Using open data to teach the next generation - European Data Portal

Before schools can introduce open data as an education resource, teachers need to be trained and enabled to use open research data in their classes. This can be achieved via programmes such as the Use Data in Teaching project. Following this, teachers can introduce activities to boost the use of open data in the classroom, such as contests and challenges. For example, Spain annually conducts open data contests for students in different cities, such as the BCN Dades Obertes Challenge and the Open Data Contest of Castilla y León. For this to be successful, however, the government needs to be involved. Governments can incorporate open data directly into education plans. One example is the Lehrplan21 project, introduced and adopted by the Swiss government that includes an educational itinerary of learning basic concepts related to data, such as structures, formats, as well as management and analysis of databases.