Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2026 Newsletter
Light Pollution Inquiry Through International Citizen Science Collaboration by Enrica Maragliano
We developed Under the Same Sky as an international eTwinning project focused on light pollution, grounded in inquiry-based learning and citizen science. Its design was inspired by our participation in a European Schoolnet Academy MOOC on citizen science, which provided the methodological foundation for the inquirybased approach adopted throughout the project. Students from primary and secondary schools in Italy, Portugal, Poland and France collected and analysed night sky observations using the Globe at Night platform, contributing to a global scientific database. Working in transnational teams, they compared data from different geographical contexts, produced infographics and engaged in collaborative interpretation of results. The project integrated science, mathematics, English and digital competences within a vertical and interdisciplinary framework. Primary school pupils contributed visual interpretations of the Orion constellation that were incorporated into the final outputs. The project supported scientific literacy, environmental awareness and intercultural collaboration and was recognised as a winning project in the STEM Discovery Campaign 2026( Citizen Science category).
Addressing an overlooked environmental issue We started from a shared concern: although environmental education is increasingly present in school curricula, light pollution remains largely underexplored. It is rarely treated as a standalone topic in science education and is often absent from citizenship education, despite clear evidence of its impact on ecosystems, biodiversity, human health through the disruption of circadian rhythms, and urban energy consumption. This gap shaped our decision to design Under the Same Sky as a way of turning an overlooked environmental issue into an authentic learning context.
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