Landscape and education
Educational materials for primary and secondary schools worldwide
Understood as a resource for teachers, landscape has great potential to improve knowledge about landscape heritage as a whole and to boost young people’s awareness about the need to protect, manage and plan landscapes. From this point of view, there are many educational materials and approaches structured by landscape. This section includes a wide range of projects and educational activities based on landscape for primary and secondary schools in Catalonia, Spain and the rest of the world, especially in Europe and South America.
These projects are characterised by their great diversity. Indeed, they include initiatives promoted by a wide range of public and private institutions, usually developed collaboratively between several of them, they are aimed at different levels and types of education (primary and secondary formal education, non-formal education, etc.), they approach landscape from different conceptions and perspectives and they include a great variety of methodological approaches and educational tools.
Ciutat, territori, paisatge (“City, territory, landscape”)
Place
Catalunya
Year
2005
Level of education
Compulsory secondary education
Institutions
Catalan Ministry of Territorial Policy and Public Works, Catalan Ministry of Education and Landscape Observatory of Catalonia.
Description
Ciutat, territori, paisatge is an educational project that aims to educate students and raise their awareness about urban environments, the culture of territory and landscape values while promoting the use of new technologies to learn and strengthen basic skills expected for these students’ level of education. It is based on students’ individual or group work through teaching materials and an innovative methodology based on paper and digital supports, which are different but complementary. It is interdisciplinary and reflects the objectives, content and skills of the social sciences, geography and history, the natural sciences and other curricular subjects. It allows students to deepen their understanding of urban environments, the organisation of activities in an area and the evolution of the landscape in 12 Catalan landscapes with very different characteristics.
Paisatges naturals (“Natural landscapes”)
Place
Catalunya
Year
2013
Level of education
Primary education
Institutions
Fundació La Caixa and University of Barcelona
Description
The project Paisatges naturals by EduCaixa provides primary school students with resources to interactively analyse different landscapes and recognise their transformations. To grasp the concept of the natural transformation of the landscape, students must recreate a landscape and modify it by simulating the action of wind and water. They are also urged to observe and discover that elements created by human action can be found in any landscape. Finally, the activity “Ask the elderly” is aimed at discovering how the landscape of the students’ own environment has changed over time and at identifying the causes of this change. The project is categorised under the natural sciences.
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Link of interest
Coneguem el Priorat (“Let’s get to know Priorat”)
Place
Priorat
Year
2016
Level of education
Ages 13-15
Institutions
Priorat Educational Service and Priorat County Council
Description
Coneguem el Priorat is an annual initiative to get students acquainted with the landscape of Priorat, making them aware of its material and immaterial values and importance. At the same time, the initiative seeks to foster interpersonal relationships through the different activities and the relationship between primary and secondary school students. The project is part of the World Heritage candidacy management plan.
Link of interest
Proxectoterra
Place
Galícia
Year
2000
Level of education
From primary to secondary education
Institutions
Professional Association of Architects of Galicia
Description
This cooperation project for various stages of compulsory education aims to help to improve Galician schoolchildren’s education about the people and the spaces they inhabit. The project informs schoolchildren about the landscape transformations in Galicia over time to raise their awareness about the need to take care of the landscape and to think critically about certain actions.
Proxectoterra provides specific materials that complete schools’ educational materials. Teaching units, complementary materials and activities were defined for each educational level.
Link of interest
La Alpujarra, paisaje cultural (“La Alpujarra: cultural landscape")
Place
Andalusia
Year
2015
Level of education
Compulsory secondary education (ages 12-16)
Institutions
MEMOLA (“MEditerranean MOuntainous LAndscapes”) project of the EU and the University of Granada
Description
Aimed at compulsory secondary education students, this teaching unit was carried out as part of the European MEMOLA project (“MEditerranean MOuntainous LAndscapes”). It is a tool for acquiring knowledge related to the students’ landscape that promotes their personal autonomy and comprehensive development. The activities are not restricted to any specific action, but are planned to be included in the general syllabus and across different subjects.
Link of interest
La carretera enseña sus paisajes (“The road shows its landscapes”)
Place
Andalusia
Year
2016
Level of education
3rd and 4th years of compulsory secondary education and A levels
Institutions
Andalusian Ministry of Development and Housing, Centro de Estudios Paisaje y Territorio, University of Seville, European Regional Development Fund
Description
This project uses roads as tools to learn about the landscape. It consists of a guide formed by 70 cards and divided into three blocks. The landscapes are interpreted in the last block in five different landscape scenarios along different roads in the province of Cordoba.
