A World Wide Web-Based Practice That Disseminates Photogrammetry. Inspiring secondary students to pursue geomatics careers

Abstract

The D3MOBILE Metrology World League was established in 2013 with the aim of encouraging curiosity and interest in science, and particularly geoscience, in the secondary students of grades ISCED 1 and 2. Presented as an international championship, D3MOBILE introduces students to the discipline of photogrammetry through the e-learning methodology concept. The use of well-known technologies by the pupils, such as their own mobile devices (smartphones or tablets), allows us to develop educational procedures that are attractive and challenging for them. All the work that we propose for the participants is presented in a scientific, technical, and professional language but in a more interactive format than traditional textbooks or theoretical classes. The proposed challenges provide students with the opportunity to establish their own learning objectives, work as a team and take responsibility for their work. This paper addresses the experience, from an educational perspective, carried out by our research group CIGEO (Civil Engineering and Geomatics) during the organization of the first five editions of this international “concept submission competition”. During this period, we tried to create and improve a project-based learning (PBL) methodology that can be adapted to e-learning and daily classwork at the high school level, which can be easily implemented regardless of the number of participants and can be implemented anywhere in the world. The obtained results demonstrate the potential of alternative teaching methods combined with new technologies to engage students in science learning and improve the perception of the geosciences as a job opportunity