The shutdown of Greek schools due to Covid-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, gave our laboratory the opportunity to introduce Copernicus to all school teachers and students across Greece through the daily TV program “learn at home” implemented by the Greek Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Greek state TV broadcaster ERT (https://www.euronews.com/2020/03/31/greece-uses-state-tv-to-teach-school-children-during-coronavirus-lockdown)
The TV programme was a great success, as it was viewed daily on average by more than 100,000 children aged 4-14. The same programme was broadcasted again by the Greek state TV (ERT) during the second lockdown in the winter of 2020.
Yota Assimakopoulou, an associate of our laboratory and a primary school teacher, was picked by the Greek Ministry of Education to produce and deliver TV lessons for the subject of primary school Geography /Geology. These lessons gave us the opportunity to present for the first time on public television, ways to integrate and utilize Copernicus satellite imagery and tools like Sentinel Playground in the primary school curriculum. In these lessons, educational material from ESA and specifically from the “Teach with Space” education program was also integrated.
The prime Minister of Greece and the Minister of Education stressed the value of these TV lessons during the COVID-19 lockdown and for the future, in a Skype meeting with all the teachers who implemented the program voluntarily. https://www.iefimerida.gr/politiki/kyriakos-misotakis-ekpaideytikoi-ekpaideytiki-tileorasi
The relevant lessons of the “learn at home” program are available for future distance learning as well as classroom-based learning on the website of the Greek Educational Television, the ERT WebTV as well as at the following links:
- Natural Disasters: https://youtu.be/YMcyHmJKISI (Sentinel Playground after 21:30 )
- Atmosphere: https://youtu.be/7qhnPsoz_-M or https://youtu.be/jccYVp7fCh4
- Deserts: https://youtu.be/dv1OZRRxPps
- Earthquakes and Volcanoes: https://youtu.be/l4YmvjiL-fw
