SEOS: Agriculture and Natural Resource Management

Young people in the EU already have to deal with geospatial data handling in their everyday lives, especially with Earth Observation (EO) data, and this is expected to increase in the future. The SEOS project (Science Education through Earth Observation for High Schools) aims to introduce a variety of applications of Earth Observation data to high school students and other interested parties, by providing a complete teaching curriculum, consisting of fifteen thematic eLearning modules.

This study addresses the topics of the use of Earth Observation data in Agriculture and Natural Resources Management. Subtopics of Remote Sensing applications have been developed within these modules, which address crop identification, monitoring of crop health status and yield estimation, precision agriculture, assessment of soil quality, erosion and desertification, forest management, water resources, urban planning and waste management.

Following the completion of the initial module development, an evaluation procedure was initiated at collaborating high schools across Europe. Feedback was received by the high school teachers and the pupils who used the modules, which provided insight on their requirements, preferences and aversions on the design and content of the modules. By taking these opinions under consideration, the modules were further improved, in order to maximize their efficiency in conveyance of knowledge and making their use a welcoming experience. In order to reach a wider European public, the modules are being translated in more than five EU languages.