19.11.22_FOOD DEFENDERS

Food Defenders: Approaching the 12th Sustainable Development Goal through the STE(A)M education Framework

Liapi Angelliki, , Msc, Med, Early Childhood Educator, 2nd Kindergarten of Likovrysi, Scientix AmbassadorTsapara Maria, Msc, Early Childhood Educator, 2nd Kindergarten of Perama, PhD Cand. Univ. of Western Macedonia, ICT Trainer, Leading Teacher EU Code Week & Scientix AmbassadorArkouli Anthi, Msc, Early Childhood Educator, Kindergarten of Nra Penteli, ICT Trainer, Certified Educator STEAM and Robotics

19th of November 2022

The project " Make the Waste Worth the Taste" was designed and accomplished by the Team of Food Defenders during the school year 2021 -2022. In this project, four Kindergartens from Greece participated:

• the 1st Kindergarten of Gargalianoi,
• the 2nd Kindergarten of Lykovrisis,
• the 2nd Kindergarten of Perama,
• and the 3rd Kindergarten of Amarousioy.

9 teachers and 109 toddlers participated (57 boys and 52 girls).

The Project

Aim of the Project

The main aim of the project was to sensitize the children of the cooperating schools towards food waste,

• to observe their immediate environment,
• to record food waste at school,
• and to look for solutions to this problem.

Emphasis was placed on the development of children's creative and critical thinking through deepening the environmental solution to the problem concerning the reduction of household waste and its reprocessing. Combining environmental education with STEAM education fostered skills that related to creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration within an inquiry learning framework. - Science (climate change) - Technology (Edison robot programming, Makey-Makey), - Engineering (composter, board game), - Art (recipe book, sustainable artwork) - Mathematics (measurement system for weighing scraps ).

Connection with STEAM

The 12the goal, sustainable consumption, and production are about promoting resource and energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, and providing access to basic services, green, and a better quality of life for all. Sustainable consumption and production also need to be a significant focus on operating the supply chain, involving everyone from the producer to the final consumer. That includes educating consumers on sustainable consumption and lifestyles, provided by adequate information through standards and labels, and engaging in sustainable public procurement, among others. Therefore, people must become aware of the overconsumption of food and look for solutions for food waste reduction by realizing that every global problem is also local and concerns all people on Earth.

12th Goal o f Sustainable Development

The circular economy responds to the principles of sustainable development and is adopted by many countries now. The circular economy comes as a response to the ambition for sustainable development, the growing concerns about the depletion of natural resources, and the degradation of the environment. According to this, the project "Make the Waste Worth the taste" was framed by activities that were designed and implemented in the context of exploratory learning. Activities that make children and their families aware of the need to reduce food waste and to reconstruct and reprocess it as something new (leftover recipes).

Circular Economy

In terms of core knowledge:Children understood that their personal choices have an environmental impact and that it is necessary to participate in the environmental making decission process.

Project goals and connection with new curriculum for Kindergarten

In terms of skills: Τhe need to explore and document the factors that shape individual and social experience and are linked to human activity was fostered. In order to choose the appropriate ways of communicating and conveying the message and adapting behaviour to the circumstances at any given time. We wanted to cultivate the use of specialized vocabulary to collect, analyze, interpret and present data in multiple formats, to formulate and test hypotheses, to make quantitative, qualitative and causal connections, to choose the optimal solution (decision) and to formulate conclusions concerning the individual and the group, for responsible behavior.

Project goals and connection to the new curriculum for Kindergarten

In terms of attitudes: emphasis was placed on self-understanding and the importance of positive interaction with other people, dealing with diversity as an advantage for personal and social development (food-nutrition culture), the development of universal values, such as responsibility, respect , solidarity, the utilization of scientific knowledge for the understanding of the natural, technological and social world, the positive attitude and responsible action towards the environment, the responsible attitude towards problems and the application of democratic processes in decisions, the critical attitude and active action for sustainable development.

