STEPS across Europe (Science Teaching Educational Packs for Schools across Europe). Project Description: The aims of this project are to: enable pupils (and staff) to work in an international collaborative team to design, produce, trial and market a sustainable practical Science resource and to train others how to use that resource and to provide trainee primary teachers and /or qualified teachers of young pupils with CPD (practical training) and resources to teach a number of stimulating practical Science lessons/resources for distance learning to their pupils for years to come. Science teacher(s) at each of the partner schools will run several classes with the help of a group of senior pupils in which they teach practical Science to younger pupils (either in their own school or ideally in one or more local primary schools). The practical lessons taught will be chosen by the teacher and senior pupils involved, in collaboration with the teachers of the younger pupils from a list proposed at the first project meeting . These lessons must be stimulating, relevant, cheap to resource, and easy for the primary teacher to run. Following each lesson feedback will be obtained from the senior pupils, the primary teacher and the younger pupils as to the content of the lesson, level of enjoyment/engagement, relevance and usefulness to the pupils being taught, to the primary teacher etc. After a short series of lessons have been run, the lead teacher at each partner school will choose the 'best' (1-2) practical lessons ( a final total of approximately 6 lessons will be included in the resource boxes). Lesson plans will be written, along with guides for technical and safety aspects of the lessons, curriculum links for that country 's education system, etc. These will ultimately be translated into the language of each partner school. At the first LTT meeting these activities (lesson plans/feedback/technical guides) will be shared between all the partner schools for evaluation as to general relevance and the feasibility of resourcing and running them in each of the other partner schools. The 6 lessons (ideally focussing on a range of Biology, Chemistry and Physics topics) which are selected as being the most universally useful/ feasible will be included in the resource packs (boxes). Each school will trial several experiments proposed by other schools following training at this first meeting . Lesson plans will be produced for each of the 6 lessons. These will all include the same type of information for teachers, pupils and technicians (e.g. aims, curriculum links, resources required, safety considerations, timings, steps in the lesson, background information, learning outcomes, worksheets/templates for results etc) and will ideally be differentiated to allow for their use with pupils of different ages/abilities. Pupils from the partner schools will work in international groups prior to and at the first project meeting to design the box packaging. The most popular design will be used on all of the resource packs. Each school will have groups of pupils which works in collaboration with pupils from the other partner schools to focus on a particular task e.g. to plan and run the Science lessons, to design the packaging, to produce the project website,to write an application for funding from local/national businesses/charities to pay for the boxes/contents,etc. (This could be in return for inclusion of their business logo on the boxes if so desired by the company, although the essential costs will hopefully be met by funding from the Erasmus programme). A small number of trial boxes will be made up for use in a trial/preliminary dissemination workshop run by pupils and staff from all of the partner schools for primary school teachers. This will take place at a meeting in Clackmannanshire in November, 2021. Feedback will again be sought from the teachers and pupils involved in these workshops. The final design and contents of the boxes will be decided on after taking into consideration feedback from all involved in the workshop. The boxes and contents will be produced in each school for use in their region/country. Each school will then work in their own community/nationally to publicise and run dissemination events at which, with the help of the senior pupils, they train primary teachers and/or trainee teachers to run lessons using the resources in the box. The lesson plans and instructions for the production/restocking of boxes will also be made available to other teachers via a dedicated project website and national Science organisations such as the Scottish Schools Equipment Research Centre in Scotland, CEP in Spain, etc. This will be advertised through links on the school websites/ the Erasmus+ dissemination platform , school magazines etc.
The concrete outcome of our project is a resource pack for use by primary teachers, enabling them to run practical science lessons with their pupils. A main objective was the involvement of senior pupils in the production of this pack and the training of primary teachers in the use of the materials ( available on loan from each partner school) so that they became a sustainable resource. We hoped to further the internationalisation of our pupils as a result of their working as an international team to design, trial and teach using the resources and of socialising both remotely and at LTT meetings. The project aimed to engage in interdisciplinary teaching and learning with Business studies, Science, Languages and Design as the core areas involved at various stages of the project. The aims were to improve pupils' scientific skills and foreign language competences in a stimulating and creative way, to facilitate their engagement in voluntary work and to potentially increase their employability prospects. The development of ongoing partnerships between primary and secondary teachers and schools was also planned. We hoped to increase the enjoyment of and engagement in Science of primary staff and pupils in a sustainable manner.
PISA reports show that the performance of European pupils in science has declined steadily since 2006. An increasing disaffection for scientific studies has been noted at a time when the number of jobs in the sector is on the rise. It has been stated that "teacher experience has the greatest effect on student achievement yet there is no requirement for primary teachers in Scotland to have any level of formal Science qualification". A survey of 52 primary teachers carried out by the partner schools in 2020 found that almost all of them would like to run more practical lessons with their pupils if provided with the resources and the training to use them. In the context of our project, it was felt that the plan to work with our senior pupils to develop resources and use these resources to teach primary teachers and pupils would benefit all of the groups involved, increasing the levels of engagement and enjoyment, promoting their acquiral of key scientific and other skills and competences and meeting the skills gap in primary teaching. This would help to attract pupils to studying Science subjects, which is an ongoing battle across Europe. Interpersonal skills development and development of a European identity were also aims.