Encourage “open schooling” where schools, in cooperation with other stakeholders, become an agent of community well-being; families are encouraged to become real partners in school life and activities; professionals from enterprise, civil and wider society are actively involved in bringing real-life projects into the classroom. COMMISSION 2015, SCIENCE EDUCATION FOR RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP Students in secondary school develop resistance towards science learning and science careers. The Commission considers this one of the most important challenges to innovation and economic growth in EU. State of the art research and key global stakeholders, such as the OECD and the EU Commission, jointly agree that the disengagement in science takes place in secondary school and typically when the students are from 12 to 15 years old, indicating that science resistance is strongly linked to the development of the students’ identify and personality. The Commission calls for the development of new science learning didactics, based on an Open Schooling approach, in which science learning processes are strongly linked to the students’ participation in real-life science challenges in society and to participation in real research and innovation circles. The project approach includes the following INNOVATIONS (basic Open Science Schooling didactics): - engages students in REAL-LIFE science challenges in the society - engages schools and students in practical science collaboration with resources in the COMMUNITY, including research, science, innovation and social resources and stakeholders - offers students direct participation in epic, immersive and exciting MISSIONS - invites CROSS-SUBJECT and cross-class approaches - offers students with different LEARNING STYLES a variety of practice oriented work forms very different from traditional theoretical and laboratory-based science teaching, also benefitting less academic learners - provides students with the opportunity and resources to develop a different IMAGE of what science is and what science could be for them, linking in much more narrative ways to the identity and personality of the young students Open Science Schooling (OSS) is almost exclusively a theory, a concept used in research and policy-making. This makes it very difficult for secondary schools and science teachers across EU to engage in practical experimentation. EU needs to produce practical experience with OSS and needs to offer secondary schools and science teachers across Europe PRACTICALLY USEFUL GUIDELINES on how to engage in Open Science Schooling. The OSS project is one of the first systematic contributions in Europe to the development of such resources. The mission of the project is to develop and produce OSS guidelines through practical experimentation and through the co-creation of secondary school students. The project will do this through implementing the OSS agenda, consisting in 5 didactic challenges. The OSS agenda: 1. UNDERSTANDING What is OSS? 2. INTEGRATION How can OSS be integrated in secondary schools? 3. PRACTICE How can OSS be practiced in real-life and in collaboration with the community? 4. EVALUATION How can the students’ engagement and achievements be evaluated and documented? 5. ECO-SYSTEMS How can the students’ OSS engagement lead to the creation of local open science schooling eco-systems? The key outcomes of the project will be: A GUIDE TO OPEN SCIENCE SCHOOLING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS Practically useful guidance taking schools and teachers through the different steps in OSS, offering practical examples and giving useful advise - presented attractively in open virtual formats and in a variety of media forms OPEN SCIENCE SCHOOLING – THE MOVIE The narrative and visual presentation of the student teams’ 12 months real-life science engagement and how this experience affected them – co-created by the young teams YOUNG CO-CREATORS The young students’ personal documentation of their involvement in the project, in the local open science schooling activities and in the co-creation of results INTEGRATING OSS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS – POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS Recommendations for policy-makers on how to support the full integration of open science schooling, including recommendations for further research, experimentation and practical testing The project will work closely with science teacher and student teams from the participating schools and the final results will be based on the authentic involvement of these players. Students need epic and immersive real-life and authentic science experience to re-engage in science. This calls for long periods of science engagement and this is why the project requests a duration of 30 months The project is endowed with the participation of the nationally rewarded Ironi Bet school from Modi’in in Israel. Having practiced open science schooling at the level of excellence for years, it will be a great inspiration along the OSS project.
CONTEXT The project experimented with open schooling applied to science education, building collaboration between school and local community stakeholders such as universities, museums, factories, SMEs, etc., in response to the Commission’s call: Encourage “open schooling” where schools, in cooperation with other stakeholders, become an agent of community well-being; families are encouraged to become real partners in school life and activities; professionals from enterprise, civil and wider society are actively involved in bringing real-life projects into the classroom. Commission 2015, Science Education for Responsible Citizenship OBJECTIVES ACHIEVED The project objectives were developed around the following progression: 1. understanding what open science schooling (OSS) is in practical terms 2. integrating the OSS approach with the local curriculum 3. practicing the approach in in real-life contexts in collaboration with the local community 4. evaluating and documenting the students’ OSS activities 5. establishing eco-systems through the engagement of community players in the development of students’ learning experience. All these objectives were fulfilled within the extend of the project development, as demonstrated by the four IOs achieved (see https://openscienceschooling.eu/). At the same time, the work shed light on several critical areas that need further development, practical implementation and evaluation. PARTICIPANTS The scene for this work development was set in 7 EU countries as well as in Israel, who participate as an advisory/practice partner. The project had 3 knowledge partners (HEIs), 5 practice partners (schools), 1 quality assurance partner and 1 advisory partner (Modiin Municipality). The knowledge partners provided a total of 12 researchers co-developing and revising the theoretical foundations of the project implementation. The practice partners involved a total of 28 teachers and 81 students to deploy locally the OSS approach as well as to provide first-hand account on improvements needed according to the results of their practical work. The quality assurance partner involved 2 highly experienced professionals to oversee and internally evaluate the project progression. The advisory partner, who also participated in the project implementation as a practice partner using their own budget, involved 2 educational experts from Modiin Municipality (as advisors in the development and deployment of the project activities), as well as 4 teachers and 11 students who implemented locally the OSS approach in a local school. Therefore, a total of 32 female teachers/researchers, 22 male teachers/researchers, 58 female students and 34 male students, participated directly in the project development, implementation and deployment. ACTIVITIES The activities revolved around the achievement of the project objectives. Understanding OSS saw the elaboration of a definition for this practice that encapsulates the core of this didactical approach to science education. The integrating activities were co-created between researchers, teachers and students coming up with ways in which the collaboration with local community actors could be established and maintained as well as the selection of immersive mission topics that the student teams would carry out (see IO1, IO3). Practicing activities saw the students developing their missions as part of their schoolwork (as well as afterhours) during two long cycles of implementation. While evaluating and documenting their work, students co-developed and implemented ways to record their progress and keep track of their achievements and improvement points through video making and creative media (see IO2, IO3). Establishing an OSS eco-system in their local community, school teams had the opportunity to strengthen links created through Multiplier Events, where the project outcomes were demonstrated. While developing the project, therefore, a plethora of activities were carried out including community-oriented events, scientific presentations, excursions and face-to-face visits, interviews to local stakeholders, seminars, and so forth. IMPACT A significant impact of the project on the participating partners (and their local communities) has been reported. Students reported to realise that they are able to use practically what they learn at school and that they enjoyed working with specialists from industry: they discover a meaningful way of learning science and their influence in their local community development. The local organisations were able to explain to the students what they do and draw their attention for the future. Experts and other institutions have recognised that working together with schools brings benefits to both, and they feel valued. LONG TERM BENEFIT The local community of the participating schools became aware of the educational aspects that needed change in order to better train 21st century citizens: strong school-community links were established.