About 7,500,000 adolescents are affected by the matter of youth unemployment which currently is a big problem in Europe. In many countries of the European Union (EU) such as Greece and Spain, which suffer under the still ongoing effects of the economic and financial crisis (with regions having youth unemployment rates over 50 percent), the situation becomes more and more dramatic. In contrast to this extreme situation there is a lack of qualified personnel, especially when it comes to technical and science oriented occupations. To be able to counteract this problem and to simplify the start into the working life for adolescents, it is essential to show them perspectives and to provide guidance and solutions that make it easier to find a path along their way to get a job. In order to help projects like “Science beyond the classroom” were established. The target group for this specific project are pupils of our schools which are about to be confronted with finding a profession they like and at the same time are confronted with the phenomenon of youth unemployment. Natural-scientific education in schools is found to be theoretical and little applied because its active content only seem to exist in the classrooms. Therefore the natural-scientific classes often seem to be impractical and discouraging. Instead of showing the adolescents possibilities that sciences offer them in means of their future, they usually get deterred. A central aim of the project is to step up against these problems and to convey key competences to young people for their future jobs in a united Europe. The great diversity of the scientific world of work will be shown to all participants with the help of the inclusion of the economic and scientific locational advantages of their region. Therefore about 100 students at the age of 15 to 17 will receive an overview of the regarded matter of the diverse possibilities of the following four areas in Europe: Car industry (Germany), chemical industry (France), architecture regarding energy efficiency (Czech Republic) and environmental sciences (Spain). Each of the participating countries is in charge of supporting its part of the project. A further aim of the project is the integration of the scientific locations into daily school life, including the establishment and consolidation of the cooperation with the participating companies. As described and analyzed many times in didactics and teaching methodology, these into the classroom integrated applied approaches cause strong motivation within the students in contrast to purely theoretical teaching methods when it comes to scientific subjects in schools. The integration of such extracurricular learning possibilities into the classroom will have positive lasting effects on lessons and on the vocational orientation of the students concerning sciences. At the same time the cooperation with companies will enable possibilities for students in the sense of internships and term papers or even simplify the access to trainee and university/college places. By comparing and analyzing the teaching and learning methods plus the curricula of the participating countries in combination with the regional conditions, the application orientation will be examined from multiple angles. Existing teaching and learning methods will be modified and new approaches will be developed. This course of action will not only enhance lessons, it will also make it possible for all colleagues to optimize and reflect their own actions. A broad distribution of the findings and approaches through many channels (e.g. conferences, seminars, e-twinning, homepages, etc.) secures a sustained use and development. The acquisition and strengthening of key competencies for the future working life are further project aims. The regular use of the project’s language (English) through the communication with the European partners does not only improve the save handling of ICT but also enhances language competencies. Experiencing foreign cultures, working out solutions together in international groups and dealing tolerantly with each other refine intercultural competencies, which lead to a better understanding and a common feeling of being a part of the European community for young people with positive effects even beyond the project. The free access to all the project’s results and products via eTwinning and school hompages will make it possible for a big community of interests to gain long lasting profit from the project even after its end. In addition to that, all results will be collected in project files and on DVDs. The files and DVDs will be available for all. Furthermore, the production of a project movie and of a logo will improve the recognition factor and support the level of attention during multiple events.
Within the project "science beyond the classroom: undiscovered occupational areas", we wanted young people (who are about to complete their school career) to discover unknown occupational areas within the scientific area. So we did! Background and motivation of the project are statistics about youth unemployment within the EU, which for example has a rate over 50% in Spain. Shocking enough, but, on the one hand well-educated young students (who were educated for about 12 years in school) are about to start a new period of life and therefore are about to entry into the labor market. On the other hand, especially science-focused employers complain about a lack of skilled employees. To counteract this gap, we’ve set our goal to focus the science beyond the classroom (meaning to expand the content already known to the students from the lessons like chemical reactions, motion, biological diversity and heat) and to discover occupational areas behind these phenomena. To be able to reach these aims we started a collaboration between schools from Germany, France, Spain and the Czech Republic. The four partners matched two main requirements: On the one hand, we wanted equal conditions for the participants (linguistic skills regarding the project language English, similar level of education, soon being ready for the labor market), on the other hand we wanted the partners to be unequal regarding the regional labor market through the different regional conditions. Thus, a versatile occupational orientation was made possible, which also captured the importance of an EU-wide labor market. As a result, we have not only achieved a real and individualized occupational orientation of every single participant, but, e.g. multiplier events and flyers or brochures enlarged the dissemination. Through these materials, the content-related project results are also retained. Through project implementation, we have counteracted the disorientation and (as a long-term benefit) the tangible risk of youth unemployment for these youths. In addition, young people have recognized the EU as a cohesive and unified labor market, developed their personality in exchange situations and expanded their intercultural and linguistic competences.