorks developed especially for Eduspace.
LEOWorks is a simple yet very powerful tool. It has been designed for the dual purpose of usefulness in the classroom and as an introduction to image processing. Working with multispectral images, it is possible to combine single bands into colour images, to make measurements of lengths, to make both unsupervised and supervised classifications based on selection of training fields, to calculate NDVI and to make an animation to mention a few of the tools available. In addition to this, LEOWorks has a GIS module that can read industry standard GIS files as well as enabling the students themselves to create GIS layers as part of their work with Eduspace projects.
A project is divided into four parts: introduction; background information; exercises with or without the use of LEOWorks; and a list of useful external links. The projects can be used as they are or can form the basis of the teacher’s own plan for teaching the specific theme.
The projects focus on visualisation of the raw EO data by stressing the importance of the pixel value. This means that the students can analyse the images with this knowledge and therefore understand many of the operations used in image processing analyses.
Although the projects are aimed at secondary and upper secondary school students, some of the projects can be used in EO introduction courses at university level.
Currently Eduspace is available in the following languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese.