BotBid - From Botany to Big Data: Combining Citizen Science and Innovative Teaching Methodologies

The adoption of big data technologies is becoming increasingly wide-spread across diverse domains. Simultaneously, there is a growing recognition of the crucial role played by data education in the lives of every citizen. BotBid stands as an educational initiative with a primary focus on establishing innovative and sustainable educational gardens within schools, with the objective of promoting data literacy, scientific and research methodologies, and citizen science practices. The incorporation of a blended modality and a platform for data collection and analysis also serves as an opportunity to enhance digital skills. This experience report paper shares the experiences from the inaugural year of the initiative, involving approximately 70 Italian schools with varying levels of engagement, and delves into the resultant learning outcomes. Additionally, we present the activity plan for the second year of the project, now integrated into the dissemination activities of the RAISE PNRR Ecosystem.