¡Aprendo con el patrimonio y sus paisajes! ¡Descubre el patrimonio y sus paisajes! (“I learn with heritage and its landscapes!” “Discover heritage and its landscapes!”)
Place
Navarra
Year
2017
Level of education
Primary education and compulsory secondary education
Institutions
Historical Heritage Service, General Directorate of Culture of the Government of Navarre – Institución Príncipe de Viana
Description
These two teaching guides provide a general framework for education in heritage and landscape concepts in the territorial and cultural context of Navarre. They also offer activities to put the knowledge acquired into practice and to develop key skills.
Escola i Paisatge a Mallorca (“School and landscape in Mallorca”)
Place
Mallorca
Year
2018
Level of education
5th- and 6th-year primary and secondary school students
Institutions
Ministry of Territory and Infrastructure of the Council of Mallorca
Description
This teaching guide for interpreting the landscapes of the island of Mallorca is based on the European Landscape Convention and the document Bases per a una estratègia del paisatge de Mallorca (“Rules for a landscape strategy for Mallorca”). It aims to make students more familiar with the different landscapes of Mallorca, boosting their knowledge and interpretation and highlighting the landscapes’ attributes while encouraging a critical perspective. Different worksheets are presented for each landscape and are aimed at teachers and students alike. These worksheets include teaching units and specific activities related to peri-urban, rural, coastal and Serra de Tramuntana landscapes to work on, both in the classroom and on interpretive routes.
El paisaje de Urdaibai: propuesta didáctica para la educación obligatoria (“The landscape of Urdaibai: educational approach for compulsory education”)
Place
Basque Country (Euskadi)
Year
2004
Level of education
Primary and secondary education
Institutions
Basque Ministry of Spatial Planning and the Environment
Description
Compilation of activities aimed at primary and secondary schools applied to the landscape of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve. The context and objectives of the project and the definitions of landscape are set out in the introduction. In addition to the teaching approach, there is extra material such as worksheets, games and photographs.
Paisajes de Tenerife (“Landscapes of Tenerife”)
Place
Tenerife, Canary Islands
Year
2011
Level of education
Compulsory secondary education
Institutions
Island Council of Tenerife
Description
This website aims to educate people and raise their awareness about the landscape of Tenerife. It is designed for teachers and students of compulsory secondary education. The website includes a presentation of the project, a conceptual dossier as an informative support tool, a set of interactive activities in the form of an online game, a photo gallery, maps and other multimedia content.
Link of interest
El paisaje de Castilla y León: Unidad didáctica (“The landscape of Castile and Leon: teaching unit”)
Place
Castile and Leon
Year
2012
Level of education
Primary education
Institutions
National Centre for Environmental Education (CENEAM), Fundación VillaLar
Description
This teaching unit is organised into two blocks. The first explores the concept and meaning of landscape while the second deals with the values and recognition of the identity of the landscapes of Castile and Leon. It also includes a section reserved for teachers, with extra information.
Reclamar la costa (“Reclaiming the coast”)
Place
Galícia
Year
2018
Level of education
Not specified, adaptable
Institutions
Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, MediaLab Prado, Coruña Próxima
Description
This teaching guide was created to educate and raise awareness about the landscapes of the coast of Galicia. The guide focuses on users, asking them to explore these fragile landscapes whose natural and cultural values are threatened by human action, excessive infrastructure development and tourism. The guide aims to encourage the development of landscape interpretation skills and responsible approaches towards the landscape.
Link of interest
Reclamar el paisaje (“Reclaiming the landscape”)
Place
Not specified, adaptable
Year
2017
Level of education
Not specified, adaptable
Institutions
Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, MediaLab Prado, Coruña Próxima
Description
This teaching guide was created to educate and raise awareness about landscapes understood as a common good. It is primarily aimed at secondary school and A-level students to foster collaborative research projects based on citizen science and collective knowledge.
Link of interest
Valles Pasiegos. Guia didáctica de paisajes (“Valles Pasiegos: landscape teaching guide”)
Place
Cantabria
Year
2020
Level of education
Primary education
Institutions
Department of Public Works, Land Use and Urban Planning, General Directorate of Urban Planning and Land Use; Asociación para la Promoción y Desarrollo de los valles pasiegos; Red Cántabra de Desarrollo Rural
Description
This cooperation project between a local action leader group and a regional public administration strives to produce teaching tools to help to promote knowledge and respect for regional landscapes among the school community. A descriptive document accompanied by informative teaching units, the project also includes a programme of visits with schools so knowledge acquired in the classroom can be consolidated on the ground.
