BIKASA (BIKASA) 01.01.2018 – TT.MM.2019

The BIKASA project aims to develop an innovative educational programme on climate adaptation for the agricultural sector in Saxony-Anhalt. University institutions at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in the fields of geoecology, didactics of geography / biology and geoinformatics as well as two SMEs are involved in the project as subcontractors. With the State Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture (LLG) of Saxony-Anhalt, the state’s agricultural administration is involved in the project as a co-operation partner. The project is part of the “German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change” funded by the BMU.

Background and goals

The agricultural sector is of great economic importance in Saxony-Anhalt. The vulnerability of agriculture to climate change is considered to be particularly high in this federal state. Particular problem areas are the availability of water for plant biomass production and soil erosion. The educational modules are intended to raise awareness among agricultural stakeholders (authorities, advisors, farmers), trainees and students of the need to implement climate adaptation measures.

Methodological approach

The educational offerings, consisting of lecture series, online learning modules, case studies and scenarios, are offered via a learning environment designed as a Rich Internet Application (RIA), so that they can be integrated both as a closed overall system and in their individual modules into existing and future education, training and further education programmes. The thematic focal points of soil water balance and soil erosion are integrated into the educational modules on the basis of theory and regional case studies. A structure is chosen that enables transfer to other subject areas and federal states.

Expected results

The project is embedded in the “Promotion of measures for adaptation to climate change – funding priority 2: Development of educational modules on climate change and climate adaptation”. As described in the guidelines for the measure, subject-related, target group-orientated, regional education modules were developed within the project. These deal with the issues of climate change, climate impacts and climate adaptation for stakeholders in the agricultural sector, particularly in Saxony-Anhalt. The modular structure, presented through a web presence designed as an RIA, makes it possible to integrate them both as a closed overall system and in their individual modules into existing and future education, training and further education programmes. The methodological approach is transferable to other regions or subject areas. The most important project result, which will continue to be available to the public for free use after the end of the project, is the project website, which was designed as an RIA. On the one hand, the actual teaching and learning content is presented here, and on the other, various documents and data on the topic of climate change can be used or downloaded. The interactive storytelling methodology used in the learning modules, realised using ArcGIS story maps in combination with direct feedback knowledge tests (H5P), was published as a journal article (Thürkow et al., 2019).