Besides ‘internationalisation’ science is also one of the cornerstones of the school. From this point of view, the school wants to stimulate and motivate as many students as possible to add exact sciences to the exam subjects. From the first year onwards, all students choose 2 ‘talent hours’ in which they dig deeper into a specific subject area besides the regular curriculum. They can choose science for these talent hours. The main idea is to make this enjoyable and interesting . Beside this, we (as an ELOS school) are in need of modules in a modern foreign language as well as European orientation within the school’s subjects. Our goal within this project is to develop attractive/interesting lessons for the ‘science talent hours’ which also fit in our E.I.O learning curriculum. This also means there will be a prominent role available for the teachers: at the beginning of the project year after the startmeeting for coordinatores and staff to plan the project year, a meeting will be organised for teachers to exchange lesson ideas and make appointments on the materials that have to be developed. Year one those meetings will be held in the Netherlands, the second year in Spain and the last year in Denmark. Furthermore, each partner will organise one exchange.Within the three project years, we want to develop material around three themes that have to do with science and which can be used during the ‘talent hours’. For an ELOS school, it is of great importance to put these lessons in an international context. We have looked for partners in different countries spread over Europe in order to work together in developing lesson materials. Our target group are students aged 13 -15. Annually around 150 students will be involved in the project and six students per school get the opportunity to attend an exchange programme. Their selection will be based on a letter of motivation in which they explain why they want to attend. A film of each exchange will be placed on the website.The students keep track of their progress using a ELOS portfolio for which they eventually may get a certificate. All separate assignments are marked and will count on their marklist. The partner schools aren’t ELOS-schools but they have added internationalisation in their policy plans. The Danish partner school is also part of a network of internationally operating schools. First year: main theme → astronomy- sub themes that will be worked on within the international ellaboration will be ‘the Rosetta mission,’ Fast things have big effects’, emigrating to Mars and the Voyager programme. - during the exchange with the French partner the main theme will be Jules Verne ( Fantasy or reality?) and students will work in a observatory. Second year: main theme → sustainability - sub themes sustainable energy ( during the lessons at school and the exchange with Denmark) and sustainable agriculture and fishery. (during the preparation and the exchange with Italy) Third year: main theme → water- sub themes: the quality of the water that we drink en pollution through the mining industry and making water to drink from seawater during our exchange with Spain. In the schools, the students will work with the a theme around ‘water from the universe’ and during the last exchange with the Netherlands we will talk about water purification and turning water from the sewers into drinking water. All materials will be developed by cooperating teachers from all schools. There will be an annual start on the first meeting during which plans can be made and ideas exchanged.Until the exchanges take place and with that the try-out of the materials, all teachers work together virtually on the development of the material. At the end of the project years, we hope to have developed an international cycle of lessons that can be added to the curriculum and transmissible to others
In recent years, as a school, we have been part of a project group consisting of schools from France, Denmark, Italy and Spain. Together we have carried out work to give students cultural and scientific experiences in the various project weeks. The pupils stayed in host families, so they were immersed in the culture of the country concerned. The overarching theme was living on Mars. We have divided the three years into three main themes. Year 1: Astronomy, Year 2: Sustainability and year 3: Water. Within these themes, project weeks were organized in which students attended workshops that included assignments for these themes. In addition, theme-specific assignments were carried out at the various schools for each exchange week. As a result, not only the students who participated in the exchange had an instructive experience, but also the students who were not selected. The goals of the project were: - Improving the skills in IT - Awerness of cultural diversity - Acceptance of social diversity All goals were achieved by the students who participated during these project weeks. The different schools are called this form. These have not changed during the project period