Experts predict an increased tendency of skill gaps within the young generation in the upcoming years. Encouraging high school students at the age of 16 till 18 to consider a career in STEM related occupations, pursuing higher levels of study and acquiring technical skills through effective teaching and learning are important elements of any strategy aimed at addressing skills needs. The strategic partnership between the 10 partner schools aims to develop and exchange good practices in the field of sustainable energy production by biotechnology for students at secondary level. The partnership will work together to produce innovative learning materials for practical experiments in the biotechnological production of bioethanol and biogas. Both energy resources have the great advantage to be a storable kind of energy. For both production processes we will work out a procedure done in professional fermenters with the goal of optimizing the product concentration. We will also develop a low cost, self-made version of a fermenter for schools who don`t have the professional lab equipment. So we are fostering both the bioscience aspect and the technology aspect of modern biotechnology. Furthermore, we try to figure out in an energy workshop how an energy mix which follows the EU Strategy 2020 could look like under ethical and sustainability aspects. On the basis of professional knowledge acquired in the project, students will be able to evaluate social ethical issues critically with the help of tools we developed together. Those tools try to structure the decision process for coming to a reflected evaluation in future social questions. Only motivated and self-reliant people can bring a complex project to success. Those people will never fail or will be early school leavers. Therefore professional, inter cultural and above all personal exchange is required, which is realized by the aforementioned learning and experimental workshops. All in all, more than 200 transnational mobilities are planned in this complex project with the goal to support the EU Strategy 2020 in sustainable energy production by biotechnology. So the two laboratory workshops as well as the energy workshop combined with an ethical discussion about a sustainable energy mix in Europe in the future are central to the project. The jointly created resources are tested and evaluated through the practical experiments and the ethical decision finding process will be guided by educated student mentors in international teams. The evaluated teaching lab modules are implemented in the science lessons and disseminated to teacher lessons in the home countries to promote the EU 2020 Strategy. In panel discussions, students will be able to compare the aims of EU with those of each country and should discuss the results and explain why in different countries the approach to energy sources is different. The resources will foster the provision and the assessment of key-competences including basic skills and transversal skills, in particular project management skills, languages, digital skills and inter cultural competence. The learning outcomes will support the transition from study into employment by giving students essential technical and professional skills required to enter the STEM labour market on each level of qualification. The short term benefits of the project will allow students involved in the learning activity (some from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds) to gain experience abroad in an academic context, enhance their language, practical and transversal skills to improve their further study and employment prospects. The project achieves various effects and provides long lasting benefits. All involved students, especially slow-learning students gain a higher linguistic and technical language competence , reduce prejudices and practice in tolerance. By communicating via modern media, ICT competences are strengthened. Scientific and technical competences are deepened through mutual learning by the specialists. The expected impact for the schools involved is to share ideas and good practice. Last but not least, the international profile of the schools is raised. The project results will be in form of documentation/teaching units and will be made available on the EST server, the project and schools´ websites and eTwinning platform. Additionally, there will be a range of measures to inform about the project and maintain its long term impact via social media, press releases and teacher workshops. Over the longer term the project results will be expected improvement in student results, increased retention and more science related higher education and employment destinations. Long lasting sustainability of the project could be reached with the support of the Chemical Industry (FCI) like in the former projects through the supply of borrowable experimental sets to the interested teachers all over Europe.
Experts predict in the upcoming years an increasing gap between skills learned in school and skills required in the European economy within the young generation. Any strategy aimed at reducing this gap must encourage high school students at the age of 16 to 18 to consider a career in STEM related occupations and to pursue higher levels of study, and it must improve the acquisition of technical skills through highly effective teaching and learning. The strategic partnership between the 10 partner schools aimed to develop and exchange good practices in the field of sustainable energy production by biotechnology for students at the secondary level. The partnership worked together to produce innovative learning materials for practical experiments in the biotechnological production of bioethanol and biogas. Both energy resources have the great advantage to be a storable energy source. For both production processes we worked out procedures based on a clear understanding of the biological science with the goal of optimizing the product concentration. For schools which lack access to professional-grade fermenters, we also developed a low cost, self-made version of a fermenter. By these means we fostered both the bioscience aspect and the technology aspect of modern biotechnology. Furthermore, students tried to figure out in an energy workshop how an energy mix which follows the EU Strategy 2020 might be created to meet ethical and sustainability requirements. On the basis of professional knowledge acquired in the project, students are able to evaluate social ethical issues critically with the help of tools we developed together. Those tools try to structure the decision-making process for coming to mature, reflective evaluations of future social questions. In addition to technical and scientific skills, we intended to develop motivation and self-reliance in the students: These skills are required to bring a complex project to success. Such students will not fail or leave school early. Therefore professional, inter-cultural and above all personal exchange is necessary, and is provided by the learning and experimental workshops described above. All in all, more than 200 transnational mobilities were conducted in this complex project. So the two laboratory workshops as well as the energy workshop combined with an ethical discussion about a sustainable energy mix in Europe in the future were central to the project. The jointly created resources are tested and evaluated through the practical experiments during the two laboratory workshops. In this workshops students and teachers worked together in international teams. They were guided by international teams of educated student mentors through the experiments. The mentors also guided the ethical decision-making process. The evaluated teaching lab modules are implemented in the science lessons and disseminated to teacher lessons in the home countries. In future panel discussions, students will be able to compare the aims of the EU with those of each country and could discuss the results and explain why in different countries the approach to energy sources is different. The resources will foster the provision and the assessment of key competences including basic skills and transversal skills, in particular project management skills, languages, digital skills and inter cultural competence. The learning outcomes will support the transition from study into employment by giving students essential technical and professional skills required to enter the STEM labour market on each level of qualification. In the short term, students involved in the learning activity (some from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds) gained immediate experience abroad in an academic context, and enhanced their language, practical and transversal skills, thereby improving their prospects for further study and employment. The project achieved various effects and provides long lasting benefits. All involved students, especially slower-learning students, gained a higher linguistic and technical-language competence, reduced prejudices and practiced tolerance. By communicating via modern media, ICT competences are strengthened. Scientific and technical competences are deepened through mutual learning with the specialists. The schools involved are expected to benefit from enrichment by shared ideas and good practices. Last but not least, the international profile of the schools is raised. The project results will be in the form of documentation/teaching units and will be made available on the project and schools´ websites and eTwinning platform. Additionally, there will be a range of measures to inform about the project and maintain its long term impact via social media, press releases and teacher workshops. Over the longer term the project is expected to yield improvement in student results, increased retention and more science related higher education and employment destinations.