OFIDIA2School 2nd Contest

Distance learning training course

June 30, 2020

The second edition of the OFIDIA2School contest, set up within the scope of the project OFIDIA2, is now over.

This year’s edition was held by distance learning due to the health emergency caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to schools being closed long term.

The contest aimed to disseminate both the purpose of the equipment used in the project and the analysis of weather variables. Most importantly, the goal was to raise awareness of the importance of wildfire prevention. The students involved in this edition of the contest took part in a distance learning course for a total of ten hours split into 5 lessons of 2 hours each.

The training course was held in early June 2020 and provided students with the basic skills for the creation of simple and interactive electronic prototypes based on the Arduino technology. Tinkercad Circuits online simulator was used to allow for sensors set-up (temperature/fire sensor) and for the analysis and measurement of weather variables through a virtual weather station.

The actual OFIDIA2School weather station has also been installed at the winning schools in late June 2020 and it shall remain at the students’ disposal as an essential component of the fire prevention monitoring network.

The schools involved in this edition of the contest were I.C. Stomeo-Zimbalo and I.C. Geremia-Re junior high schools, from Lecce and Leverano respectively.

As a result of their participation, they produced various visual-storytelling projects, short videos and multimedia presentations based on the topic “Climate Change and Wildfires” to raise awareness of forest and biodiversity protection and stress the importance of fire prevention. 

The prizes of this year’s edition consisted in two drones, DJI Mavic Mini, that have been safely delivered to the participating schools by taking all necessary measures to ensure compliance with the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. On the occasion, promotional gifts for students and the brochure of the 2020 firefighting campaign have also been delivered for further distribution within the institutes.