Project goals and connection to the new curriculum for Kindergarten

Connection to the new curricula

A' Thematic field: Child and Communication (Language, ICT) B' Thematic field: Child, Self and Society (Personal and Socioemotional development, Social sciences)C' Thematic field: Child and Positive Sciences (Mathematics, Physical sciences)D' Thematic field: Child, Body, Creation and Expression (Arts)The children were actively involved in the activities, which were based on inquiry and play, promoting cooperation and taking into account their socio-cultural background and differentiated needs.

Learning SkillsCreativity, communication, critical thinking, collaborationLife SkillsSelf-care, empathy, sensitivitySocial skillsCitizenship, initiative, responsibility

Cultivating Skills

Technology and Science SkillsBlending skills of digital technology – communication and collaboration, digital literacySkills of the mindProblem-solving, strategy, and thinking routines

The Mascot of the program

The heroine of our project is Foxie Planet, the fearsome and terrible fox who protects the earth. She invited the children on a learning journey through which they acquired new knowledge, cultivated skills and adopted new attitudes towards the environment, helping to reduce food waste.

Then teachers jotted the visual impression of the children, utilizing the thinking routine of visible thinking “I used to think … Now I think

Before the start of the study – prior knowledge

The action began by tracing the children's prior knowledge of food waste. The children were asked what "Wasting food" is and were asked to capture their thoughts with painting.

Research questions Do we waste food? How much food do we waste in our classroom? How can we reduce food waste? A form on Google docs was created to collect data and figure out how much food was leftover (students were using measuring systems to weigh their leftovers and this led to some great learning about comparing weights). The findings led the students to seek solutions to combat food waste.

Wasting food at school and at home

The problem of food waste was approached by weighing and recording the quantities of the food children did not consume at lunch. In an attempt to identify from which category of waste most of the garbage arose, they divided their records into 3 categories: organic waste, recyclables, and waste that ends up in the landfill.

Indicative is the observation of a child "The garbage in the brown bin looks like a mountain". Through the experiential action, the children realized that even the food packages, although their weight is often zero and is not even reflected on the scale.

Wasting food at school and at home

The children, carefully observing the results (Google docs) that arose through their active involvement in the experiential action, found that the same happened at home in larger quantities. Fruit and vegetable that were not “pretty” or were half-eaten as well as other leftovers in their lunch bowls often ended up in the trash.

Looking for solutions to reduce food waste

The children looked for solutions in order to deal with this problem both at school and at home, trying to sensitize their immediate family environment. A collaborative book was created to remind everyone that every problem can be dealt with in different ways. Smart solutions, easily applicable and implementable were proposed by the children proving their awareness of the subject. While they expressed their desire to actively contribute to the adoption of a new attitude towards the problem of mindless consumption that burdens the sustainability of our planet.

Throughout the course of the action, the children's parents actively participated, supporting the missions assigned by the teachers to the children. One of the solutions that the children found, was the creative reuse of these foods (fruits, vegetables and other leftover foods), not only at school but also at home. Together with their parents, they drew pictures of food left in the fridge, which were not eaten, and then came up with creative delicious recipes that were well-loved, creating an original leftovers recipe book.

Recipe book

Through this action, the children discovered new ways of alternative and creative utilization of things that may be considered leftovers, but by letting their imagination and creativity free, they were transformed into tools of visual expression. The implementation of this action which was carried out was the "Actions for ... the hungry", organized by ActionAid under the title "The power on your plate. Food and Climate Change. A campaign for food and climate change. Student Action Week 2022.” , satisfied the children's endless quest to find ways to process and reuse all foods including those not consumed by humans.

Creating a Sustainable Work of Art

The food on our plate has a story to tell about the food miles it traveled to get from the field to our plate and be eaten by us. Children through their visual creations "come alive" presenting the solutions to the problem of food waste. The results of their compositions could be paintings of a Sustainable Art museum, which will chronicle the milestones of food and foodstuffs with the aim of raising awareness of the planet, facing the problem of food waste!

