A group of 10 students from Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School, Naxxar, recently took part in a five-day student mobility experience in Turin, Italy, as part of the Erasmusplus project Augmented Reality Toolkit for Sustainable Education (ARTse).

This was the last of three mobilities involving students from Malta, Finland and Italy and presented augmented reality (AR) as a learning tool. The students’ participation in the project helped improve an AR experience related to the principles and values set forth by various SDGs.

The project was a three-year collaboration between Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School, Istituto Superiore Tommaso D’Oria in Turin, Italy,  Harjunrinteen koulu in Riihimaaki, Finland, MACDAC Engineering Consultancy Bureau Ltd, Malta, and Diversitas IT, Croatia, which was responsible for creating a bespoke app using AR.

A screen shot of the app developed as part of the project applying augmented reality to learn about SDG7.

During the week, the Maltese students worked with their Finnish and Italian peers on several activities related to Sustainable Development Goal 7 (Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all) and SDG11 (Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable).

They experienced lessons that used AR as the main learning tool and tested the bespoke app to provide feedback that will be used to fine-tune features with the aim of enhancing users’ immersive learning experience. The students also took part in a hands-on workshop at the Museo A come Ambiente (MAcA). Here, they took part in various activities linked to the topic of energy and its sustainability. Experiments were carried out by the guides and students themselves, wherein the students were asked questions and asked to form a hypothesis.

They experienced lessons that used AR as the main learning tool and tested the bespoke app

During the week, the group also took part in cultural visits, which included a walk in the Riserva Naturale Ponte del Diavolo in Lanzo, a walking tour around Turin’s main places of interest and a visit to Villa Panza in Varese.

The project was funded and supported by the European Union Programmes Agency in Malta under the auspices of Erasmusplus.