Education policymakers all too often narrow teachers' focus to lists of facts and formulas, which become tempting to resort to so-called “drill-and-kill” teaching methods that cover information in a generic, surface-level way. Unsurprisingly, instead of fostering curiosity—which is much more important in the long term than rote memorization—this approach often causes students to “tune out”. Under this framework enhancing teacher skills, strengthening their ability to motivate innovation and creativity is crucial. It is precisely the enrichment of the creative elements in Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) as an integral part of such a system, based on a wealth of existing European knowledge, which is the cornerstone of the proposed project. The project will be based on 3 case studies for creative art-infused science inquiry, namely Learning Science Though Theater, Puppetry and Learning through Art and Narratives for primary schools : 1. Learning Science Through Theater: In this case teachers and students will be involved in the development of short or long performances that will have a scientific theme (physics, astronomy, mathematics, environment, energy, history of science, etc.). In the specific case guidelines will be produced for the teachers to be used in the training workshops but also to guide them in implementing this case within their classroom. 2. Puppetry: Every activity starts with a story, acted out by hand puppets to awaken children's curiosity, motivating them to go on to discover and create using real materials from the world around them. The teachers and students should follow their story and develop relevant activities that could be enriched with relevant music and/or lyrics. 3. Learning through Art and Narratives: Through the activities of this case, pupils (with the guidance of their teachers) produce their own “slowmation films” about science, and may thus contribute to the teaching and learning of science and of the nature of science.
CASE project presented and offered all the needed instructions, material and tools in order to achieve the integration of art and innovation in science education from the early school years. Education policymakers all too often narrow teachers' focus to lists of facts and formulas, which become tempting to resort to so-called “drill-and-kill” teaching methods that cover information in a generic, surface-level way. Unsurprisingly, instead of fostering curiosity—which is much more important in the long term than rote memorization—this approach often causes students to “tune out”. Under this framework enhancing teacher skills, strengthening their ability to motivate innovation and creativity is crucial. It is precisely the enrichment of the creative elements in Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) as an integral part of such a system, based on a wealth of existing European knowledge, which is the cornerstone of the CASE approach. Our vision for STEAM Approach in Science education is the development of the innovative and creative classroom of tomorrow, where science education will be taught using an interdisciplinary methodology via arts activities and at the same time the integration of other disciplines such as entrepreneurship and design thinking. The CASE Project achieved to develop several material that were presented to all the teachers (206) and students (2.949) that were involved through their schools (121). These are listed below with the respective links to the documents: • General toolkit (http://www.project-case.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CASE_Toolkit_Book_FINAL.pdf) regarding the methods of creativity and arts in science education: This toolkit will be comprised of a suite of theoretical and image and video-based examples aimed at supporting primary teachers’ implementation of the CASE approach in schools. • Toolkit for the Learning Science Through Theatre (http://www.project-case.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/LSTT_CASE_Training_material_FINAL.pdf) case: This toolkit will be comprised of a guideline and practical scenarios aimed at supporting primary teachers’ implementation of the LSTT method in schools following Science View’s experience in the field. • Toolkit for the Learning Science Through Puppetry (http://www.project-case.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Puppetry_CASE_Training_material_FINAL.pdf) case: This toolkit will be comprised of a guideline and practical scenarios aimed at supporting primary teachers’ implementation of the Puppetry method in schools following Speel je Wijs’s experience in the field. • Toolkits for the Learning Science Through Digital Narratives case: These toolkits will be comprised of a guideline and practical scenarios aimed at supporting primary teachers’ implementation of: o the Narratives and Slow-mation method (http://www.project-case.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Slowmation_CASE_Training_material_FINAL.pdf) in schools following Aristotle University’s experience in the field; o the Digital Storytelling (http://www.project-case.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Storytelling_CASE_Training_material_FINAL.pdf) approach following Elinogermaniki Agogi’s experience. • Toolkit for the Learning Science Through Ecoscenography (http://www.project-case.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/EXTRA_CASES/CASE.LearningScienceThroughEcoscenography.tutorial.pdf) case: This toolkit will be comprised of a guideline and practical scenarios aimed at supporting primary teachers’ implementation of the Learning Science Through Ecoscenography method in schools following HVL’s experience in the field. • Toolkit for the Learning Science Through Dace (http://www.project-case.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/EXTRA_CASES/CASE_LearningScienceThroughDance.pdf) case: This toolkit will be comprised of a guideline and practical scenarios aimed at supporting primary teachers’ implementation of the Learning Science Through Dace method in schools following HVL’s experience in the field. • Toolkit for the Learning Science Through Singing (http://www.project-case.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/EXTRA_CASES/CASE%20-%20LearningScience%20throughSinging.pdf) case: This toolkit will be comprised of a guideline and practical scenarios aimed at supporting primary teachers’ implementation of the Learning Science Through Singing method in schools following HVL’s experience in the field. • Toolkit for the Learning Science Through Humoristic Stories (http://www.project-case.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/EXTRA_CASES/LSTHS_CASE_Training_material_FINAL.pdf) case: This toolkit will be comprised of a guideline and practical scenarios aimed at supporting primary teachers’ implementation of the Learning Science Through Singing method in schools following Science View’s experience in the field.