Environmental Education and Location-Based Technologies for Investigating Urban Threats and Promoting Nature-Based Solutions

Protecting the natural environment for future generations is a central concern of modern humanity. European policy acknowledges how important it is for younger citizens to have sufficient knowledge about global issues, and the competences required to act on this knowledge, in order for society to achieve sustainable solutions to its development challenges. However, recent evaluations report under-achievement and declining interest among students in science-related subjects, which represent the basic knowledge for future job careers. Attracting students to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and raising their awareness on environmental protection are two of the main challenges for growing a better future society. Interactive, location-based digital technologies can be of great value to involve students actively in these subjects, and to connect the virtual world to real life. In this chapter we describe a series of learning methodologies that have been applied in three European educational projects funded by the European Union in the recent past, promoting the development and the use of Location Based Games (games for mobile devices) to make STEM subjects and environmental education more attractive and multidisciplinary. These projects demonstrate how environmental education, when conducted in an immersive and interactive way, can inspire students to understand the ecological challenges we face and creatively address them through nature-based solutions.