Educational policy and management emphasise the role of science (e.g., earth science, geography) as a fundamental aspect of societal advance, but student enrolments at universities in these disciplines remain low. This commentary explores ways to foster more collaboration between university academics and high school teachers to implement STEM-related curriculum through hands-on exploration of novel earth observation (EO) technologies. To this end, we develop project-based learning activities through the Copernicus applications and services for low impact agriculture in Australia (COALA) project, an international venture of eleven partners seeking to promote the adoption of products and services for sustainable agriculture in Australia, underpinned by satellite technology from the European Copernicus programme. We reflect on our experiences developing project-based learning activities, and particularly on the benefits and obstacles we faced.