GEO learning environment

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The GEO learning environment is being developed in the North Satakunta on the Waves of Green Transition project, funded by the EU Just Transition Fund and the Satakunta Association. The project leader is SAMK and the city of Kankaanpää is a partner.

The GEO learning environment focuses on environmental education, biodiversity, and the circular economy.

The learning environment includes the GEO Learning Center and its learning content in Honkajoki, Kankaanpää. The learning center is an important provider of environmental education in the area, and its operations are led by Honkajoki Upper Secondary School. The GEO Learning Environment offers learners unique nature experiences in the Lauhanvuori – Hämeenkangas UNESCO Global Geopark, whose wilderness-like bogs are unparalleled.

The GEO Learning Center and its facilities are located in a separate building next to Honkajoki Upper Secondary School. It is suitable for the needs of educational institutions and tourism, among other things. Schoolchildren receive environmental education there, higher education institutions receive a current collaboration and learning platform, and the tourism industry a focal point for guidance. Individual visitors are also welcome to see and experience during the summer season. Discover the center's contents below.

The GEO prefix in learning environment refers to both biodiversity and geology, which affects natural phenomena, species and human activities. In general, learning environment refers to spaces, natural sites, tools and equipment that support the learning and interaction of children and young people.

Discover Lauhanvuori – Hämeenkangas UNESCO Global Geopark here.

Stay

Address: Karviantie 12, 38950 Honkajoki

The Honkajoki GEO learning environment was opened to the public for the first time in the summer of 2024. A summer guide is available at the center. More detailed summer opening hours can be found in the current events section of this page or in the Kankaanpää event calendar. School and other larger groups can inquire about visiting opportunities separately, see contact information.

Facilities and equipment

The teaching spaces include a classroom, a virtual space and an exhibition space. The classroom space can accommodate 6 small groups at a time and the equipment in the space includes a large screen and, among other things, a microscope, GoPro and game cameras and various observation instruments. The virtual space includes, among other things, VR glasses and an AR sandbox. The exhibition space displays more traditional teaching tools such as educational boards and stuffed animals. The GEO learning environment also accepts stuffed animals as donations, see contact information.

The center has a spacious lobby with coat racks and toilets. The interior is barrier-free.

Pictures of the classroom

A classroom with three long tables, teaching aids on the tables, and a large TV screen on the back wall.

White microscope and sample jars on the table.

Pictures from the virtual space

A red plastic shovel above an augmented reality sandbox.

A man tests virtual reality glasses with a controller in his hand. In the background, stuffed birds in a display case.

Striped stone in the foreground, a screen in the background that says "Place sample on tile".

Pictures of the showroom and lobby

Stuffed birds in display cases and traditional educational boards about plants on top of the display cases.

Stacks of traditional cardboard educational boards about animals, plants and nature.

The lobby of the Honkajoki GEO learning environment with a bench, mirrors and a Finnish painting.

Development work and links

The content of the Honkajoki GEO learning environment is currently being developed under the leadership of Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (SAMK). North Satakunta in the waves of the green transition project Until March 31.3.2026, XNUMX in collaboration with the City of Kankaanpää. The project will create, among other things, a three-dimensional landscape model of the bog environment, digital nature trails and circular economy learning materials. The project is funded by the EU's Just Transition Fund JTF and the Satakunta Regional Council.

You can learn more about Honkajoki Upper Secondary School here.. In Honkajoki works Kirkkokallio Eco-Industrial Park, which is a great example of circular economy-based operations.

Training and user agreements

The GEO Learning Center will organize training courses for teachers, educators and private service providers. After attending the training, private service providers will have the opportunity to sign a separately prepared usage agreement for utilizing the center as part of their own service production. Information about the training courses and contract opportunities will be provided separately.

Proceedings