International
Paesaggi d’acqua nei Colli Euganei (“Waterscape in the Euganean Hills”)
Place
Padua, Italy
Year
2016
Level of education
Secondary education
Institutions
MEMOLA project (“MEditerranean MOuntain LAndscapes”) of the European Union and Rete Educativa Colli Euganei
Description
The teaching notebook Paesaggi d’acqua nei Colli Euganei includes the study of the main elements that have shaped the Euganean cultural landscapes. Specifically, it aims to deepen the study of how water has been used since the Middle Ages, such as via navigation channels, water mills and the transformation of the course of the river, as well as how this relates to the current landscape of the area. Students have two notebooks at their disposal. One includes the main concepts of landscape archaeology and the other contains four fieldwork activities.
Link of interest
Cerros de Bogotá (“Hills of Bogota”)
Place
Bogota, Colombia
Year
2009
Level of education
-
Institutions
Fundación Cerros de Bogotá
Description
Cerros de Bogotá is an educational project aimed at the general public and children through the school network. It strives to promote knowledge and actions about the natural and cultural heritage of the eastern hills of the city of Bogota, in Colombia, to connect people through their shared territory and landscape.
Link of interest
Les hyperpaysages panoràmiques (“Panoramic hyperscapes”)
Place
Wallonia, Belgium
Year
1999
Level of education
Not specified
Institutions
Institut d’Eco-Pédagogie, Laboratoire de Méthodologie de la Géographie (University of Liège)
Description
This project focuses on the use of panoramic hyperscapes as a virtual tool for raising awareness about the landscape. Hyperscapes are virtual images of landscapes that are multidimensional due to the large amount and variety of information found there. Users can select elements of the images in these 360-degree panoramas and add more information. Thus, they can explore the landscapes interactively and virtually.
Link of interest
Adopte un paysage (“Adopt a landscape”)
Place
French Alps
Year
2014
Level of education
Pre-school and primary education
Institutions
Mercantour National Park
Description
Developed by Mercantour Natural Park, this project works around the landscapes of the Argetera-Mercantour mountains to raise awareness about their values. It presents a compilation of programmes for each school cycle with a set of activities.
Link of interest
Le Paysage (“The landscape”)
Place
France
Year
2005
Level of education
Primary and secondary education
Institutions
Système de formation de formateurs à l’éducation relative à l’environnement (SFFERE)
Description
This educational guide presents the concept of landscape, its values and its natural and human elements. It focuses on the landscape of the Burgundy region while exploring its character and value. The guide contains thematic sheets, activity sheets adapted to each grade and examples of projects for the teacher to develop with the students. It also provides useful resources for teachers and reference material from institutions and organisations of interest, as well as bibliographic references and a webography.
Në gjurmët historike të Vllenjve në Luginën e Vjosës (“The historical traces of the Vlachs in the Vjosa Valley”)
Place
Albania
Year
2015
Level of education
Primary education
Institutions
MEditerranean MOuntainous LAndscapes (MEMOLA), University of Granada, Centre for the Research and Promotion of Historical – Archaeological Albanian Landscapes (CeRPHAAL)
Description
This project is based on a set of illustrations that accompany a text explained in the form of a story. The story tells the life of the Vlachs, a Latin-speaking community that historically inhabited some areas of Albania. The story aims to draw attention to them, their traditions, their house-building techniques and their importance in the cultural heritage of the Vjosa Valley.
Link of interest
Postais Ilustrados, Experimentar Guimarães (“Illustrated postcards: experience Guimarães”)
Place
Guimarães, Portugal
Year
2017
Level of education
Ages 7-14
Institutions
Laboratório da Paisagem
Description
The activity is part of the Guimarães Landscape Plan, run by the Laboratório da Paisagem de Guimarães. Based on an activity with postcards for tourists, young people are invited to think of approaches to and critiques of urban management. It aims to reduce the exclusion of young people from building the urban landscape while promoting new forms of democratic participation for a more sustainable urban life.
Link of interest
O que há neste lugar? Guia de Exploração da Paisagem (“What is in this place? Landscape Exploration Guide”)
Place
Portugal
Year
2019
Level of education
Not specified, adaptable
Institutions
Museu da Paisagem
Description
This book is part of Museu da Paisagem’s education department. It aims to educate young people and raise their awareness about the landscape while encouraging curiosity about its discovery. It explains the importance of the landscape, its values, how it is transformed and which actors are involved. It suggests ways to explore the landscape with activities to do alone, which encourage reflection and connection with places. These activities make the book highly interactive.