Creating a Sustainable Work of Art

The children of the cooperating schools, with the help of the teachers, searched for relevant information in order to create an improvised compost bin and see in practice how fruits, vegetables, cooked food can be turned into natural fertilizer in a simple way. They recorded and then collected the necessary materials needed to build the compost bin, such as soil, organic waste, plastic bottle, water, newspapers.

Making a homemade composter

The main objective of the board game was to increase and develop an awareness of food waste issues. Children created the board of the game and the players by using recycled and useless materials.They created the path of the game, set up rules.The board game represented children's ideas. The goal was for the players to collect cards depicting food packages, dairy products, vegetables, fruits, etc. At the end of the game, the players were asked to sort the trash in the appropriate bin (brown, green, blue).

Board Game

Makey Makey invention kit was used to connect the digital world with the real one. Makey Makey: is an invention kit designed to connect everyday objects to computer keys. Using a circuit board, alligator clips, and a USB cable. So for the board game children connect the cards they created with aluminium foil and the alligator clips, so "when anyone touches the aluminium foil, makes a connection and MaKey MaKey sends to the computer a keyboard message. The computer just thinks MaKey MaKey is a regular keyboard. Therefore it works with all programs and webpages, because all programs and webpages take keyboard and mouse input.”Moreover children used the makey makey app "Audio Sampler" where they recorded their voices and connected them with the cards of the board game.

Board Game

The food defenders, our students, wearing their masks and bracelets and with the help of the fearsome and awesome, Foxie, made their own promise.

The promises of food defenders

They said a strong NO to food waste, wanting to protect the environment and make other people in their immediate environment aware.

The promises of food defenders

The children, the Food Defenders, spoke to us in a simple and understandable way about the responsibility we have towards the environment and how we can contribute to reducing food waste by being careful how we treat the food we eat! Through their visual interventions, they suggested that we plan our meals before we go shopping, not to buy more than we need, to share large portions of food and to be creative with leftover food. The Food Defenders wish to contribute to the reduction of food waste through the development of a food system (production in relation to real consumption needs and not overconsumption) that will respect the planet.

The evaluation of the project

For the evaluation of the project, a series of activities were implemented in the form of an escape room with both an educational and recreational purpose. The partner schools undertook to create one mission each. Activities were designed in which the children were asked to discover clues, solve puzzles, engage in the problem-solving process in order to achieve a common goal within a certain time. The collection of data after the completion of the games was used by the teachers to understand the degree of understanding of the knowledge content as well as the possible change in attitudes and perceptions of the children.

Just Quiz it

Category sorting activity

A story was created ... "In the Collaborative Village, the Mayor "Foody Wasty" and the inhabitants waste food and never recycle. The inhabitants threw away all their garbage in the green bin without sorting them. The village was in danger. The residents called the "Food Defenders" to help them, but on the way, the Food Defenders were trapped and if they wanted to move forward, they should complete the secret missions. Each class created a mission. During the game, each class was divided into 5 groups as many as the missions of the game in order to reach the "Collaborative Village" to train the residents and the Foody Wasty in the proper management of waste to achieve zero waste.

The story

05

04

03

01

02

Crack the banana code

Code through Art

Crack the Code

This was an unplugged activity. Children had to collect only organic waste that people cannot consume (e.g. banana peel) and deposit them in the correct bin (brown bin) to get the clues (there were ten clues) to solve the final puzzle. Each letter of the alphabet had a symbol that stood for a letter (the hidden phrase was FOODY WASTY).

The 1st mission – Category sorting activity

Mission 2 was a mix of a kinetic game with coding elements. Children had to follow the route, collaborate, carrying cards and matching them with the corresponding numbers according to the given match (number – picture) to solve the puzzler and get the clues.

The 2nd mission – Crack the code

Five paintings of Magritte were selected (The Son of Man, 1946, The Listening Room, 1958, Apple Couple, Fine realities 1964, The Idea / L’idée). All teams played at the same time. They had to make their own board/puzzler and compare it with the other boards to figure out the common element. Through pixel art, they had to make their apple using caps to get the next clues.

The 3rd mission – Code through art

Students had to solve a digital quiz (questions and answers were recorded) about the problem of food waste and how to reduce it. It was designed by the children of one of the partner schools, using Genially online tools. Each group had to answer 10 questions to get the clues.

