The need for renewing the teaching of natural sciences was motivated by the signs of crisis perceived in schools related to the disinterest of students and their lack of success and in general in our society due to the decline of economic competitiveness at the end of the 20th century. Be it the members states of the EU or the USA one can observe that the number of students studying natural sciences at tertiary level has decreased significantly. It is a core interest of the developed and developing economies of the EU to secure the human resources (including young academics) of the technological competition – since without this the region will lose its competitiveness. In the background of the natural science R+D Investments it is indispensable that we have highly and broadly qualified, motivated academics. Parallel to the crisis phenomena new results in the field of education and psychology have constituted a new „critical mass” of impulses in the area of pedagogical development as a result of which a change of pedagogical paradigm occurred at the beginning of the 20th century. Our concepts of knowledge, learning and teachers have changed and the countries willing and able to change have done better according to the OECD surveys. The initiative of this project comes from Hungary, a country that has produced outstanding results in natural sciences from the middle of the 20th century onwards, and in particular in the areas of mathematics and logics. A great lesson to be learned from the PISA studies is that the knowledge base in the public education sector is dramatically decreasing. According to recent surveys the results of 16-year-olds were below average. One of the great advantages of the cooperation of the six countries is the so called German and Polish change of paradigm that was triggered by the shock caused by the PISA results and that has brought about significant outcomes. The new knowledge and methodology mean an added value for the partners from the point of view of developing a research-based, integrated science and mathematics teaching programme. Among our countries there are traditions that can be passed on from the so called Prussian teaching system and there is also transition towards modernisation and there are radically new, practical and motivating approaches as well. The expert committee (Rocard) entrusted by the EU with finding possible solutions to overcome the crisis of science education formulated some very important statements and recommendations in 2007, e.g.: • In schools it is the memoriter method that dominates and very often problem-solving and attitude-forming approaches that help to prepare students for solving the changing and complex problems of society (e.g. Knowledge-networking or learning-to-learn methods) are not even mentioned. There is a lack of team-work and often there are not enough experiments. • There have been a lot of excellent initiatives for renewing teaching and there are outstanding science teachers. Unfortunately these initiatives often remain isolated and best-practices are often not disseminated even within one country, not to mention their integration at EU-level. • Natural sciences should be taught inductively rather than deductively (research-based teaching), thus increasing students' interest in and the commitment to choosing science subjects. • It is important to promote and disseminate research based learning techniques and best practices in schools and in teacher refresher courses and teacher networks. • The teachers are the keyfigures and they need to develop their methodological competencies and their motivation as well. Natural science literacy is a concept that sums up the key elements of the new approach motivated by the demands of modernisation. These elements have been integrated into the key competencies as defined by the Council of Europe in 2006. European projects that have paved the way for this pedagogical approach and culture are: Pathway http://www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/pathway/, Scientix http://www.scientix.eu, Primas http://www.primas-project.eu/en/index. These projects are essential forerunners to our work.
The 20th century surveys have proved that the popularity of the natural sciences in Europe, including Hungary, has been lost. Not only primary schools have decreased interest in sciences, but universities and colleges have also lost a lot of students. Thus, the competitiveness of natural sciences has been significantly reduced against other sciences. It is our fundamental interest for us Hungarians as well as for the countries of the European Union not to reduce the professional supply in technological competition, the professional supply should not be reduced because then the region loses its competitiveness. Our investments can only be successful if well-trained and motivated professionals manage, otherwise the EU will lose its competitiveness. Due to the new results of education and psychology at the beginning of the 21st century a paradigm shift began in pedagogy. The concept of knowledge, learning, and the role of a teacher has changed. Those countries that could change their capability, ranked forward in the OECD surveys. In the middle of the 20th century Hungary had an outstanding achievements in the field of natural sciences, as well as in the mathematical logic of these units. However, as a result of the PISA surveys, we learned that this knowledge base falls perpetually for the 21st century. Moreover, the results of recent measurements show that we were below the average level. The great advantage of our partnership composition is that Germany and Poland are working with us, where the impact of the PISA shock has been a major turning point in the education, and as a result, significant results can be detected. The new knowledge and new methodology can make a significant contribution to partner countries. We want to achieve this in our work. There is also a tradition beyond the old teaching methods, there is a transition towards modernization, and naturally there are radical, practical and motivating approaches. We used the details of the so-called Rocard report to create the structure of our work and to develop new methods: - the memorial approach is overwhelming in schools, - lack of teamwork, problem solving; teaching how to learn are missing - many good initiatives have been taken to renew education, but they remain isolated - the use of inductive methods should be used in teaching (research-based) instead of deductive methods - dissemination of research-based methods - the teachers’ methodological knowledge and motivation should be developed Our main goal was to experiment with a method of teaching natural sciences that can be used to strengthen student motivation, we may arouse to learn these subjects by creating a research-based project. We want to raise students' social and collaborative skills, digital and language competences to a higher level. Our subgoals: - to apply and experience of research methodology and reinforce the explorative attitudes - students experience the benefits of the scientific approach and the interdependence of those in the work Six institutions are involved in the project: - Jászsági Apponyi Albert Általános Iskola és AMI, Jászberény, Hungary - Escola Josep Veciana, Perafort, Spain - Grandaskoli, Reykjavik, Iceland - Szkola Podstawowa im. Powstancow Wielkopolskich w Wirach, Wiry, Poland - Scoala Gimnaziala Domokos Pál Péter, Gyimesfelsőlok, Romania - Alexanderschule, Vechta, Germany The six participating institutions are primary schools. In Spanish, German, Icelandic schools there is only fivth grade education, and the other three schools have upper education. The institutions have no special profile. For three of them this is the first international project (Romania, Poland, Iceland). During the past three years, we have accomplished many tasks. Our most important activities included the preparation of the curriculum for the application, and then try the ones described there. The organization of the student camps was an important activity, where students’ work was being realized in the contrencation of the following subjects: geography, biology, nature, music, art and physics-chemistry. These camps have the same methodology according to the same documentation system. The whole teaching process is tested during the 24 hour teaching process, followed by a 4-6 hour preparation and a 1-2 day closing session. The expected local impact of the program is that the science strategy of participating schools is transformed. Of course, it is an important activity that, in adult education, we put the pedagogical culture of the institutions towards the right level. It is a concrete result that the Jászberény Campus of Eszterházy Károly University indicated that they would like to use the developed program to train teachers. In addition to this, all partner schools continue to use this method.