This poster session will operate in rotating 15-minute engagement cycles, allowing participants to join at any time and experience each phase of the investigative process with student presenters.
The goal is to immerse attendees in the authentic research model used by students who built and launched low-cost mini-satellites to study human impacts on the environment, including deforestation, flying rivers, urban heat islands, and pollinator decline.
Cycle Structure and Engagement:
1. Context and Problem (3–4 minutes)
Participants are introduced to the environmental challenges investigated by the student teams. Short visuals and infographics explain how human actions alter biogeochemical cycles and threaten biodiversity and food security. Presenters engage visitors with guiding questions that connect these global issues to local classroom realities.
Engagement: quick dialogue and reflection prompts.
2. Design and Prototype (4–5 minutes)
Students demonstrate the mini-satellite prototypes (ESP32-based), showing how sensors collect real atmospheric and ecological data. Attendees explore simplified mission plans from the projects Stocco Orbitando Rios, StoccoNautas, and Stoccoletas, observing how scientific inquiry and coding merge to solve real-world problems.
Engagement: tactile interaction with hardware, QR codes to open live data dashboards, and short coding demos.
3. Data, Results, and Application (4–5 minutes)
Participants analyze example datasets and maps, interpreting how temperature, humidity, and gas concentration reveal patterns of climate imbalance. Educators discuss how this approach can be replicated with low-cost materials to promote equity, innovation, and student collaboration.
Engagement: small peer discussions, guided interpretation cards, and reflection prompts on classroom adaptation.
4. Reflection and Takeaways (2–3 minutes)
The cycle ends with reflection on how student-led inquiry and technological creativity can transform environmental awareness into meaningful action. Participants receive links to open-source guides, lesson templates, and rubrics to replicate the experience in their schools.
Engagement: interactive Q&A, photo documentation, and sharing of teaching resources.
Each 15-minute cycle repeats throughout the session, ensuring all attendees experience the complete learning journey—from defining a problem to presenting solutions. The poster design and live demonstrations embody ISTE values of innovation, collaboration, and equity, illustrating how authentic inquiry empowers students to become changemakers for a sustainable future.
After this session, participants will be able to design authentic, inquiry-based STEM projects that integrate low-cost mini-satellites to explore environmental issues directly linked to human impact, such as deforestation, urban heat islands, and disruptions in pollination and flowering cycles. Through this approach, educators will discover how accessible space and sensor technologies can transform abstract environmental concepts into concrete, data-driven investigations that connect learners to global sustainability challenges.
Participants will learn how to guide students through the full investigative process, including the formulation of questions, the development of hypotheses, the construction of prototypes, and the collection and interpretation of environmental data. This hands-on experience fosters critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration, empowering learners to act as problem-solvers and innovators who understand and mitigate the environmental effects of human activities.
The session models a pedagogy grounded in the ISTE values of innovation, collaboration, and equity. Attendees will take away replicable strategies, open-source materials, and digital resources to implement similar inquiry-based projects in their own learning environments. Today, more than 200 students have already had the opportunity to develop mini-satellite projects, promoting the learning of technology and sustainability in partner schools. Already replicated in several educational contexts, this initiative demonstrates measurable educational impact, accessibility, and scalability while inspiring young people to become active agents of change for a more sustainable future.
Imperatriz-Fonseca, V. L., & Freitas, B. M. (2016). Pollinators in Brazil: Contribution and prospects for biodiversity, food production, and climate resilience. Ministry of the Environment, Brazil.
https://www.mma.gov.br/polinizadores
Amorim, M. C. C. T., & Dubreuil, V. (2019). Urban heat islands and land use in Brazilian cities. Revista Brasileira de Climatologia.
https://revistas.ufpr.br/revista_climatologia
Gatti, L. V., et al. (2021). Amazonia as a carbon source linked to deforestation and climate change. Nature, 595(7867), 388–393.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03629-6
INPE (National Institute for Space Research). (2023). Flying Rivers Project – Monitoring Amazonian atmospheric moisture transport.
http://www.inpe.br/riosvoadores
UNESCO (2023). Education for Sustainable Development: Building a learning society for climate action.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000380489
ISTE (2021). ISTE Standards for Students and Educators. International Society for Technology in Education.
https://www.iste.org/standards
Cutter-Mackenzie, A., et al. (2020). Research Handbook on Childhoodnature: Assemblages of childhood and nature research. Springer.
(Supports environmental inquiry and experiential learning approaches.)
Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: Children, computers, and powerful ideas. Basic Books.
(Foundational theory on constructionism and learning through making.)
Barron, B., & Darling-Hammond, L. (2008). Teaching for meaningful learning: A review of research on inquiry-based and cooperative learning. Edutopia/George Lucas Educational Foundation.
https://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/edutopia-teaching-for-meaningful-learning.pdf
NASA Education (2024). Cubesat and CanSat programs for student engagement in space and Earth science.
https://www.nasa.gov/education
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