The 4th mission – Just quiz it

This mission was divided into two parts. First, the children had to watch and listen to a message by creating a tangible interface circuit through Makey Makey Invention Kit. Then they had to put five pictures in a row. To match the pictures with the bananas, connect them with Makey Makey in Scratch to reveal the message and get the clues.

The 5th mission – Crack the banana code

Completing the five missions the teams of the collaborating schools collected the letters of the hidden puzzle. But before they decoded the message , they had to form the symbol of zero waste with their bodies. The code they had to decode was in order. Following the instructions, they matched each letter with the corresponding fruit or vegetable. All the teams managed to work together to "crack" the code, to reveal the name of the Mayor (edison robot), which was Foody Wasty.

The last mission – Training Foody Wasty

The kids in the last mission had to train the robot edison. Edison (https://meetedison.com/) is a lego-like robot in the form of a toy car. It is designed, not only as an autonomous robot, but also as a modular robotics system that is easily expandable using LEGO® building blocks – bricks. The Edison robot has sensors, outputs and motors.

Training Foody Wasty

Students in the last mission had to train the Edison robot. In this collaborative activity, the robot had the role of the mayor of the city and for the needs of the game, he was Foody Wasty. Foody Wasty had to properly sort waste by placing it in the appropriate bins and stop throwing it all in the green bin. The teams explored, experimented and collaborated on each decision. They chose how they would guide Foody Wasty to the correct bin.The suggestions of the students of the collaborating kindergartens after their experiments were: - Use the TV remote control to guide Foody Wasty, whose remote control was activated by children hovering over the corresponding barcode.

Training Foody Wasty

- The utilization of EdScratch software was extremely easy even for young ages. EdScratch is based on the drag-and-drop block system. The code was as long as they clapped, Foody Wasty moved forward and as soon as they stopped clapping, he turned 90 degrees to the left. During the procedure, the children discovered that Foody Wasty’s response to the sound was “better” when they tapped their feet on the floor instead of clapping their hands.The routes were drawn on the floor/table with tape. Each group pre-decided how to guide the robot to the correct bin by clapping or using a remote control. Through this process, Foody Wasty became aware and adopted a new attitude towards the environmental issue of food waste, which increases our environmental footprint.

Training Foody Wasty

• The educational activity focused on implementing an interdisciplinary approach based on STEAM education as it interacts with sustainable development goals and the broader philosophy of sustainable education.
• The children were allowed to cultivate skills related to creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, and communication.
• The children of the partner schools expressed their opinions and concerns about food waste, looked for solutions, and tried to change their attitudes.
• They gained new knowledge, cultivated skills, and adopted new attitudes towards the environment contributing to the reduction of food waste.
• They utilised technology and recognised its added value.
• They participated in a collaborative game Escape Rooms and became both designers and players of the game. In the end, children were asked the same question: What is “Food Waste,” and they were asked to recapture their thoughts visually.
• The recordings led us to the conclusion that the students did not simply understand the concept of food waste, but through the visual representation of the post-tests, we observed their awareness of the environmental issue of overconsumption that burdens the sustainability of our planet. By asking them to explain how and why their thinking has changed, they are allowed to develop their reasoning skills while developing active citizenship skills.

Conclusions

This was followed by the recording of the visual impression by the teachers. The specific recordings were also the post test of the action utilizing the thinking routine of the Visible Thinking approach of the Project Zero research group of Harvard University (Visible Thinking) "I used to think ... Now I think".

• Children are growing up in a world with multiple environmental problems. It is therefore essential that they are explicitly taught the skills of critical thinking and problem solving, effective communication, collaboration, as well as creativity and innovation, to make sure that they are well equipped to take initiative for a better world (Trilling & Fadel, 2009).

