Fostering Environmental Awareness with Smart IoT Planters in Campuses

Area of Science:

• Engineering Education
• Environmental Science
• Educational Technology

Background:

• Decreasing sensor costs and 5G technology accelerate Internet of Things (IoT) innovation.
• IoT applications in agronomy can enhance soil quality, water optimization, and environmental monitoring.
• The educational implementation of IoT for environmental awareness remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• Address the educational gap in designing complex sensor-based IoT ecosystems.
• Explore multidisciplinary learning processes through hands-on IoT implementation.
• Evaluate teamwork performance and suggest initiatives for environmental awareness in education.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a Project-Based-Learning (PBL) approach for IoT system design.
• Implemented diverse IoT systems with varying sensors, actuators, and microcontrollers.
• Designed three planter types: hydroponic, vertical garden, and rectangular planters.

Main Results:

• Presented a holistic architecture for IoT ecosystem implementation in higher education.
• Reported positive evaluation results on teamwork performance in multidisciplinary groups.
• Identified key lessons learned for promoting environmental awareness initiatives.

Conclusions:

• Multidisciplinary collaboration significantly benefits student learning in IoT design.
• Student perception of work quality improves within diverse expertise groups.
• Encouraging multidisciplinary teams is crucial for training engineers for Industry 4.0.