Link of interest
LAND-ED – LANDscape EDucation. Materiali per l’educazione al paesaggio attiva (“Materials for active landscape education”)
Place
Italy
Year
2020
Level of education
Not specified (school, teacher training and university education)
Institutions
University of Padua, Associazione Italiana Insegnanti di Geografia, Museo di Geografia, Osservatorio del Paesaggio della Regione Veneto
Description
The result of a series of research, training and teaching experiences, this educational initiative provides training and teaching resources from an active and collaborative approach to exploring the landscape. It is based on three key concepts: landscapes, heritage and justice, and includes a game and a teaching guide. It therefore aims to be a toolbox for all people, professionals and areas that work on landscape education, awareness-raising and training in Italy. It is funded by the Landscape Research Group.
Link of interest
Per l’educazzione al paesaggio a scuola: I nostri valori I nostri propositi (“For landscape education at school: our values, our purposes”)
Place
Italy
Year
2020
Level of education
Primary and secondary education
Institutions
Biblioteca Archivio Emilio Sereni dell’Istituto Alcide Cervi
Description
This is collection of proposed activities aimed at giving primary and secondary school teachers and students detailed information about landscape as a fundamental value, but also as a factor of identity and of rebuilding a new link between the individual and the territory, between society and the environment.
Link of interest
Transfronterer
Juego de la Oca: Paisaje de la Meseta Ibérica (“La Oca: a game about the landscape of the Iberian Plateau”)
Place
Castile and Leon (Spain) and Trás-os-Montes (Portugal)
Year
2018
Level of education
Children of all ages
Institutions
Propuestas Ambientales Educativas de Castilla y León (PRAE)
Description
This landscape-related educational game aims to teach children about the landscape and the cultural and heritage resources of the Iberian Plateau Biosphere Reserve. To do so, the traditional Spanish board game La Oca has been adapted to the context of this cross-border reserve. The boxes on the gameboard are illustrated with natural, human and cultural elements representative of the area.
Other resources
Landscape education activities for primary schools
Place
Council of Europe
Year
2021
Level of education
Primary education
Institutions
Council of Europe’s Landscape, Environment and Risks Division
Description
This English-language activity guide promoted by the European Union’s Landscape Convention aims to enhance students’ knowledge and curiosity about landscape. Its simple activities deal with different landscape-related themes and issues and can be carried out in an interdisciplinary way. They touch on all kinds of landscapes: natural, semi-natural, rural, urban and peri-urban. Even everyday landscapes and landscapes recognised as outstanding or degraded are covered.
Landscape education activities for primary schools
Place
Catalunya
Year
2018
Level of education
Primary education
Institutions
Faculty of Geography and History of the University of Barcelona
Description
This document lays out a methodology and activities to follow it. The activities can be used for different landscapes and are aimed at promoting exchange and cooperation between primary schools, secondary schools and even universities. The document specifies activities on landscape issues aimed at primary school students to establish a base of knowledge on interpreting landscapes. The methodology can be applied at any level of education.
Museu da Paisagem
Place
Portugal
Year
2015
Level of education
All ages
Institutions
Escola Superior de Comunicação Social, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Description
Museu da Paisagem is a digital museum about landscape. It aims to educate people and raise their awareness about landscape as the result of a continuous collective process, like the landscape itself. Thus, different stakeholders in the Portuguese public arena are responsible for it. The digital museum aims to deepen knowledge, perceptions and positive feelings about landscape through a careful conception of how its elements are displayed, how different themes and experiences of the places are represented and how public interaction with the platform is shaped by underlying conditions.
Link of interest
Io Vivo Qui (“I live here”)
Place
Trento, Italy
Year
2011
Level of education
Secondary Education
Institutions
Government of the Autonomous Province of Trento, Trentino School of Management (TSM)
Description
This set of annual and biannual projects dealing with different landscape-related themes aims to combine the dimensions of affective and sensory knowledge with cognitive and reflective ones. Each project is related to a system of landscapes in an analogy to those identified in the Landscape Map of the Provincial Urban Plan.
Raccontami un paesaggio (“Explain a landscape to me”)
Place
Italy
Year
2017
Level of education
None (dissemination project)
Institutions
Italian Ministry of Heritage and Cultural Activities, Department of Geography and History of the University of Padua, Osservatorio locale del paesaggio del Delta del Po, Osservatorio locale del paesaggio del Graticolato Romano, Osservatorio locale del paesaggio del Medio Piave
Description
Raccontami un paesaggio was a research and dissemination project begun to mark the 21st meeting of the Council of Europe to implement the European Landscape Convention. The research project aimed to gather information on landscape education projects pursued in Italy. The purpose of the research was to understand which projects had been developed, as well as the context and methodologies used.
Link of interest