Conclusions

Post the Scientix Blog

Presentation at the 12th Panhellenic Conference Natural Sciences in Preschool Education

Distinction in the 4th Panhellenic Open Technologies Competition of ELLAK

The original Food Defenders idea is awarded under the STEM Discovery Campaign 2022

Dissemination of the project

Γεωργαντοπούλου Μ. (2017). Ανάπτυξη διαδικτυακών μαθημάτων που απευθύνονται σε εκπαιδευτικούς στην πλατφόρμα τηλεκπαίδευσης moodle για τη χρήση του ρομπότ edison. Διπλωματική Εργασία. Τμήμα Εκπαιδευτικής και Κοινωνικής Πολιτικής. Πανεπιστήμιο Μακεδονίας. Πεντέρη, Ε., Χλαπάνα, Ε., Μέλλιου, Κ., Φιλιππίδη, Α., & Μαρινάτου, Θ. (2021). Πρόγραμμα Σπουδών Προσχολικής Εκπαίδευσης Νηπιαγωγείου. Στο πλαίσιο της Πράξης «Αναβάθμιση των Προγραμμάτων Σπουδών και Δημιουργία Εκπαιδευτικού Υλικού Πρωτοβάθμιας και Δευτεροβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης» ” του ΙΕΠ με MIS 5035542. Πεντέρη, Ε., Χλαπάνα, Ε., Μέλλιου, Κ., Φιλιππίδη, Α., & Μαρινάτου, Θ. (2021). Οδηγός νηπιαγωγού – Υποστηρικτικό υλικό. Πυξίδα: Θεωρητικό και μεθοδολογικό πλαίσιο-Διδακτικοί σχεδιασμοί. Στο πλαίσιο της Πράξης «Αναβάθμιση των Προγραμμάτων Σπουδών και Δημιουργία Εκπαιδευτικού Υλικού Πρωτοβάθμιας και Δευτεροβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης» του ΙΕΠ με MIS 5035542. Σολομωνίδου, X., (2006). Νέες τάσεις στην εκπαιδευτική τεχνολογία. Εποικοδομητισμός και σύγχρονα περιβάλλοντα μάθησης, Αθήνα: Μεταίχμιο. Σολομωνίδου, X., (1999). Εκπαιδευτική Τεχνολογία. Μέσα, υλικά, διδακτική χρήση και αξιοποίηση., Αθήνα: Καστανιώτης. Trilling, B., & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons. Microbric, 2014. «All things Edison – the official Edison robot blog,» Microbric – Australia. [Ηλεκτρονικό]. Available: https://meetedison.com/blog/. Ritchhart, R., Church, M., & Morrison, K. (2011). Making thinking visible: How to promote engagement, understanding, and independence for all learners. John Wiley & Sons. Food waste: an animated educational video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwS2Xc2IT_0

References

Εκπαιδευτικό video για την Ανακύκλωση – Ο Πέρι το Περιβάλλον https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hr9cOUKfGY&t=6s Εκπαιδευτικό video για την Ανακύκλωση – Μπέτυ η Κομποστοποίηση https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXSBa-MgtBw&t=14s Σπατάλη Τροφής | Μουσείο Λούλη https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjiUtZpv0bI Σπατάλη τροφίμων: μία απειλή για την ανθρωπότητα και τον πλανήτη https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP0bRQ7rqF8&t=39s Make a Composter | Crafts for Kids | PBS KIDS for Parents Στόχος 12 -Υπεύθυνη κατανάλωση και παραγωγή https://unric.org/Life Terra - Reduce Your Foodprinthttps://www.lifeterra.eu/en/reduce-your-footprint

Annex

Konstantina Papadogona2nd Kindergarten of Perama

Garifalia Terzaki1st Kindergarten of Gargalianous

Anthi Arkouli3rd Kindergarten of Amarousioy

Tsapara Maria2nd Kindergarten of Perama

Angeliki Liapi2nd Kindergarten of Lykovrysis

Teachers' Team

Angeliki Voulgaraki 2nd Kindergarten of Perama

Katerina Rentzepi 2nd Kindergarten o of Perama

Vana Archonti2nd Kindergaren of Perama

Eleni Spantidaki2nd Kindergarten of Lykovrysis

Teachers' Team

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