In project courses, 16-18-year-old students of the 3 partner schools meet once a week in their respective school labs. Their objective is to get deep into self-chosen experiments, conduct them and truly understand the theory behind. Then they “break down“ the complex matter, write a manual ("cookbook") in simple language, illustrate it with sketches, drawings or photos so that 10-year-olds can understand the experiments. 10-year-old pupils are invited to a big event called “Lab-Night“. Under the supervision of 3 science teachers. The older students then guide the younger ones through the experiments, which they should ideally be able to conduct without much help. This is documented for each experiment and shared with the partner schools.At project meetings the host school organises a "European Lab-Night" for the 3 partners. Some experiments will be presented to the partners, others carried out together and experience shared. In the course of their preparations for the "Lab-Night" the students collect technical terms and create a dictionary in at least 3 languages as an app for mobiles ("Mobile Science Dictionary"). They do research on science-related job opportunities in their respective vicinity with special focus on availability for EU-members. Every 2 months a video conference is scheduled to share and discuss the state of the work.
The German school has been conducting the so called NW-Nacht (lab nights) for many years. These nights consist of experiments which are prepared and conducted by students of higher levels for younger students in the school laboratory. This educational concept of students teaching students was used as a basis for the project planning. The achieved goals are: - allow experiences and strengthen the positive attitude of (especially female) students of different ages towards sience - enhance their competences concerning science, especially with a view to their upcoming career choices - increase the interest for the didactical field of pedagogics - strengthen their ability to work in a team, take responsibility, experience self- efficiacy through international contacts - use and enhance their intercultural competences as well as foreign language competences, especially concerning the lingua franca English - exchange instruction, guidance and experience with our European partners and their sociocultural environment - intensify the partnership between the schools as well as stimulate further collaboration While the German school invited 10-year-old children from their Year Five, the Polish and British schools invited pupils from primary schools located nearby. The main activities during the project were: - creating of a common project-website "www.lab-nights.eu" with different rights for teachers and students - Kick-Off Meeting of the three partner schools in Langenfeld, D, (11/2016) to get to know each other, exchange ideas and clear questions e.g. on the curricula for science, safety regulations in school labs etc., to work on a list of criteria for suitable experiments and on a structure for a dictionary with necessary words for lab equipment, to set the dates for all three upcoming meetings. - exchange about the current status of the preparations for the respective work in the laboratory via the working plattform - International project meeting C1 in the BVA- Gesamtschule in Langenfeld with - performance of the yearly NW-Nacht in the BVA-Gesamtschule with international hospitants: evaluation through questionnaires for the younger participants with only positive feedback - a joint Euro-Lab, a day full of experiments of the older students in the school labs of the BVA and reciprocal demonstration of suitable experiments for the following lab nights with the younger students - group work (internationally mixed groups) on "Science Pictionary“ - day in the lab at Bayer in Wuppertal involving molecular biology and experiencing professional lab work - visit of Deutsches Museum in Bonn for the purpose of seeing the finale of the international congress „Euro Science Fun, Science- Shows aus ganz Europa!” - getting to know the area of the German partner school and host families in Langenfeld, Hilden, Duesseldorf, Cologne, Bonn, etc - International projectmeeting C2 in Lady Hawkins' School, Kington, UK with - implementing the „Lab-Night“ in the English partner school with international involvement as part of "Kington Fair"; evaluation through questionnaire for the younger participants with only positive feedback - joint Euro-Lab, a day full of experiments of the older students in the school labs of the LHS and reciprocal demonstration of suitable experiments for the following lab nights with the younger students - visit of Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), Wales - getting to know the area of the English partnerschool and host families in Kington, Birmingham, Wales, etc. - International project meeting C3 in Liceum O Gostynin, Gostynin, Pl with - implementing the „Lab-Night“ in the Polish partner school with international involvement; evaluation through questionnaire for the younger participants with only positive feedback - joint Euro-Lab, a day full of experiments of the older students in the school labs of the Liceum and reciprocal demonstration of suitable experiments for the following lab nights with the younger students - visit to Science and Technology Center EC1 - visit to Copernicus Science Centre - visit to ORLEN chemical plant - getting to know the area of the Polish partnerschool and host families in Gostynin, Plotz, Thorun, Warschau